I have two of these sets in fairly reasonable condition except for the Grills and two missing Knobs. I have sent one of the grills and a knob to a friend that has offered to 3D print some for me. I will be posting before and after photos so you can see if its feasible. Comments welcome.

Hi there,
I met a guy out at Eastern Creek who was right into 3D printing. He was an Engineer and he showed me some 3D parts he had made .I was amazed! The material was as light as a feather and you can then use it for a Plug to make a mould and stamp out as many as you want. The parts he showed me were head light rims and one plastic mudgaurd.

,pete

Yes I think its the go. I am thinking of learning how to do this as I can see its probably going to be useful.

Carl,
Hi, there was this link on google news l think, regarding 3d printers and like you I to have an interest in the topic because I can see it has many possibilities for the future in manufacturing . Plus other benefits that people are not awake to yet.

Anyway this clip was saying how in the future this will have a positive effect on the way we buy things and there wont be a need for shipping as many items by Sea or Air anymore,, because you will place an order for your part etc etc and this will printed in the country you live in .Probably by people running small out let shops where it is printed and then the item is finshed off and ready for the customers to pick up, Even though the original country you bought the item off maybe America or China ,,no shipping across the world took place.!
Interesting stuff and a interesting concept,

All the best Pete,
Im tyring to find that link again

Well people I have two new knobs and a cad design for the grills , they look pretty cool at the moment. Pics on the way.

Quite some time ago, I did make comment on the American Radio Forum that a particular horrid shaped bit of die casting that had done what it does, could be cut out with a CNC or printed.

Metal printing and fusing / melting / bonding it all together is getting there and will get less expensive as it develops. There is no reason why those clear(ish) plastic badges on Kriesler sets, that are rarely not broken or missing cannot be easily reproduced, preferably in a better material.

Plastics were at one point considered the "wonder material", as you could easily make things in all shapes & sizes. It has now, as we are seeing, not the ultimate thing. Plastics like that which made "Barbi Dolls", coil formers and a myriad of other things are now decomposing.

This has not only caused a rethink in the formulations, but is proving a conservation nightmare. Some of these plastics create Hydrochloric Acid as a decomposition by product & it just happens to be the catalyst for further decomposition.

"Pot metal" aka "Die Cast". Comes in various alloys of varying amounts of all sorts of metals, that give an easy to form alloy. Unfortunately some of this cheap & nasty stuff, has a habit of self destructing & Zinc & moisture are often involved. Zinc is one of several metals that either form whiskers and exfoliate when they decompose blowing the item apart. I have a turntable from the 40's here that is a write of, as the housing of the gearbox is made from it. It looks like a tortoise shell, with an effect like lifting floor tiles.

Marc

Should be happy with that.
It really is amazing what a 3D printer can do,,,,pete

Well guys I do have the grilles and knobs in my hot little hands.

There's no doubt that the printing is quite accurate though how will you end up with a smooth finish on the items?

If it were me, for a smooth smooth finish I would try the lightly lubricated graduated wet and dry technique I use to recover faded plastic cases and cloudy dial lenses, followed by Autosol liquid metal polish to add the lustre and I would use a practice piece first.

They look like a very good start. Just need to "Finish" them up a bit. The only comment is the colour of the Grill, Need to find some Cream / Antique White paint that will stick to it.

I have the Battery version of that set sitting beside the bench at the moment. I was put off recapping it because they layered all the parts in on top of each other. Defiantly not friendly to the serviceman....


Dan

Dy-Mark make Plastic Primer for priming plastics such as polypropylene, PVC & vinyl, but not suitable for polyethylene. I have a can of this and it provides good adhesion for the right plastics.
There used to be a special automotive finish primer that put down a thick coat for covering minor imperfections - I forget what it was called but it should make a second coat after the Plastic Primer. Rub down with wet & dry then apply the finish coat.
A lot of elbow grease required required I think.
3D printers seem to be at the level of resolution of the dot matrix printer. No doubt 3D will improve.

Spray putty.

That's the stuff - AutoOne have it on special at the moment in 400g aerosol cans, along with various other primers including an all surface primer that might suit 3D print plastic.