3-D Printing

Sadly I can't afford to service an Audi, let alone to buy one in the first place.

John

Funny enough I was having a look through some of the items that have been printed on Shapeways website and among them were a few spare parts for Audis

J

Having fixed many a strange problem on Audis for co-workers over the years, I certainly would not want to own one. Never seen such odd bits of electronic gadgetry for simple things like door locks and windshield wiper delays. One such wiper control unit had 6 individual circuit boards packed in a metal enclosure on a base like a relay. A new replacement was out of the question for the owner as it was well over $2000 from the dealer, about 3 weeks' take home pay for the guy at the time. We ended up making a new delay wipe control based on the well known 555 timer IC and a few discrete components to replace the old one - total cost $8 including a heavy duty relay. Drilled a hole and mounted the pot shaft for adjusting the delay period under the lower lip of the instrument panel. He took the controller unit out when he sold the car and has fitted the unit in several cars since.

Another Audi had a really odd seal design between the fuel filler cap and the fill neck. We just could not get it to seal, and the car would not run unless the tank could have about a half a psi pressure built up in the fuel tank, so a seal was mandatory. The replacement was over $300 from the dealer and not guaranteed if there was any rust at all in the filler neck. We ended up adapting a seal off a small engine for a large portable concrete mixer that fit almost perfectly with a minor od trim and it sealed with no trouble, total cost $1.75.

We won't talk about the 24 ga headlight wiring that caught fire regularly on one lady's Audi, until we replaced it with normal 12 gauge wire as used for most headlight wiring on other cars of the time. Or the gearshift reverse interlock switch on one guy's Audi that was so close to the pivot it had to be set within about .0015" to work (until we modified it with some real world +/-.125" engineering)

Lovely memories of fixing some dismal but very expensive status symbol cars in cold Canadian parking lots usually in February. Just pretend you are in a garage made of ice blocks at the end of an aircraft wind tunnel. At the time you think you will never be warm again.

JD

German engineering is generally pretty good, except that there is always at least one thing that will make you say "what were they thinking of?". I said this to some German engineers when I was working over there for a couple of years, and they agreed that it was a fair comment...

Interestingly, they were all keen to ask about Japanese cars. They were aware that here in NZ we mostly see the Japanese stuff, and they had a high opinion of it. Apparently the ADAC (German AA) does a survey each year on which cars have the least problems, and apparently Toyota was cleaning it up every year around that time. (2000-2001) I had to point out that they would only be seeing the higher end models there, while here in NZ we get whatever is available on the Japanese secondhand market. Most cars in NZ are imported second hand from Japan after a few years service.

John

Dangerous to generalise but anyway. Generally the Japanese and Korean companies are the top tier, followed by the Germans/GM/Ford in the middle and the likes of Renault, PSA, Fiat, Chrysler (and remember Rover?) etc at the bottom. Funny thing is that VW got away with making out they were very reliable yet were only ever average and more recently very poor (the power of marketing). Another funny thing is that Skoda (also part of the VAG group) made very much the same vehicles as VW but their vehicles were/are noticeably more reliable. I worry about Nissan, as they are co-owned by the same company that owns Renault.

Quality is a cultural thing that is very hard to change, much like a personality. Hondas are often referred to as the engineer's car! Yes, I have owned a long string of them, as well as a range of outliers for reference....

Merry

3D printing must be here to stay , there was a question about it on a TV quiz show a couple of days ago !

It will only be accepted when the media use size phrases like "its as big as xx double decker busses, football pitches or swimming pools.

> 3D printing must be here to stay , there was a question about it on a TV quiz show a couple of days ago !

That's nothing. It was a topic on Just A Minute last weekend!

I made the mistake of buying a Rover because it appeared to be basically the same car as my previous Honda Integra. despite sharing a body shape, the Honda was the second best car I ever owned (after an RX7!) and Rover the second worst (just above a Marina).

Losing Longbridge was a terrible blow for Birmingham, but the poor quality was the real problem, whoever was to blame.

Neil

Edited By Neil Wyatt on 19/02/2014 11:12:47

At least with British Leyland you could use the same cheap replacement headlight over a 40 year period on a mini, MG, rangerover and Landrover.

I had a GM-era Saab 9000 for less than a year. Lovely car, very comfortable and solid, lots of comforts. But after the engine grenaded a couple of times we found ourselves leaving the Saab at home when we had to go any distance and instead packing into a miserable Citroen diesel we'd been given. Eventually I saw sense, sold both and went back to Hondas. Paid my dad 2 grand for it, spent 2 grand on it, sold it for 2 grand and did less than 2000 miles. Would have been cheaper taking taxis. Never had a confidence problem since.

The guy who forced the sale of Rover to BMW was the same idiot who oversaw the demise of Lord Weinstock's GEC. Rover was only a few years into a long journey to change their quality culture. Honda was never interested in owning them, just being a cross shareholder as is common with Japanese companies. Funny thing is that a Rover often cost more than its Honda equivalent. Used to make my toes curl when we were told to buy British. Said idiot was made a Baron for his services.....

Absolutely disgusting the way Towers and his buddies sold off Rover assets for their personal gain and left the employees on their own. The final chapter of a shameful story.

Edited By Muzzer on 19/02/2014 18:53:41

Sequel to the Rover story is a few years ago I was in China in my endless search for the elusive two quid having volunteered to carry Ketans bags in return of said two quid, however it was not to be and I digress.

We were collected from the airport in a luxury car and Ketan sat in the front with the driver and I sat in the rear in case the two quid slipped out his pocket and rolled onto the floor, sorry digressing again.

Now I'm no car buff but this was nice leather seats central display, changing into reversing camera etc., before they became common, knew it wasn't a Merc or BMW because I've cut enough up in the Donald so thought Audi ? or some such. Getting out at the hotel and had a look and it was a Rowie [ Chinese can't say Rover - true ] and this was one of the first off the newly assembled Chinese production lines.

We never had this model when we produced them and it had taken them only two years to move a plant halfway round the world and get it setup. Why couldn't we have done this ?

Edited By John Stevenson on 19/02/2014 23:09:31

Here is a very good (In my opinion) video of the full lost PLA casting process.

Les.

Thanks for posting that, Les

MichaelG.

Hello all,

For those into these things, try this as a master class in 3D printing

**LINK**

Regards

Brian

Moved from Garage door thread by JasonB

Edited By JasonB on 04/03/2014 12:37:02