What did you do to / for your E53 today??

[nick325xit 5spd]

Originally Posted by EODguy

Wonder if someone's regular (not industrial) 3D printer would handle making one?

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It's way too big for any normal printer. Also, the amount of time required to set up, not to mention the time required to print this sort of piece would be prohibitive. Paying the $$$ for a piece of plastic is painful, but it would be more painful to try to produce it that way. Even if you had a ginormous 3D printer.

[EODguy]

Originally Posted by nick325xit 5spd

It's way too big for any normal printer. Also, the amount of time required to set up, not to mention the time required to print this sort of piece would be prohibitive. Paying the $$$ for a piece of plastic is painful, but it would be more painful to try to produce it that way. Even if you had a ginormous 3D printer.

Just a thought after seeing this vid.
I don't know jack about 3d printing.

https://www.instructables.com/Simple...nt-HUGE-Parts/

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[nick325xit 5spd]

Originally Posted by EODguy

Just a thought after seeing this vid.
I don't know jack about 3d printing.

https://www.instructables.com/Simple...nt-HUGE-Parts/

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Well...

1) A conveyor belt is a big add on that will cost a lot to do correctly.
2) You'd need to rotate the piece to do a wheel arch. So a conveyor belt wouldn't work as you'd need a fairly complex motion.

Basically, the dimensions are too big for home 3D printing.

And, again, amount of time that it takes to CAD one of these pieces is pretty significant. How many hours is it worth to save $175? How much would you spend to have the ability to do that? Realistically, the kind of 3D printers that *might* be capable of replicating *this* piece start well north of $10k. (It might actually be pushing $100k.)

And don't forget that the 3D printed piece would require finishing after all this. For a one off piece, you'd probably be better off hand fabricating in fiberglass.

[EODguy]

Originally Posted by nick325xit 5spd

Well...



1) A conveyor belt is a big add on that will cost a lot to do correctly.

2) You'd need to rotate the piece to do a wheel arch. So a conveyor belt wouldn't work as you'd need a fairly complex motion.



Basically, the dimensions are too big for home 3D printing.



And, again, amount of time that it takes to CAD one of these pieces is pretty significant. How many hours is it worth to save $175? How much would you spend to have the ability to do that? Realistically, the kind of 3D printers that *might* be capable of replicating *this* piece start well north of $10k. (It might actually be pushing $100k.)



And don't forget that the 3D printed piece would require finishing after all this. For a one off piece, you'd probably be better off hand fabricating in fiberglass.

Figures I let my excitement get ahead of reality...

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[guntherrex]

yeah I replaced the rivet already but the plastic pins going into the body seem to be wiggling loose. I guess I'll bite the bullet and order a new one with a pack of BMW rivets to make sure

[LA02MAX]

Finally was able to drain my transfer case.

It's something I've been wanting to do since I first got my car a little over a year ago, but the drain plug was so tight that it started to round off. I put it to the side since I needed to drop the transmission crossmember to really get to the bolt.

So yesterday, I removed the exhaust, dropped the transmission cross member, and tried to get the bolt off. I used penetrant first with no luck. Then I used a torch and tried rocking the torque back and forth, using a hammer, etc. Eventually I felt like the socket was just about to give up on the bolt head, so I switched to an easy out and a 6' breaker bar. Still no luck, so I cut the head off the bolt and then notched a slot in it. I used a chisel and hammer to rotate it out. What a pain!

New bolt vs. old bolt in 2 pieces:

[X5chemist]

Wow! An air hammer time! Or a manual impact. Both work great!

[nick325xit 5spd]

I haven't needed it yet, but i'm looking "forward" to the opportunity to try this:
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Mayhew-37...eaker/47445511

[LA02MAX]

Originally Posted by X5chemist

Wow! An air hammer time! Or a manual impact. Both work great!

Doh! Totally forgot about my air hammer lol. But I think an impact would have stripped that thing out quicker... the threads were just sort of rounded off from when i tried removing it using an open-ended wrench while the crossmember was still on the car.

[nick325xit 5spd]

Originally Posted by LA02MAX

Doh! Totally forgot about my air hammer lol. But I think an impact would have stripped that thing out quicker... the threads were just sort of rounded off from when i tried removing it using an open-ended wrench while the crossmember was still on the car.

That's what makes the shake n break interesting. It's just hammering on the fastener to loosen it up. You turn it with a wrench when it gets loose.