Core problems were: I've never done any type of work like that before, and I also wanted to have more than just the Director in here. I wanted to fit all of the following:
1. Director, and critically: angled, not perfectly horizontal
2. Button for exhaust valve open/close
3. USB port for connecting to Director / DSP
4. USB port for updating my ALP laser jammer setup
I used www.tinkercad.com which is free, super easy to use / learn online 3D modeling software. After watching a few tutorials I was off and running. It was super fascinating for me to learn how to make rounded corners, etc. through the use of just simple objects that act as either solids or 'holes'. Anyway, the Director mount is my first ever creation, and I'm sure people other than me could do a much more awesome job creating it, but in the end: it fits like a glove! ….after about 6 iterations ;)
Here's a pic of the model:
And a link to the file should anyone want to play around with it.
A tricky piece was that compartment that it goes into is angled on the sides, the Director needed sufficient depth, and as mentioned above - I wanted it at an angle...and of course the top had to be able to close. Turns out a millimeter here and a millimeter there can actually matter quite a bit when doing this stuff ;) One fun thing to highlight on the overall design that I initially worried about is: how will I secure the USB ports? The USB extension cable I bought has an indent halfway down its side. I measured the exact distance down to that indent, and correspondingly, on the inside of the Director mount USB port holes, added to the thickness of the walls for just the height of that indent so that the plug just clicks into place at just the right level (you can see this in the 3D model pic above - the small little blue lines). It works perfectly: those ports aren't going anywhere accidentally no matter how hard I have to press or pull to get USB stick in/out.
After several attempts and test fittings, I finally had all of the dimensions right, wet sanded with 1500.
As you can see, based on the density that it was printed at (40%, which is actually quite dense) there still are printing remnants visible i.e. lines across the surface. I probably could've sanded for a few more hours and tried to get these out, but after also putting it in the car, I saw that the finish / color just didn't work that well with the surroundings. I then tried painting it a matte black (no picture, sorry) and that didn't really work either. Final answer? - I wrapped it in the same material as the roof is wrapped in (3M 1080 Brushed Black Metallic).
Once I put that into the car, I realized the black plastic surround of the compartment looked kind of meh next to it. I then took the compartment out of the car, and wrapped it in the main wrap of the car (3M 1080 Brushed Steel) to complete the look. It fits into the compartment purely via pressure fit, and is solidly in place. Works perfectly, and I like how the wrap colors look by themselves, and in context of the carbon fiber surround. (Pics below show some wrap imperfections that I'm addressing this weekend).
Only thing I wish was different: that the Director did not have beveled top edges...just doesn't look as smooth/elegant as it could, but oh well.
On to the tweeters....
Stock with Morel MT250:
Crazy hacked up mounts i came up with using a $5 Lowe's part:
And that's how I left them for over a year or so, having thought about 'it'd be nice to have them on an angle' but never getting around to doing anything about it. Enter 3D printing world, and after just 2 tries of measure / fit / repeat, I got this:
(That's at a 37.5 degree angle.)
Tweeter mounted, just some butyl rope between it and the mount:
And in she goes...
Original grill's fit on top of it, no issue. I can already tell a difference and expect to get some more benefit once I retune (which I've been planning on already). Next up: hooking up OlyS6 with a version for his tweeters ;) Here's the link to file if anyone else is interested in playing with it.
That's it, that's all from the 3D printing world from me. Fun stuff, thought I'd share.
Cheers,
Per
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Originally Posted by ealneas
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