3D printing front Ranger/Blackfoot shell corners ?

[mark_biddle 14]

I dont have a 3d printer and never tried it so pardon me if this seems stupid. I have a few Rangers and Blackfoot's and a common problem with the bodyshells is the front wing lower corners getting snapped off. I have "moved" some across sheels to make a good one etc but hard to actually find the usual broken off bit. How hard/is it feasable to 3d print them ? Pic attached of the area I am talking about.

[max69vk 708]

I tried doing something similar but by taking a mould of an unbroken fender section, and then using some dissolved PS into the mould to form the shape.. Unfortunately my mould making skills weren’t up to much so I’ll be trying again with a cleaner mould form soon. The biggest issue that 3D printing will solve is making sure the mouldings on the reverse side of the section can be made, looking forward to see how you get on with this. 

[VagabondStarJXF 350]

Drawing up a set in 3D shouldn't be too difficult as long as you can get some good measurements together. Once you've got a good 3D model it should be printable so you'd just need to worry about your printer settings or, as you don't have a 3D printer, which 3D printing service you use.

BTW I've also got a Ranger shell that is missing its corners as well. After repeatedly proving to myself that I'm almost completely useless at fabrication using styrene sheets I'd been toying with the idea of 3D printing them. Until recently I didn't have a shell with either corner intact to take proper measurements from but, now that I've got an intact shell, it has been added to my (rather long and ever growing) list of things to do. I'm pretty certain I won't be able to get to it anytime soon so I've been hoping someone else might also be trying to get some done.

I do have a question for you (and everyone else who needs them) is how much of the fender should be drawn up? Each shell breaks in roughly the same area but not exactly the same way so would it be better to do a much larger section so that people can cut & shut how much they need? or perhaps even replace the whole fender? What would be the best 'catch-all' solution to help out everybody with these broken corners?

[max69vk 708]

On 9/7/2018 at 6:11 PM, VagabondStarJXF said:

I do have a question for you (and everyone else who needs them) is how much of the fender should be drawn up? Each shell breaks in roughly the same area but not exactly the same way so would it be better to do a much larger section so that people can cut & shut how much they need? or perhaps even replace the whole fender? What would be the best 'catch-all' solution to help out everybody with these broken corners?

I’ve got around 10 Ranger/Blackfoot shells & of those that have damage I’d say the highest ‘breakage point’ is about half way up the front arch. If a replacement part was to be made i’d Suggest taking it up to the top of the arch height to leave enough material to work with.

[mark_biddle 14]

Yes I agree, the higher the better. I was thinking about having something printed with a "step" so you could saw the body in a line and then just glue the new part on, rather than having to blend the new part in, but I am too hopeless to be able to do this !

[Pintopower 1456]

I have been contemplating this for some time now. I may need to give it a go though I cannot imagine that it would be very strong, at least it will look better. 

[mark_biddle 14]

Yes, I agree not too strong, but with the grill attached and screwed to this corner as in the manual it should not be too bad. I have a few shells and it seems the grills flap in the wind without these corners !

[max69vk 708]

Thought I’d have a look at my shells, seems they all seem to break in the same pattern in the same place which is interesting (sort of);

 

[Pintopower 1456]

On 10/1/2018 at 1:13 PM, max69vk said:

Thought I’d have a look at my shells, seems they all seem to break in the same pattern in the same place which is interesting (sort of);

 

Man that's depressing.