I am currently working on restoring a 1980 Chevrolet Camaro Z28 and needed to mount the tail light assembly back on to the car however the plastic nuts for it were all gone and replacements cost about 5 dollars a piece. Thus I took the one existing part I had left and used it for dimensions. After this I printed out a prototype (only because the one inner hole was tapered slightly too much otherwise it would have counted towards production) and have proceeded to start printing these out enmass to get to be able to have tail lights mounted.
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What material did you use. PLA isn’t a good choice, probably can’t take summer heat ABS, PETG are good.
currently they are pla as thats all I have, and they will suffice if i need to move it during the winter
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PLA has a glass heat temp. of about 55-60 C and in a car in summer the temps can get way above that and the material will droop. Other materials like PETG can take the higher temps.
Looks great! I love seeing these practical prints.
I agree with @Loosenut, although I would not recommend using ABS for these parts. ABS is not as good for outdoor use cases as PETG will be, and their strength will be more than enough to handle the tail-lights. Plus PETG can be printed on most printers without having to worry about an enclosure and such.
Matt
You definitely need Capricorn tubing to handle the PETG print temps. safely.
You can print PETG without the use of capricorn, although for extended use I would definitely recommend the upgrade. But for a couple of prints it is totally safe!
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I have found that the threads have to be given extra clearance using the push pull option (I use fusion 360). However a far easier option is to make the hole and thread as close as possible and then use a tap to modify the threads. I am assuming the threads are standard SAE or metric - likely SAE in this case as it is an older Camaro.
the studs on the light assembly are tapered at the front, so I simply put a slight taper to the nuts and let the studs cut the threads
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A perfect example of a practical application of a consumer level printer. I’ll be a broken record and say what I usually say when these types of materials discussions come up. Try Ninjatek Armadillo TPU. It is nearly as stiff as PLA without being brittle, and is almost as easy to print. It also has the temperature and abrasion resistance of TPU. It is expensive though, running nearly $100/KG, last I checked. I think it would be an excellent fit for your application.
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