3D Printing and Vehicle Modification

3D Design for a sPOD SourceLT and Universal Mount

The affordability of 3D printing has changed the way I modify my vehicle. Not long ago if some part didn’t exist that fit my need I had to do without. A lot has changed over the years but how did all this lead me to making my own parts? How did I end up making this?

3D printed Quick Fist Mount

Before 2010 manufacturing my own parts wasn’t a reasonable option.

Charles W. Hull invented the stereolithography printer in 1986. In 1987 you could purchase the SLA-1 Original 3D Printer for about $300,000 UDS. The equivalent in 2023 value is just over a million dollars. For the next 20 years 3D printing and rapid prototyping was was out of reach for most people leaving just the traditional manufacturing process.

Between 2004 and 2005 the interest in low cost 3D printers skyrocketed when Dr. Adrian Bowyer, a Senior Lecturer in mechanical engineering at the University of Bath in England, introduced the idea of 3D printers that could self-replicate. The project named RepRap (‘REPlicating RAPid prototyper’) was open source and interest in low cost 3D printing spread worldwide.

Rep Rap Version I: Darwin 3d printer
Rep Rap Version I: Darwin 3d printer
Source: https://reprap.org/wiki/Darwin

Then the 3D Printing landscape changed in 2009. Charles W. Hull’s patent of stereolithography (SLA) and Stratasys’ patent for fused deposition modeling (FDM) technology expired. New DIY kits became available and competition for the new non-commercial user market drove prices for DIY 3D Printer kits even lower.

2010 and Maker Culture

During the early 2010’s, around the time Formlabs Kickstarter campaign for the FORM 1 began, online 3D printing service companies like Shapeways, Sculpteo, i.materialise, 3D Hubs, etc. moved to capitalize on the growing interest of 3D printing and the emerging market of low production number 3D printing. Offering multiple printing materials and the ability to print larger then a typical DIY 3D Printer. For individuals and small companies who didn’t want to or couldn’t afford to invest in a commercial 3D Printer it offers the capability of rapid prototyping without the upfront cost. By 2018 the 3D printing industry was generating more than $7 billion in revenue.

So here I am

It’s in this environment that I found myself looking for a part that didn’t exist. A Quick Fist mount for a Frontrunner roof rack. Having some CAD experience I was fascinated by the prospect of being able to manufacture my own parts so I dived in.

Not without mistakes of course. There’s an expression “fail fast, fail often” and by that measure my first attempts were an astounding success. If you plan on taking the same dive my advice is to literally start small when using online 3D printing services. You pay as much, if not more, for the volume of the object you wish to print than for the materials. Also invest in a precision measuring tools. Just eyeballing it will get expensive fast.

Eventually the incline of the learning curve began to level out. I also found myself in need of another impossible to find part. A relocation kit that worked with the OEM Tacoma backup camera and a custom rear bumper. It took several reprints to get the pitch of the camera correct as well as understanding the tolerances of the materials. Being a relatively small part the experience was worth the cost of the do-overs.

From There to Here by Just Making Stuff

Following is a sampling of the progression of the complexity of the parts I had manufactured. It also highlights a transition into creating parts to address an afterthought to that of being part of the modification from the very start. From filling in a need with a camera relocation mount on a bumper that didn’t have one. To making improvements on something that was satisfactory by cleaning up a solar panel cable pass through for a project that was in progress. To planning the location of a compressor switch and quick disconnect and working the other components in to fit within that design plan.

3D Printer Design of a Toyota Tacoma OEM Backup Camera relocation mount
Toyota Tacoma OEM Backup Camera relocation mount
3D Printer design of the Cascadia 4x4 VSS System / Deutsch connector bracket
Cascadia 4×4 VSS System/Deutsch connector bracket
3D Printer design of the ARB Compressor switch and quick disconnect mount
Tacoma interior ARB Compressor switch and quick disconnect mount
3D Printed mount used to relocating the backup camera to the rear bumper swing arm
Backup camera relocated to the rear bumper swing arm
3D Printed VSS System/Deutsch bracket mounted to the windshield cowl.
VSS System/Deutsch bracket mounted to the windshield cowl
3D Printed ARB Compressor switch and quick disconnect mounted in a Tacoma
ARB Compressor switch and quick disconnect behind the driver’s seat

You need only time to start manufacturing your own parts

3D printing services will vary in costs, materials available, and limitations of the size of the printed object. Online CAD services will vary in the design of the user interface as well as the file formats available for download. Each have their own advantages and disadvantages. Including their location to take advantage of shipping time and/or currency exchange rates.

