Introduction: Fix Your VW Passat HID Lights With a 3D Printer
Not sure if any1 else would ever need them but here is a low cost 3D printable system to replace the OEM covers for the HID auto leveling headlights on a VW Passat. I had a friend at work that had missing caps on his OEM headlights and he asked me if I could make him replacements with my 3D printer at home. I told him to give me one of the headlights to take home and I'll see what I can do. Its been monts since the print and he is still running with these caps on his Passat with no problems! I'm not sure of the exact year range that this would work for but you can examine the cap cavity below and decide if this would work for your application.
Testing a new workflow; I actually used my phone to snap a pic of the cavity, edited the photo removing all but the lip, imported lip image to SketchUp, ran a tight ruby script that converts images to vector shapes, built a deck, scaled it using my micrometer measurements, imported to 123D for additional touchups, exported to an stl, sliced it in ReplicatorG and then printed on my printer.
This solution has been designed to print on most 3D printer build platforms!
You can grab my 3D model here: http://www.123dapp.com/123D-3D-Model/VW-HID-CAP/623071 and use the free 123D app by Autodesk here: http://www.123dapp.com/123d to mod if you like and then export to your preferred format for 3D printing; here is a sample workflow I have used at home designing and printing with great results: https://www.instructables.com/id/Basic-workflow-for-3D-design-in-Sketchup-and-3D-pr/
Instructions:
Testing a new workflow; I actually used my phone to snap a pic of the cavity, edited the photo removing all but the lip, imported lip image to SketchUp, ran a tight ruby script that converts images to vector shapes, built a deck, scaled it using my micrometer measurements, imported to 123D for additional touchups, exported to an stl, sliced it in ReplicatorG and then printed on my printer.
This solution has been designed to print on most 3D printer build platforms!
You can grab my 3D model here: http://www.123dapp.com/123D-3D-Model/VW-HID-CAP/623071 and use the free 123D app by Autodesk here: http://www.123dapp.com/123d to mod if you like and then export to your preferred format for 3D printing; here is a sample workflow I have used at home designing and printing with great results: https://www.instructables.com/id/Basic-workflow-for-3D-design-in-Sketchup-and-3D-pr/
Instructions:
- Print the A and B cap halvs for both drivers side and passenger side
- Print the drivers and passenger side bracket kits
- Insert the 2 tabs per cap
- Use Acetone on the lips and seam to make them water tight!
- Slap cap on and place the mounts at each end (see images)
- Run a zip tie through the mounts/hinges
- Farfegnugen time!