Has anybody tried to make a replacement radio surround/ trim piece by 3D printing ? It would be very nice to be able to fit a replacement radio/stereo unit into a standard DIN slot .

 

No, but this is one of the principal things I'd like to design and print (the original part with some reinforcement at various places, but the addition of a DIN slot wouldn't necessarily be very difficult). All three of mine are creative constructions of old abs, epoxy, hopes, and dreams.

I have a printer that is large enough (about 12x12x12 build volume), and prints with high enough resolution in a decent ABS, but it's the design part that is more laborious. I have no scanner that is appropriate for this part, but I might be able to find one. So, if someone has a scan of any nature, or a scanner, or an intact part, I'd be happy to help here.

 

Hey Barry- to answer your question:

Kinda.


Here's where I've posted about it in the "What did you work on today?" thread: Post #403. There's a few more posts on the same page if you scroll down.

Thing is - I'm not a skilled/experienced Fusion360 designer or an engineer - and I was learning to use the tool as I was designing. The piece is not a 100% reproduction of the original Jaguar piece, but rather a piece that was designed to suit what I wanted (and to fit the limitations of the 3D printer I had access to at the time). The following are the major differences compared to the original piece:

1). It's completely flat on the rear so that it can print directly on to the 3D printer bed and adhere to it well. By comparison, the original piece has a large recessed piece where the radio sits, and a locator peg. You'd need to print with a massive raft otherwise.

2). The cutouts (especially for the climate control) are "good enough" but not exactly great.

3). My final iteration (the one in my car right now) was designed for a slide-out door to drop down over the aftermarket stereo. I glued a piece of veneer to it and it looked OK - but it wasn't sliding in/out easily so I just wound up removing it.

4). The original piece is made of plastic so thin that it will crack if you screw it in too firmly. This thing is 11mm of thick plasticky goodness that is substantially stronger when printed at 35% infill.

There are two reasons why I haven't uploaded the file anywhere - the first is - I made an insane number of test prints with minor changes between each attempt (adjusting millimetres between prints here and there) and in all of those attempts I had issues with version control. As a result have now lost track of the version that actually wound up in my car. Moreover - the second reason is that I did intend to find the final version and re-make it with my now (slightly) more advanced knowledge of how to use Fusion360 correctly - doing things like putting all of the cutouts on one sketch, all of the recesses on another sketch and each of the raised/component sections on their own sketches (if you're not familiar with Fusion, think of "sketches" as being like layers in Photoshop). Unfortunately those were all over the place in my last version, and had zero consistency or common sense. Again, I was learning while doing.

Anyways, if you're interested, I can spend some time digging through my Fusion360 files/versions to try to locate the last version of the piece and upload it as an .STL (or .F3D, if you want to try fixing my crappy design), but be aware that if your intention is to use this to fit the original Jaguar cassette deck it will definitely not work.

 

I have ZERO skills in autocadd or 3d printing. If someone makes a piece I will gladly buy one though

 

Tom,

This would be great if you are willing. An .stl or .f3d (or both) would be great, and I'll try to clean it up and get a printfile anyone could use to replace this and/or put a DIN unit in.

 

Here ya go - this was my last iteration. Again, I apologize for my amateurish efforts - at the very least, this will fit in an XK8 and will allow you to fit in a 1-DIN aftermarket audio system.
This version has the little pegs for a slide-out cover that drops over the top of the radio (but not an actual slide-out cover, because I built that out of wood).
Also the chin at the front needs to be adjusted up a little and to be a tiny bit longer. Please keep whatever you iterate from this design publicly available!

Fusion360 .F3D file:

.STL file (object file as I last printed it):

ps: There's another object in that .F3D - I'd decided to try fitting extra support on the back of the bracket so there's a 1-DIN backplate piece that I also designed (but didn't use).

 

Appreciate it, I will start work based on this. However, since neither you nor I are getting paid for this, it will always be at least 'amateur', with no pejorative.

I have a potential fruitful source for a mostly unbroken bezel for the 1998-200X version (LJB6318AB) for refinements to your model, but it may take a bit of time for me to play around with printing this. We're still getting used to the printer. On the plus side, we just printed a header bracket in polycarbonate that was fairly indestructible compared to the original (academic since the headers are widely available new for around $10-$15).

Will report back with a model/material suggestion when my son can't easily break it, and I have it installed on one of mine.

 

Here's an idea from another car I saw where they moved the stereo up to the top. This would also give you the opportunity to put a headunit in with a flip out screen.

 

I would prefer to leave the radio in the stock location. I am also willing to help with any cost involved in developing/creating a suitable part

 

Very interested in this option, have you got details of where/who produced this? Or an stl I can print from?

 

Doctor,

You've saved the universe once again. However, I think the links are dead. Would you mind updating them?

My surround is cracked and I can't even find one to buy.

Thanks a million.

-J

 

I would also be interested if anyone has the plans for this, so I could create one on a 3d printer. I'd love to move the Climate controls down, and put in a 1-din with a large external screen.

 

As a side note: I think MANY of us would LOVE it if someone could build a model to print the J-Gate fascia plate. Everybody I’ve touched base with would only sell the complete unit (at crazy prices) or they only have cracked pieces. This piece seems much simpler than the model for the radio plate.