Anyone In The Club Do 3-D Printing. I Have a Project

[carlhungness]

The 2 1/2" is the width of the available space on the valve cover, 18" long. As long as the type really reminds one of Cadillac I don't think it's going to make much difference. People are going to raise their eyebrows in judgment the minute they see the Antoine,etc. and some will love it, others will hate it. That's art. I think Abe Lugo has it down pat for me.

[spolij]

 Antoine de La Moth Cadillac Did he start Cadillac?

[carlhungness]

He died in 1730. Henry Leyland walked into the factory Henry Ford walked out of and convinced the investors he had a magnificent little internal combustion engine they should put in a car, so the company wasn't auctioned, and their product became The Standard of The World after they proved it at Brooklands.

[spolij]

I remember reading that

[Glen]

As I recall, Henry Leyland was building engines for Ransom Eli Olds, he designed and built a better engine but Olds rejected it.  When Leyland presented his better engine to the Ford investors, saying it would run smoother than other engines the investors laughed.  He put the engine on the board room table and started it up and proved his point.   

[carlhungness]

I've read the same thing about Leyland and Olds although I didn't know for sure if he had actually built engines for them. At the time he was running the Leyland-faulconer foundry and if memory serves correctly they produced some very fine cast iron sewing machines. At any rate, Leyland and his son (who had been studying to be a doctor) were awfully important to the progression of the automobile. Too bad he died a bitter old-timer over his fracas with Ford and the Lincoln.

[stevehayes]

The idea is amazing, I should ask an acquaintance because he said he know someone who is doing great 3D printing. That guys has different types of printers from www.mrdepot.ca and he know everything about 3D projects and he is also doing 3D printing of all types. Recently, they had a project with an old and crushed Toyota Supra. At the beginning they repaired it and made it look like an original one. Then they started to print body kits and many exterior and interior custom parts. Now this car looks more than perfect.

[carlhungness]

    I think the actual end result is probably going to be done in aluminum, not 3-D.

[carlhungness]

I'd still like to have the name of a good 3-D printer if you get it.

[spolij]

If you google laser cutting companies there are quite a few around the country.

[79 Eldorado]

Carl,
In my experience you should have a test fit sample before you pay for a professional version. I guess in this case it's pretty straight forward but I've thought that on other projects only to find that I wanted to change something later.

If someone wants to help you with your 3D model I could try to print it in PLA. I can see, from some of the posts above, that others have CAD tools which would be more ideal for designing the script. I would need the person to send me a "stp" file or a "stl" file. The "stp" is a universal 3D format which almost any software can use and "stl" is a meshed version which can be imported into any 3D printer program to create the printer specific code.

From the 3D print standpoint, if I were to print a test part, I think the following would lead to the highest probability for success:
-Characters printed on a thin backing as opposed to characters only
-You may need to split some of the words. I may have success with a total length of up to around 450mm, pushing the limit, but the longer it gets the better my bed needs to be leveled across the entire width. There will also always be the potential for some warp due to the heated bed and cooling. I'm currently printing something which is 50mm x 240mm with no issues.
-Character minimum dimensions: If the characters get very narrow it may very well be an issue. I'm thinking of that peaked look you want and an overall narrow font.

I think you or someone else mentioned something like a lost foam casting. I've only ever used that process with a Styrofoam core and Aluminum but I've wondered if it would work with a 3D part using PLA which is the most commonly available hobbyist 3D print filament. I was also wondering is you could possibly make a mold using the 3D printed part. It sounded like maybe you had some experience trying something like that.

One other comment. I thought your idea was a nice way of personalizing it. I would even think of taking some artistic freedom. I mean with the font. Some of the examples shown above, which were not technically the exact official match, I thought may have even looked better than the official/original but were still pretty close to the official font and true to the intent. I believe we would be naive to think that Cadillac had only a single design proposal prior to deciding on the final version (both text and font). Your proposed design could have even been one of the other design proposals .

Scott

[carlhungness]

I agree with all you've said and at the moment Abe Lugo is working on the file..I believe he can come up with the necessary file.  I also agree with doing a test run or two to know what's going to fit, how it shall be attached, etc. I'm in no rush to have anything cast in stone or anything else for that matter. I don't know if the file can be CNC'd or if a mold will be necessary. I've done a lot of bronze and it is a ton of work, plus expensive. I've had a few pieces sand-cast and the problem there is with the finished product, trying to get the little letters smooth throughout is a tough challenge.
As with many of my projects, this one is a lot more complex than I thought in the beginning, but we'll learn from it and ultimately come up with something suitable, so stay tuned and will keep in touch.
My home e mail is carlhungness@frontier.com and I'm at 812 273-2472.
I appreciate your interest.

[79 Eldorado]

Hi Carl,
Once you are happy with the design from Abe you can email the file to me. I don't know what experience Abe has with 3D printing so if he needs to ask a question during the design just let me know.

Scott
PS: I also sent you an email directly from mine.

[Abe Lugo]

Hey Guys,
Just saw this, my regular work is in the busy season. I was hoping to put some time into this during the week. I was also going to print some scale 2D to see how it would fit on my 500 engine.
Will let you guys know soon enough.

Abe