how to make replica plastic pieces?

[Blazin95Red325i]

I want to replicate some plastic pieces on the bimmer but do not have the slightest clue where to begin.

Is there a make at home diyer kit or do I have to go out and get a company to make it for me, if this is the case anyone done this before? any suggestions, ideas

thanks in advance

[Blazin95Red325i]

bump

anyone?

[Ruffian]

More info would be cool. Which pieces? and why not just replace them with oem? If you're looking to use some different kind of material, then you might need to take a casting.

[Blazin95Red325i]

Mainly interior pieces that cost an arm and a leg at the stealership, maybe I can make them myself or have them made at a plastics company for cheap.

ie pilars, switch surrounds...

[Ruffian]

Problem with having them made is that while the actual fabrication materials are cheap, it's gunna cost you an arm and a leg to have them only do ONE piece. Most of the profit and "cheapness" in plastics comes from doing a gazillion pieces only after the initial form fitting. If you're repairing broken pieces, they may be able to "weld" them for you using molten plastics, but i'm thinking salvage yard might be the way to go.

I've done some plastic work for computing applications, but i was always modding a piece that was already whole : shaving, heat gun warping and what not.

If for say your switch arounds, you're just cutting out sheet plastic pieces, then that might be do-able. You might even be able to pick up some materials at a local Home Depot.

[rcnano]

maybe you could try fiberglass instead? Or better yet...just try junkyards or eBay and wait for it to come up..

[Flying V]

www.Alumilite.com

[Blazin95Red325i]

But I am looking to replicate these pieces and sell them on ebay. So I really need something that can duplicate the original to oem spec and quality and longevity.

Anyone ever contract for plastic pieces with a plastics company before?
Thanks for the help so far

[Rory]

Not going to go into detail now, as you can find all the info you need on the web (google)

Basically to produce plastic parts you will need tooling to be fabricated for each specific part, this will cost at least $10000 up to $1000000 to make this equipment.

As when i was working on a sports car project the only way as with many low volume manufactures is to use fiberglass and this is due to the costs of plastics.

Worth some investigation though to see what you come up with but i feel you will never be able to beat the price of the oem part you are trying to replicate.

[Hyperion]

Oddly phrased question.

I don't know what you are trying to make, or produce.


But try this. RTV Silicone, and plastic resin. Do a search, you will get back lots of hits. YOu can easily at home make parts and it will not cost you a lot of money.

This is what a lot of home modler builders use to make replica parts/modles.

The RTV means room temperature vulcanizing. So it will set up with no curing or heat needed it just is time based. A mold can be easily made using legos, or a small wooden box. More complex molds can be made using mold release agent, and seperate pours of RTV Silicone.

The silicone is so percise that you can see fingerprints on the final piece if the part was not properly cleaned.


Hope that helps you out and sends you in the right direction.

[Blazin95Red325i]

Well I did not want to give away my idea, but I was hoping for a way to duplicate the m3 door mouldings and sell them for a profit. (4 door and half 2dr) Plastics themselves are not very expensive, it is mostly the machining, equipment and labor that make it hard to produce in little quantities.

I figured if I could get a company to do the casting, make the mold and produce around 50 sets at most. Obviously this would be much cheaper than making them from scratch and then making sure they are up to par to the oem plastic, as far as longevity and flexibiltiy and anit scuffing (i guess if the dye is incorporated I would not have to worry about fade from scratching).

Anyway as you can see it is nearly impossible to get this off the ground. As far as finding a plastics manufacturing plant in the area, finding the right person to talk to....

I considered using the glue or liquid abs used to bond abs plumbing together, but it is very brittle and glossy. I know manufacturing is no cake walk but once its off the ground there is no stopping it. Like Jim's angel eyes and how they first were made, at a plant (plastics I think). Of course a large investment would be needed up front, but I know everyone would want one for around 100 bucks for the whole thing brand new.

Well if you've read this far might as well leave some advice or ideas. thanks

[Hyperion]

YOuoare talking onf full on manufacturing. That is much more difficult than home made stuff. It will require very expensive and large injection molds.

I suggest calling Jim, seeing if he has any advice he can give you or any leads/manifactures that might be albe to produce what you desire.

Keep in mind though, that you cannot mold someone elses part and resell it as your own, that is copyright infringement.

But I would like to see some badgeless moldings.

I am currently working on some custom designed Motorsport International motorsport emblems. I got to get that done, I have had the moldings sitting on my dest too long.

[v.b.]

you have to make the mold first..
and then inject ABS into the mold...

the material is worthless, but the mold will cost you 1-3g for
aluminum block...plus labour of course

[Blazin95Red325i]

Thanks for all the input,

I might try this in the future, but if such a large quantity is required to be manufactured I would rather make it for the e46 rather than the e36. With the new 3er coming out I would not want to get stuck with a thousand pieces of mouldings with no one to sell them to.

In all honesty I really do not think it is really that difficult to make these pieces, the molds and casting are impossible if I want somehting that can turn out 1k+ pieces from the cast, but for a turn out of less than 100 pieces I think it is def. possible to get the indgredients and mix them together and mix them into the molds. Maybe I should pitch this idea to pcp or depo, since they already have the ability to manuf. plastics, like their headlights and their spoiler.


As far as copyright infringment, I honestly had not thought of the badgeless design, I was thinking of tweaking the dimensions to a reassonable extent, like the taiwanese parts manufacturers do for knockoff car body parts...

[MDR]

Ignoring the legal issues that I'm not qualified to speak to.

For shorter runs of plastic parts, you could vacuum form the plastic. Lots of info on the web on how to build a vacuum form machine. You'll have to make a master part, undersize by the thickness of your plastic, but you can bang a bunch of parts out. The master can be wood, glass, metal -metal will last the longest but the most expensive to make. You can also outsource the process to a pro, but it will still be expensive. Vacuum forming may also limit the selection of plastics that you could use.

[Blazin95Red325i]

How would I obtain the plastic necessary for the forming of the pieces? TIA

Besides I do not think bmw patents their cars, not in the states at least?
But I'll do some further research, and even ask them and see what BMW NA says.