3D printing.

[Richard48Y]

I was "This close" to getting a nice VMC recently but just could not quite get it done.
I was gifted a decent beginner grade 3D printer in its place.
Fairly frustrating machine but I am getting the hang of it.
Turns out that PVA is tougher stuff than I expected.
If not for the layer lines it would make nice vent grills, it may yet make sand-casting patterns.
There are supposed to be some other filaments that can be smoothed after print.
The main benefit of this machine for now is that I finally have a motivation to brush up my G-Code and a way to confirm what I've drawn.

First real part I have made is a bracket to hold a dial indicator in place rather than setting the Z (Vertical hight) with a piece of paper and "Feel".
Running second one now just to have a spare, they are plastic.

[EuropaTC]

3D printing does get addictive.  You rapidly end up when faced with a problem thinking "can I design and print something to do that ?" 

I bought a Creality CR6SE a couple of years ago with no real idea why I wanted one other than curiousity. A mate told me to try Fusion 360 for design and after a fairly steep learning curve you get into the swing with it.

I started off making some badges which is fairly easy using PLA+. After a while I had a go at creating a simple tool for marking arrows (archery) which is basically a copy of a commercial item which I'd tried to buy but was NLA.   That turned out very well, is probably on Version 9999 now but makes fletching vanes very simple and 100% accurate.

The problem for car related items isn't making them but temperature in use, for example the dash top vents will see a lot of heat during summer (well, maybe not in the UK) and softening can be a problem with PLA. It'll work fine for a prototype but long term you'll want a more temparture resistant material. 

Brian