My current project is a sPOD SourceLT / universal mount for the engine bay of a Subaru Crosstrek. I don’t own a 3D Printer or CAD software. It, and everything I’ve designed and had manufactured, exists through using some of the services I’ve listed below. The lists are by far not exhaustive but they will help you get started.

sPOD SourceLT / Universal Mount for the Subaru Crosstrek.

3D Printing Services

Browser-based CAD programs

  • Onshape – Mechanical Engineering / Advanced Product Design
  • SelfCAD – 3D Printing / Beginners
  • Sketchup – Architecture / Product Design
  • TinkerCAD – Beginners / Education
  • Vectary – Product / Graphic Design
  • Fusion360 – Advanced Features / Free for non-commercial use.

I’ve used Sculpteo and Shapeways printing services. Both are similar in printing materials available and in price with Sculpteo being less expensive than Shapeways with some materials. Of the browser-based CAD programs I’ve only used Sketchup. Mostly because I’ve used it since Google acquired (and later sold) the original creator @Last Software and all its quirks are familiar to me.

Further Reading

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We invite you to participate and constructively contribute. Are you using a different online service that’s not listed here that you want to recommend? Let us and the readers know by joining our community.


FULL DISCLOSURE: The products and services mentioned in this article were paid for by the author.

Project Tundra // Winter (Pre-OXW) Update

RXT Rear Suspension

Late last fall, Project Tundra received a pre-production set of ICON Vehicle Dynamics RXT rear suspension – and the change these RXT parts made to the vehicle’s performance was profound.  The RXT system is made up of a user-configurable, Icon leaf spring pack that replaces the OEM Toyota leaf pack. Also included are Tundra specific shocks with increased travel, and a hydraulic bump stop kit.  Taken as a whole, these parts all work together to make your rear suspension next level.  Project Tundra already has the hydraulic bump stop kit, but adding the RXT leafs and shocks made a huge difference in the way the truck performs.  The best part about the RXT kit is that it can be configured to your specific truck and the amount of additional weight you have in your truck bed, so the end result is a system that will deliver much better performance than a one size fits all solution.  Here’s how it all works.

The RXT leafs for the Toyota Tundra can be configured in three ways all depending on how much additional weight is over your truck’s rear axle, or how much lift you want.  The leaf pack comes configured from ICON to handle an additional 250 pounds of payload while providing about 1.75 inches of additional lift.  If you swap out the third leaf in the RXT leaf pack with the provided additonal leaf, the pack will handle an additional 500 pounds of payload and add 3 inches of lift.  Finally, adding the additional leaf to the pack will provide 750 pounds of carrying capacity and add 4 inches of lift to the rear of an unladen Tundra.

I opted for the + 500 pounds option on Project Tundra, as two dirtbikes or our typical gear loadouts with the truck cap and roof rack come in around this mark.

Installing the leaf packs is easily done in the driveway on an afternoon with basic tools and an extra set of hands.  The first thing you’ll need to do is choose what configuration you want the leaf pack in, and then make any desired changes prior to mounting to the vehicle  A couple of C-Clamps will help you keep the packs from disassembling themselves when you loosen the locating bolt, and otherwise the process is well covered in the instructions.  With the packs configured as desired, lift up the back of the truck SAFELY and swap the packs out.

The other part of the RXT equation are the shocks which provide additional stroke over the 2.5 VS CDCV units that we’ve been using.  ICON offers three levels of shocks, named with their Stage-Number convention.  Stage 1 shocks offer vehicle specific valving, Stage 2 adds the CDC Valve, and Stage 3 adds Omega-level shocks that feature rebound and compression damping.  All RXT kits include the hydraulic bump stop Kit – another system we’ve absolutely loved having on Project Tundra.

As I mentioned in the last article, the performance difference realized by installing the IVD suspension on Project Tundra was huge, so the bar was already set quite high when the RXT parts arrived.  The RXT suspension makes a night and day difference over stock leafs or even an add-a-leaf – especially when you’re carrying any kind of weight.

