Omg... An update! After taking many months off due to other projects and being busy, I'm finally back at it... And seeing the light at the end of the tunnel!
When I last updated, I was struggling to figure out how to print the large side walls that had the star texture. Even though these little stars are simple, their geometry adds up real quick and suddenly you have thousands upon thousands of faces.
Originally, I wanted to print these long side walls as one piece. But I realized that I could not do that, the complexity of the models was too much for the Bambu Studio (the program that actually prints the 3D models). So, I decided to cut it up into three parts, right along the middle line of the Star texture. Below you can see how I decided to cut it. This should mean clean lines without seams.
So, I got to work. I could have used the super fine .2mm nozzle, but that would take forever. The quality would probably be even better, but I think the standard .4mm nozzle would do this fine. So for the last 2 days I printed the three pieces and internal supports to help them go together. Below you can see some of the supports I created along with the Ford logo. I made the logo so it will fit into the oval slot on the sidewall. This allows me to not have any seams on the Ford logo where I cut it to three parts, and also makes it easier for me to paint the top edge gold.
Anyway, so the three pieces took about 6-7 (don't you dare) hours each piece. Here's a look at the fully printed and quickly put together (with tape) sidewall. It's looking really good! There's a bit of an alignment issue with the side seams, which are actually there on the original battery. I mimiced those exactly. You'll see one of the 'deco valleys', as I call them, is white. I'm starting the sanding process on that. Basically, those three little half tube deco lines will be sanded smooth. Then it's just painting black, which will instantly bring out the star texture.
The lid fits perfectly, like a glove. The shorter side walls link up really well too. Just needs to be glued together once the other long side wall, with the Ford logo, is printed. I'll be using JB Weld plastic epoxy bonder which will essentially weld the plastic together at a chemical level.
It'll take another 2 days to print the rest of it. Once it's done, I'll report back how that side came out. But it's starting to really look like a1940 Ford battery!