I'm also willing to pay for a couple of sets.
WBR, Tony
I guess I’ll sign up once the initial run has been made.
Me too, love that we're making parts now to replace NLA and non-available stuff. This community is the best!
Live, Love, Life, Amazing...
'91 Dinan 860 Stage III (new 6L engine)
'91 Dinan 850 TT stage III (brand new engine) 21st Century Tech meets 18th Century Dinan...
'91 850i 6sp (mint) (sold)
'90 Dinan 750iL TT stage III (Guido - The Beast)
'94 850 CSi The Detroit Auto Show car (restored to factory perfect) (sold)
'96 850Ci, The George Carlin car
''73 3.0 csi, '08 535i, '03 X5 4.6is
...and a few other non BMW cars
You can all accuse me of ignorance of the widespread interest in these parts. At 1 hour to print one gear and one bucket, I have well over 100 hours of printing time to meet those already requesting parts. This is way beyond the school to support, independent of getting $s back, just due to the time involved. That also requires I monitor this process, they won't run the equipment without someone present, and I don't have 100+ free hours to do this. So..... I am going to see how much it would cost to have a person/company do the printing.
I have also sent Wuffer an email asking him if he can test the new parts so we all can be assured that they will work as designed. I am concerned with the buckets since BMW used a 2-piece part to avoid breaking the bucket when you insert the shaft end and this 1-piece design requires the shaft be pressed into the part, with the potential for breaking it. If someone is in a position to do this testing, let me know and I will send you parts to test.
drphysic
Not sure which two piece part you're referring to - the black plastic 'bucket' part was one piece on my car, and snaps onto the white plastic (which is why the snap dimension is listed as "CTQ" on the drawing - Critical To Quality). Well... The ones in my car were multiple pieces because they were broken. Here you can see the broken original black plastic snapped into the white plastic piece still on the shaft in the upper example:
Creation time was the issue that we ran into several years ago as well. I don't know what material your 3D printer uses, but the Delrin we used previously had no issue with the snap fitting
I sent two sets of the printed gears/buckets to Wuffer today so he can test if the printed versions will work, especially for the buckets. I also have an appointment to look at a set that a local 3D printer guy made this week, to see if the quality/strength appears OK. I know the gears can do the rotation job if they fit on the splined shafts well, but have no experience replacing the buckets, as mine are happily all intact.
The buckets get brittle and break, also because of the axial loads on the adjusters most likely. With a high quality 3D printer, it is easy to make parts that screw together so it would be possible to reproduce the 2-part bucket BMW used if a suitable example is available to take the required measurements. Your broken one might even work for that. If the one-piece buckets work, then this would be a nice to have but not required.
I hope to get all this together before the end of March, but we have a busy travel month, and then are off to Portugal/Spain for 3 weeks until 19 April. I hope to have everything printed by the time I return, and can start shipping then.
Wuffer has tested the parts and none broke in being installed. I have found a printer to make the parts and have got him started printing them. I have 28 sets on order, and asked him to make 30 sets. One set includes 4 gears and 6 buckets. Wuffer said the gears fit very tightly, so there may be a need to either drill out the hole slightly, I've asked him to measure the hole in an original metal gear, or the use of acetone on a Q-tip applied to the hole to soften the plastic slightly.
Since it takes about 1/2 hour to print a part, this represents about 100-150 hours of printing. I don't expect to be shipping sets until April when I return from Europe on the 19th, so be patient.
I don't have final data on the costs, but the estimate is that the cost of a set will be $25 + postage. I will be responding to each that ordered set(s) to get information.
Wuffer.jpg
I’ll take one of the 2 extra sets if it hasn’t been claimed yet
Sent you a PM yesterday; please confirm receipt
SteveCT
E31s
F30 daily driver
I took delivery of 450 parts yesterday, enough for 45 sets. I will start sending them out on Monday 7 May to those who have sent me their address (I have sent a PM to those who have not). I will know the postage cost tomorrow as well. Thanks for your patience with my travel schedule.
drphysic
I think the OP and drphysic deserve a loud round of applause for their contribution here - especially the latter, as he has taken the time out of his schedule to not only get these printed, but bore the cost of such upfront and spent additional time to hunt us all down as he sends them out. You are a true gentleman. Thank you.
I's like to add my compliments and a big THANK YOU to both of these members for their willingness to help obtain repair items that many of us OBVIOUSLY need. Superb work and ideas.
Gary
Last edited by Gary Knox; 05-07-2018 at 11:50 AM.
Gary Knox
'97 BMW 840 Ci
'03 MB SL55 AMG
'07 Mini Cooper S hatchback
'09 Aston Martin DB9 Volante
'13 Audi A8
'90 MB 560 SEC and '94 Porsche 928 GTS recently departed but long enjoyed
50 or so others over the past 70 years of driving
45x $25 = buy yourself a 3D printer for next time and print us more goodies! Coin dispenser, center vent, car phone delete kit. :-)
'89 735i, '91 850i, '81 MB 380SLC (For Sale), Tesla Model 3, and VW Passat TDI -- Yes, I still repair General Modules, DM for info!
Thanks for making these. I would like to get two sets. Please PM me with information. Thanks. Roger
I’m taking my lights apart now. My only question is how did you get the white ball and socket piece out of the old cup without breaking it?
Okay figured it out but now I’m stuck. I have the new cups screwed on. But pushing the 2 piece ball and socket in there is damn near impossible. I mean it’s really tight. I feel like I’m going to break it if I push any harder and this part isn’t replaceable. How did you go about this in testing?
hot water and a dab of vaseline
'91 Dinan 860 Stage III (new 6L engine)
'91 Dinan 850 TT stage III (brand new engine) 21st Century Tech meets 18th Century Dinan...
'91 850i 6sp (mint) (sold)
'90 Dinan 750iL TT stage III (Guido - The Beast)
'94 850 CSi The Detroit Auto Show car (restored to factory perfect) (sold)
'96 850Ci, The George Carlin car
''73 3.0 csi, '08 535i, '03 X5 4.6is
...and a few other non BMW cars
Awesome I’ll try that. I hit it with some silicone spray lube but didn’t work so I guess I’ll report back with that method.
Okay yeah that doesn’t work. I have no idea how you inserted this in to the cup it flat out does not fit. I’m going to crush the ball and socket if I push any harder on this.
Wheaties is your friend. I remember the 1st time I did this several years ago it almost scare me to death but they finally popped in.
How’d you do it years ago when these parts were made 2 weeks ago.
But yeah if anyone gets there’s in and attempts to install them I guess let me know how you got passed this part because I’ve tried everything I know to do and it’s not working so.
Last edited by killian665; 05-18-2018 at 08:35 PM.
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