Vent flap motor plastics

[SnowBear57]

Does any clever member 3D printer the plastic levers and cogs for a 2003 vent flap motors.
Mercedes used to do all kit of all the cogs and levers you need. I went to pick mine up from Mercedes Brooklands this morning only to find they now supply no cogs and only 2 levers for £18 inc VAT.
So if anyone has any spare or can 3D print them preferably in Nylon or other resilient material please contact me.

 

[Petrol Pete]

Not sure if this helps , this stuff is all over the internet , I once saw one for replacement gears for the seat belt 'butler' on older MB's , made from steel , saving the owner from trying to find the whole unit.

Apologies if this is me going down the wrong track .

 

[Trickythemerc]

I could 3d print them for you but I would need the STL file to be able to run them off for you.

 

[ChrisPDuck]

If you can send me the old ones, and there's enough left to take measurements, I should be able to make 3D models.

EDIT:....from which the STLs can be generated. @Trickythemerc - can you print in nylon? I have PLA, PETG, ABS, PC-CF, TPU, but no nylon.
EDIT2: Of course, I could buy some nylon, but ABS should be fine for this I think. Nylon has the benefit of being self-lubricating though.

 

[Gollom]

I could 3d print them for you but I would need the STL file to be able to run them off for you.

If you can send me the old ones, and there's enough left to take measurements, I should be able to make 3D models.

EDIT:....from which the STLs can be generated. @Trickythemerc - can you print in nylon? I have PLA, PETG, ABS, PC-CF, TPU, but no nylon.
EDIT2: Of course, I could buy some nylon, but ABS should be fine for this I think. Nylon has the benefit of being self-lubricating though.

And THIS ^^^ is exactly why this forum is the best ever. Bravo gents, bravo

 

[Trickythemerc]

Yes I should be able to print with nylon filament. My printer is a Bambu Lab X1 Carbon. The toolhead is pretty top notch with hardened steel extruder gears and hardened 0.4 nozzle, so it should be capable of running nylon through the AMS as long as it well dried.

 

[Chrishazle]

Too many small parts for older cars are NLA - I owned Porsche 968's for over 20 years and found this problem more than once! There must be a business opportunity for someone clever to take advantage of!

 

[ChrisPDuck]

Yes I should be able to print with nylon filament. My printer is a Bambu Lab X1 Carbon. The toolhead is pretty top notch with hardened steel extruder gears and hardened 0.4 nozzle, so it should be capable of running nylon through the AMS as long as it well dried.

I have a Prusa MK4 with an Obxidian hardened steel nozzle and a MK4S with a brass high flow nozzle. Both printers are in enclosures so should be capable of printing with nylon filament, but I have no experience with it and don't have any on my shelves. So I'm quite happy to develop prototypes in PETG or ABS and then send you the STLs if you like.

So it's over to @SnowBear57 to tell us what he's got to work with as originals. I've made a gear wheel in OpenSCAD previously to repair my sister's wool winder, so I have a rough idea how I might approach it, but it would be useful to see what sort of parts we're dealing with.

 

[Trickythemerc]

Just spoken with a guy who works with all manner of 3D printers including engineering and medical stuff. He reckons that ABS, PETG-CF or ASA should be up to the job, most automotive stuff is done in ABS. The benefits of using nylon would be negated by cost unless you had it on the shelf. Blend doors Etc are not something that is running constantly and would have a pretty low impact/wear factor.

 

[ChrisPDuck]

Yes, I print a fair bit in ABS, and it makes for very strong, very stable parts. I forgot to include ASA in my list, but I tend to do more with ABS because it has very similar properties and tends to be quite a bit cheaper. For gears I think nylon might have an advantage, simply because it would have lower friction, but the difference probably isn't significant in this application.

 

[Trickythemerc]

ASA can be prone to warping, I use a PEI plate with Elmers vanishing glue with bed temp @ 110 for ASA and get good prints on smaller jobs. My man reccomended Elmers over any other glue stick and he was spot on the money.

 

[ChrisPDuck]

Same here! ABS is equally prone to warping. I also use Elmers, smooshed around with a wet paper towel - I like that you can see where you've applied it, but then it disappears when it's dry. And it does the job. I've had instances where the warping of the (big) part has actually pulled the metal plate off the magnets, but the glue has held. As you say, smaller parts tend to work better - it'll be interesting to see what the OP's parts look like.