I, as I imagine many Oz F1 owners are, was very frustrated at the lack of centre caps available for my wheels. All I could find were caps for sale with snapped clips, wrong sized caps on eBay, or people selling good ones for £20 a go!
I wanted to come up with a solution, I had looked in to moulding some caps with plastic resin, but after much trial and error decided it just wasn't a viable method. I then started to look in to 3D printing and what it had to offer, it looked perfect for the job.
I installed Autodesk Inventor Fusion on my Mac and grabbed my digital calliper, then set about designing a CAD model of my centre cap. After a few days I had a model ready for sending to a 3D printer for a quote, the 3D printers I used (http://www.3dprint-uk.co.uk) charge based on swept volume rather than the amount of material used, so I packed 4 caps back to back to make the model as cheap as possible to print. This is how it looked.
After a few tweaks I placed my order and waited for delivery, I choose economy which meant a longer wait, but half the price. I received my caps this week and this is how they look compared to an original.
The texture of the finish is similar to a extra strong mint, I was a bit worried about how they would paint up, however after a few coats of paint they come up fine, a nice smooth finish. Here are some more photos, I had put 1 coat of spray paint on one of them then dropped it, so excuse the dodgy paint!
Anyway, now on to the bit you are probably all waiting for, how do you get some of your own?
Here is a link to the .STL file, which contains the model of the centre caps and is what you will need to upload to the 3D printers when you request a quote.
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BzSYWpLGovTGRExJVERxM1pJS2s/edit?usp=sharing
Once you have the file you need to go to http://www.3dprint-uk.co.uk/quote/ and fill in a quote, uploading the .STL file also. I chose economy as I was in no rush to receive the parts. They emailed me back a quote within a few hours on a weekday and I requested an invoice, to which they sent me a PayPal invoice for £27.
After 8 days I had the parts, they fit in to the wheel very well and look great, especially once you paint them up. Obviously you don't get the wire ring with these, but I've found them to be a snug fit and don't really need the wire. I'm sure you could make up some rings after a trip to B&Q if you really wanted to though.
I was thinking about making these and selling them on, but due to the cost of 3D printing and painting it wasn't really worth it, so I thought I'd share the design with a community who have helped me a lot with my Clio. I would ask that nobody tries to start selling these as it's not in the spirit of the community here.
I hope someone finds this useful, enjoy!
These were designed for the Renault supplied 15" Oz F1's, untested on 16" or non Renault F1's.
I wanted to come up with a solution, I had looked in to moulding some caps with plastic resin, but after much trial and error decided it just wasn't a viable method. I then started to look in to 3D printing and what it had to offer, it looked perfect for the job.
I installed Autodesk Inventor Fusion on my Mac and grabbed my digital calliper, then set about designing a CAD model of my centre cap. After a few days I had a model ready for sending to a 3D printer for a quote, the 3D printers I used (http://www.3dprint-uk.co.uk) charge based on swept volume rather than the amount of material used, so I packed 4 caps back to back to make the model as cheap as possible to print. This is how it looked.
After a few tweaks I placed my order and waited for delivery, I choose economy which meant a longer wait, but half the price. I received my caps this week and this is how they look compared to an original.
The texture of the finish is similar to a extra strong mint, I was a bit worried about how they would paint up, however after a few coats of paint they come up fine, a nice smooth finish. Here are some more photos, I had put 1 coat of spray paint on one of them then dropped it, so excuse the dodgy paint!
Anyway, now on to the bit you are probably all waiting for, how do you get some of your own?
Here is a link to the .STL file, which contains the model of the centre caps and is what you will need to upload to the 3D printers when you request a quote.
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BzSYWpLGovTGRExJVERxM1pJS2s/edit?usp=sharing
Once you have the file you need to go to http://www.3dprint-uk.co.uk/quote/ and fill in a quote, uploading the .STL file also. I chose economy as I was in no rush to receive the parts. They emailed me back a quote within a few hours on a weekday and I requested an invoice, to which they sent me a PayPal invoice for £27.
After 8 days I had the parts, they fit in to the wheel very well and look great, especially once you paint them up. Obviously you don't get the wire ring with these, but I've found them to be a snug fit and don't really need the wire. I'm sure you could make up some rings after a trip to B&Q if you really wanted to though.
I was thinking about making these and selling them on, but due to the cost of 3D printing and painting it wasn't really worth it, so I thought I'd share the design with a community who have helped me a lot with my Clio. I would ask that nobody tries to start selling these as it's not in the spirit of the community here.
I hope someone finds this useful, enjoy!
These were designed for the Renault supplied 15" Oz F1's, untested on 16" or non Renault F1's.
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fair play to you
