3D Printing Tundra Mods/Accessories

Wanting to start this thread to see what other ideas you have pursued when comes to 3D printing mods and accessories for your 'Dra. I have been printing for a few years now and have made some pretty cool stuff, which I can share later. I have not used ABS, but will be getting some for the final version of all my ideas.

My first creation is to make a stripe emblem that fits into the grill of my truck. Like:


I want to go with a neutral/Grayscale white, grey black progression, but color is irrelevant at this point. Here's my grill and idea:

I want to make plastic inserts that fit directly into the holes of the grill. My initial design is to have tabs that flex and clip behind the grill when inserted.


Tried this and the rectangular corners were my down fall. The plan was to leave space above and below the emblem. It was either make the height smaller or cut off the corners. Here's v2 printed:

Also a failure. On to v3. Contemplating lots of ideas, but I think if I can tweak this and make it work, it will be what I am after. If you have any ideas or thoughts, hit me up. Share what you've made for your tundra!

 

Nice.
Hopefully V3 works, I really like that.

 

v's 3 and 4 were terrible. I scrapped the design and emulated the ones you see on Amazon/ebay


I separated the colored pieces to be able to print in the greyscale or what ever else I wanted to do.




its hard to see from the pics but the holes on the back will be for zip ties. We'll see how that holds up!

 

all pieces in. They were essentially push fit. I thought id need glue, but they were really snug! May need to reduce their size by a few percentages based on your printer. 98% should be perfect.

I'll post the link to the .stl files once I'm done and can say with some confidence it will work ok.

 

Oddly enough, it fits perfectly between the gap on the sr5 grille. I plan to move it lower when I have more time, but here's what it looks like on the vehicle.

Happy with the size and shape.

 

There isn't much I can print with 220x220mm of surface area. Otherwise I probably would.

 

Mine is the same! True, you have to be creative with your prints, but you can still do a lot with a bed that size. I’ve printed some pretty big shyte with mine!

 

I really liked the idea of filling the holes in the grille. Had placement flexibility, directional flexibility, and was different than all the others.

Just my $0.02

 

Super cool idea. Don’t give up on that other project though. It would be pretty awesome if you nail it down.
Still wishing someone would print some black Platinum badges. Those would be a huge hit.

 

I do too.

I'm not abandoning it, just have to get better measurements and a dollop of patience.

 

Here's the link to the files

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4977386

 

Project #2






https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4977596

 

What’s this for?

Cool thread idea by the way. I’ve got a couple printers myself. What material are you printing the exterior pieces out of?

 

This is a replacement for the console badge.

Using PLA, ABS would definitely be better.

 

Uh, something to keep in mind: PLA does not handle an Arizona summer inside a vehicle. Not sure about where you are, but be aware.

I have a replacement dimmer knob in PLA that seems to be fine, but a bracket to hold a small display, and some shelving brackets, didn't survive one day without deforming in the heat.

The glass transition temps for PLA are something like 110F to 145F, and interior temps exceed that easily. Hell, in Phoenix the outside temps get up to 120.

I have re-printed some things in PETG, and so far they are doing ok. I haven't tried ABS yet, but that would probably be ideal.

 

Right now I'm printing all my heavily exposed stuff in black petg for this reason. Temps are up towards 220.

 

Vent ring covers did not work out well for me in PLA. I want to get into ABS but would need to deal with the fumes.

 

Yeah, that's the main reason I haven't gotten around to trying ABS yet.

Interestingly, plenty of people say "ABS is sketchy, must have ventilation", while others say "eh, a large well-ventilated room is fine". It's kinda hard to tell who is overly cautious, dangerously careless, etc., given all the variables and peoples' tolerances for risk, ignorance of dangers, etc.

...on the other hand, it's what, $20 for a roll - not a huge investment to just try it and see how bad it is. <looks for the sick puking barf emoji>

 

Definitely a factor. This is all mainly prototyping on my end, my temps aren’t nearly that high where I live. I’ve had the vent covers (pla) on my truck for two weeks with 90s outside and haven’t had any problems.

I will eventually switch to ABS or PETG for the final products.

 

Recommend any specific brand of PETG?

