Darin has been bugging me for forever to use the 3d printer to make a blanking plate for the Metro to get rid of the passenger side mirror. Well, I finally had some time between last night and today to get it done.
I started with a cardboard cutout to get the general shape I wanted, and the mounting hole positions. Then, I got it modeled up in CAD. I had to make it in 3 pieces because the printer can't print larger than 5"x5". They lock together with a little dove tail.
So, I got the parts printed out, and got it mounted up to the car. But, the face that you see with the parts is the bottom side of the printed item, and with my current setup you have to scrape it off a perforated board. This makes the black plastic white. Also, ABS doesn't hold up to UV well at all. So, I went about top coating it.
I started by sanding the blanking plate to smooth it out. The, I used some glazing putty to fill in the little pores in the plastic (it doesn't print completely solid).
I didn't do a great job filling it in, but it just fills stuff in and gets sanded off.
This is how it looks after sanding it down all nice with 240 grit.
Then, I primed it.
This didn't turn out perfect either, but not bad.
Then it got a shot of satin black.
Once it dried up, I put it on the car again. Looks better than most of the other panels on it!
