After releasing the Ender5 3D printer article last month, a few people have contacted me about making parts.
The first one I'm tackling is the BX boot door trim clip, requested by Mike E of this parish.
It seems these trim clips have a tendency to snap, so the design has been improved a bit.
Great stuff! One part that I think would be useful would be the spat (if that's the correct term) on the leading edge of the rear wings. I need both but only have a spare for the nearside.
Vanny,
How large an item are you able to print?
Are you doing your own 3D scanning, or having it done?
I ask, because there are a couple plastic parts for XM that would be nice to do...
One more BX part could be the pair of front-corner 'hooks' for the rear parcel shelf.
At the moment, 220 x 220 is the max, but this can make the parts brittle if they are directly copied. For something like the side spat, they would need a little redesign to be more rigid. At which point it can be quicker to just recast them in an epoxy resin.
In terms of scanning, I've tried a few different photogrametry methods, and always find I'm faster just designing the thing in CAD. I'm a long way of being a CAD engineer, but understanding how the original part was made/injected/cast does make redesigning for a printer much quicker.
A proper scanning system is £6k at the cheap end, £20k at the steep end, but you can pretty much create a business from a tool. The issue with scanning is it usually gives you a surface or mech, but not a CAD drawing. The cloud data from a scanner is usually an utter mess and needs hours of cleaning.
As for the hooks on the parcel shelf, I remade mine in steel and some 2mm galve plate. That won't fail in a hurry!