What have/are you printing?

 

I just bought four rolls of California filament. Nothing for the tundra yet. I've been printing little sculpture doodads and insert for cryovial boxes for work. Still working on the print settings. Petg sticks to itself better warm so had to turn up the temperature and turn down the fans. I don't have anything interesting to report yet other than the matte finish stuff CA filament sells looks kind of cool.

I got matte black, matte red, translucent orange and a roll of glow.

 

No, don't think I have enough experience to recommend anything vigorously. For PETG I have tried (in order of my preference)

1. Hatchbox
2. eSun
3. Overture

I've been able to get decent prints from all of them, but with both PETG and PLA, I feel like Hatchbox seems to be the best. And I think these are all considered "budget" brands – some more expensive ones might give better results.

I feel like I've printed a ton of different things, but if I look back, a significant percentage were mods for the printer itself – stuff I wouldn't need to print if I didn't have the printer.

https://www.nomadicfrog.com/2021/02/20/got-a-3d-printer

As for Tundra-specific stuff, just a replacement knob for my instrument panel dimmer. I designed a key fob that reuses the guts from the OEM fob, but between getting a water/dust seal and other stuff, ended up going back to the OEM after all.

Otherwise, a bunch of random bits and bobs (see link above). The first couple of months I had the printer – deep winter pandemic time – seems I had the thing running from the time I got out of bed until I went to bed at night (have not had the nerve - or need - to run it at night without supervision).

I need to update that page: I've made a few storage things for the truck, mostly using aluminum extrusion and plywood, but with 3D-printed brackets and such. Some knobs for my recovery boards on the roof rack.

Also, very important, a rack for my can of peanuts!



More access cab storage mods:

https://www.nomadicfrog.com/2021/05/02/tundra-storage-version-2-0

What about you, besides the grill inserts? I'd love to see more 3D stuff for our trucks, or just in general!

 

Yeah, I was thinking I could probably find a way to take bigger items and design or utilize a feature that will break it up into parts that can be snapped back together.

I've played around a lot with TinkerCad, but nothing else. I have onshape, but haven't had a good opportunity to fool with it. At first glance it makes absolutely no sense to me though...it looks like an email inbox. I'm just a hobbyist with no artistic eye, but from a creative engineering perspective I love the challenge of using shapes to create other shapes. My brother is a 3D artist but not a printer, so maybe we can get together on something and he can show me what he gets into. He and my sister got all the art skills in the family.

All I got was music and premature baldness.

 

I've printed a lot of doo-dads for my Dillon XL750, including a few shell casefeed adapters that I had trouble finding during the pandemic. And a few things for work (which is what the printer is actually for - Ultimaker S3). And the center console switch holder and my front camera shim.
I've struggled to make any "snap-fit" items that didn't crack or break when attempting to snap together, so I've moved away from trying much of that. I'm also not a fan of the striations that the printer leaves, so don't end up using it for much that needs a finished look.

 

My last reply convinced me to fire up TinkerCad and figure out dovetail joints. Gonna make a floor register cover for under my desk.

Maybe I'll put a TRD logo on it..hahaha

 

I use all prusa petg and it performs very well.

 

For really clean finishes i use Bondo. Smooth it on with a glove let it dry and sand. A coat to two typically does the job. Small pieces make it hard, but on those I use a spray paint primer/filler that will do the same thing at a less effective clip. Here's a wearable mando helmet I made for my 5 yo son:
ignore the seams and you can see how you can get a pretty smooth surface.

 

Most complex and time consuming one I've made was this wearable helmet for my son. Had to get creative with slicing it since my print bed is 180mmX180mm

 

I envy your occupation. Wanted to be Jack Hannah when i was a kid, ended up being a science teacher.

 

I use ABS, I didn’t really notice much of a smell. My printers are in my office which is 14x12. My office is in the garage attic space and I have an enclosed printer with a vent fan. Currently I print ABS no problem, doesn’t make me sick and really I don’t notice it. However most of the time I start a print and leave the office and let it print while I’m gone. I plan on adding a hole in the wall and vent to the in-finished attic space for things like ABS but just have been too lazy for this right now.