3D printed driver vent box

[tutone]

I was missing a driver side vent box and really like the idea of having one, vs. having a piece of cardboard duct taped over the hole. I recently got into 3D printing, and as a result into CAD designing. So I figured why buy one for $150 when I could print one for probably much more $$
I designed this in 2 pieces that glue together since it was too big to print in one go. Other than the hinge pin, the entire box is 3d printed. The top piece is a really odd shape since it has to align with both the slope of the hood, and the offset of the vents vs the hole in the bulkhead. It screws into the 8 existing holes in the bulkhead.



The lower box is slanted to drain, and aligns with my firewall hole for the vent box drain. There is some clearance for the speedo cable too. The door has a hinge that has no clearance to the box, so once the pin is in place the door moves but stays where you move it to. I'll have to see how this works over time.



The door, lever, and lock are all polycarbonate. The upper is ASA, and the lower is PETG (I ran out of ASA.)
I made the lower section 10mm too small on the one in the pics, so this one has an adapter. Upper and lower (and adapter) are glued with epoxy.
I used this foam weatherseal for the seal to the hood, time will tell if it holds up.

 

[romerdoug]

I love seeing projects like this, great work on the design. How do you like using the ASA? I have printed several parts for mine and have been thinking about using ASA but keep reading it’s bad for shrinking.

 

[tutone]

I love seeing projects like this, great work on the design. How do you like using the ASA? I have printed several parts for mine and have been thinking about using ASA but keep reading it’s bad for shrinking.

I have only used Polymaker ASA and I really like it. I have not had any shrinking problems and find it prints easy. I print it in an enclosed printer.

 

[EFI Guy]

That looks fantastic! I certainly appreciate the amount of time that went into that.

I designed one to hold my fuses and relays with a snap on lid. It's a much simpler design than your work of art. I struggled with the CAD software and had The EFI Gal print it for me.
This was printed with Nylon for heat and oil resistance.

 

[tutone]

That looks fantastic! I certainly appreciate the amount of time that went into that.

I designed one to hold my fuses and relays with a snap on lid. It's a much simpler design than your work of art. I struggled with the CAD software and had The EFI Gal print it for me.
This was printed with Nylon for heat and oil resistance.

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That is a really clever use of that space! It's awesome we can print polycarbonate, nylon, etc.. at home now. I've used some of the PA6-CF20 Nylon filament, that stuff is really strong.

 

[ntsqd]

For work I've been printing parts for almost a decade. Mostly I use Nylon 12 30% glass filled printed with the SLS process. We used it as tooling on the production lines. In the right applications it works extremely well. I have found that I can ream that material to size and run slow speed oscillating parts in it directly, no need for a bushing. It is HARD on the reamers though, that glass filled eats them up.