Reverse Engineering Spare Parts

[nicco]

Hi everyone,

I wanted to throw this out to the world to see if anyone is interested in what I've been working on; I've been busy reverse engineering the air con controls chassis for an AUII or AUIII with manual air con controls.

The one in my car, and all the ones I've found in wreckers, is starting to disintegrate after years of being tucked in under the dash of the car.

I've spent a few years building up my car and plan on keeping it for quite a few more years, so I've been trying to pick up nice parts where I can but this one has eluded me - so it was time to make one.

It also seems that Ford doesn't sell replacement bulbs any more, and the off the shelf ones that the Repco's of the world sell won't fit either, so I've modified it to suit off the shelf, Narva bulbs.

The final parts are going to be made from cast polyurethane and will have all the embedded circuit boards for the lights and buttons and what not. I'm 3D printing the prototypes.

I'm about 90% finished the 3D modelling and have run a 3D printed prototype (with no circuit board) in the car and it worked well. I;m hoping to have the finished part cast up in the next couple of weeks.

If there is interest, I want to make a couple of extras for other people and sell them to cover my costs. Perhaps in the future we could look to make some different parts too.


Thanks,
Nic.

Just a side note, I'm not a business or anything - just an engineer who wants his car to be tip top.