Speaking of the Icon 2.5 VS CDCV shocks I took off the vehicle, I’m happy to report that after a year of use all over the Southwest the shocks are still in great shape and still fully functional.  Yes, there is pitting on the lower shock mounts and the aluminum bodies aren’t as shiny as new, but this wear has been earned from logging thousands of miles bombing around off-road and on wintry roads.  It turns out flying rocks are an equal opportunity destroyer, so I don’t care whose shock you have – pitting and aluminum oxidation are going to happen.  What counts is that all of the ICON shock shafts look great, and all of the seals are holding tight – so these shocks still have plenty of life left in them before they get rebuilt.

The RXT suspension has handled every type of terrain I’ve pointed it at so far with performance that’s perfectly matched to the front end, which is to say that the back end has now been turned up to match the front end.  The ability to set the leaf pack up for your specific vehicle depending on what you do with your truck and how much weight you carry combined with the damping adjustment from the CDCV and Omega level shocks make the RXT system the choice for Tundra rear suspension.

 

 

LINE-X

Spray-In truck bed liners are hands down the best way to project your truckbed from sharp tools, ski edges, car parts, the occasional steel-fab project, and everything else life throws at your truck bed.  The problem is that the OEM spray in liners leave a lot to be desired, which is why I took a trip to San Diego before SoCal Desert Rendezvous to make an appointment at Line-X of San Diego.

At Line-X of San Diego, Dallas and Chris applied their years of experience in truck bed coatings to come up with in a spray in bedliner application for Project Tundra that was exactly what I was looking for.  In addition to protecting the sheet metal, I wanted to do a few custom things that would make the bed of project Tundra better suited to my needs.  First up, I pulled off the stupid plastic caps that run around the bed rails of the truck.  These pointless pieces of plastic exist only to trap dirt and dust, and when sandwiched with a load (like a truck cap) become plastic backed sandpaper that wears on your paint and in no time at all, starts wearing on bare metal.  Taking the plastic caps off also allowed Dallas and Chris to do a true over the rail bedliner, providing extra protection to the bedsides from the truck cap and from me when I’m loading heavy things over the sides of the truck bed.

With all of the holes in the bed rails covered, we then turned our attention to sealing up all of the drain holes in the truck bed to make the thing as dust proof as possible.

Line-X is also a great thing to spray on your truck’s rocker panels to protect them from rocks and other road debris that are constantly tossed up by your tires.  I sprayed the rocker panels on my Tacoma, and it’s held up great to hundreds of thousands of miles of dirt and rocks.  Again Dallas and Chris applied their expert hands and took the time to remove the plastic wheel well trim so that they could tuck the Line-X under the plastic bits once installed – a detail that will only serve to help lengthen the lifespan of Project Tundra’s sheet metal.

Chris and Dallas devoted an entire day to applying Line-X to Project Tundra, and the results of their attention to detail and skill speak for themselves.  Project Tundra’s bed and rocker panels are now armored-up to handle hundreds of thousands of miles of dirt and rock, and all of the gear hauling I can throw in the truck bed.

ABOUT THOSE HUB CAPS

I’ve had a couple of the hub caps on my ICON Alloys Six Speed wheels break, and when I called Icon to asking about buying new hub caps, I was really happy to hear that they’ve redesigned the caps to fix this very issue.  The new hub caps are screwed together (the old design was a snap-fit) and I do not expect to see any failure or issues from this new design.  I need to give ICON props for revising and continuously improving their products, rather than simply selling more copies of an imperfect design.

LET THERE BE LIGHT

Yes, Project Tundra will be getting fully armored – but as with any good thing, it takes some time.  So in the mean time I’ve been working with Pelfreybilt Offroad to design brackets for the Tundra’s A-Pillars and stock front bumper, so that I can add some light while I’m waiting for my armor to arrive.  With a bit of time spent in Solidworks, I’ve developed A-Pillar brackets for the Tundra that will hold an XL 80, as well as brackets that will allow me to run a Baja Designs 30” S8 light bar in the stock bumper.

Project Tundra will be receiving it’s armor soon, so I’ll leave this update with a photo I took of what’s to come.  Stop by and see us at the American Adventurist booth at Overland Expo West (PS1) and say hi!

Full disclosure:  ICON Vehicle Dynamics provided the RXT suspension for review and testing purposes at no cost to Chad de Alva or American Adventurist.  Line-X of San Diego installed their products free of charge.