3D printed caps for interior door handle bolts

[MattTX]

XLT with the BAP?

Nope, just the regular XLT. Sorry I caused some confusion, I should have included a before photo of the bolts in my original post.

Sponsored

 

[MattTX]

I printed them 6 up a couple of them seemed like they wouldn’t go in the hex opening just tried another and then they wouldn’t work, they seemed fairly tight, didn’t have any petg so used the pla will see how they hold up in the central fl heat
Len

Ok, sounds like I might need to shrink the hex post just a little. I don't know if I was imagining it or not but when I was installing some of them in my truck it seemed like they were tighter in one orientation vs turning it one hex edge to the left or right. If that doesn't help and / or others say it's too tight I'll make a small adjustment and send everyone an updated file.

 

[iwilc2]

Sorry ment to say they would work some would some wouldn’t
Len

 

[iwilc2]

Maybe it was because I printed then 6 up not sure
Len

 

[MattTX]

Maybe it was because I printed then 6 up not sure
Len

Thanks for the clarification, I thought you might have meant that only some of them were a little tight. I had the same thing happen when I printed 8 up, though even the tighter ones still went in ok. I wonder if it's minor accuracy issues with the print head travel when doing multiples on a plate? Since the caps are so small and need to be pretty accurate in size I used moderately slow (by modern standards) print speeds but I didn't use slower travel speeds. I'm going to do another 8-up print run with slightly slower print speeds and also cut all the travel speeds in half to see if that helps.

 

[iwilc2]

I was thinking maybe trying to print only 1 at a time and see what happens and then try slow down print speeds on multiples
Len

 

[iwilc2]

Matt, printed 1 at a time and they went right into place no problems at all
Len

 

[FNR8DRZ]

I love the things you are doing bro...nice touch.

I wish someone could 3d print something to cover the blue within the arm rest.ni hate it.

 

[MattTX]

Matt, printed 1 at a time and they went right into place no problems at all
Len

Good to know, though that's kind of a pain doing one a time if you plan on covering all 16 bolts in the truck.

I printed another 8-up run with black and gold in PLA (yeah, I went for it!). All of them fit great except for one, and the one that isn't fitting well is because the bolt is slightly off center in the door handle hole, not because the cap itself had anything wrong with it. So multiple at a time can definitely be done with good results, you just need to find the right settings for your printer.

What printer do you have? Since you asked for the STL I'm guessing you don't have a Bambu printer (I'm using a P1S). Here are the settings I'm using, I'm not knowledgeable enough to say that these are the best settings nor that they will all accurately transfer over to other printers, only that they are working for me:

 

[MattTX]

I love the things you are doing bro...nice touch.

I wish someone could 3d print something to cover the blue within the arm rest.ni hate it.

That's actually what started this project for me, I took the bolts out to see if the orange part (blue in your case) could easily be replaced. Unfortunately the bolts alone aren't what's holding that part in and I didn't go any further with trying to remove it. I know it can be done but it probably involves removing the bolts as well as the window controls (which just pops out), I replaced my speakers and remember there being some more screws in there that hold the panel to the door, so those are probably what's holding the other plastic parts of the handle. I'll give it another go at some point but not sure when, I'm going out of town for a week starting Saturday and don't know if I'll have to time work on it this week.

 

[iwilc2]

I have a Elegoo 3 Pro, yeah printing 1 at a time is slow but it works I only need 16, I am not on a hurry, I think whenever I get a chance I will try multiples and mess around with my settings
Len

 

[FNR8DRZ]

That's actually what started this project for me, I took the bolts out to see if the orange part (blue in your case) could easily be replaced. Unfortunately the bolts alone aren't what's holding that part in and I didn't go any further with trying to remove it. I know it can be done but it probably involves removing the bolts as well as the window controls (which just pops out), I replaced my speakers and remember there being some more screws in there that hold the panel to the door, so those are probably what's holding the other plastic parts of the handle. I'll give it another go at some point but not sure when, I'm going out of town for a week starting Saturday and don't know if I'll have to time work on it this week.

Cool .... I investigated it a little. I know the screws are fake...and the blue area goes all up inside the door panel.
Im just wanted to cover what is visibly showing.

Thank again

 

[MattTX]

I like them! Great job?
This may be the thing I need to nudge me to buy a 3D printer!
Can you tell me something about the printer? These look really good. Nice work.
2026 XLT Hybrid here-2000 miles

The Bambu Lab P2S Combo is a fully enclosed powerhouse built for advanced hobbyists who want to print engineering-grade materials safely at home.

Just to add a little more to what Cancunbadlands said because it's important to know. Many (most?) engineering grade filaments release toxic fumes while being printed, with effects ranging from make you feel like crap to make you need to go to the hospital due to poisoning. So you absolutely must get rid of those fumes while printing with the best option being to vent the fumes outside and or set your printer up in a garage or other space with open ventilation and that you won't stay in while printing (still need to vent the fumes so they won't be a problem when you go back into that space). It's not enough to set it up in your rec room or office and go to another part of the house, that may reduce the hazard but it doesn't eliminate it. I've printed with flexible PLA filament (which isn't even engineering grade) that still made me feel sick even though I was two rooms away from my printer. Engineering grade filaments are also much harder to work with, so you don't want to jump right into using those unless you want to torture yourself.

The P2S is an awesome printer and is the upgraded version of my printer (P1S). The P1S can do pretty much everything the P2S can, but the P2S has more modern features and conveniences like a much much (much) better monitoring camera (the one on the P1S is practically useless), AI print failure detection, quick change nozzles (it's not bad on the P1S, takes about 2 minutes, but can be done in about 10 seconds on the P2S), and a much better control screen. If you can afford it I'd definitely get the P2S, but if you are on a tight budget the P1S is a great place to start. Or if you can afford a little more look at the X2D, it has two print heads built in which makes for doing multi-color prints a lot more efficiently (among some other advantages vs a single head printer). There's a TON of waste with single nozzle printers when doing multi-color, it can be minimized to an extent with some tricks, but will always be less efficient compared to a multi-head printer (and if you really want to go crazy, there are some printers with between 5 - 8 heads / nozzles that are available or will be soon).

If you're on a super tight budget, the A1 series is also a very good starting printer, though it's not enclosed and is a bed slinger, meaning you will be a little more limited in the types of filaments you can use (which in reality, unless you're an engineer, functional part designer, or just an advanced user, you won't miss) and the bed moves back and forth in addition to the print head moving, which can sometimes make printing a little more challenging compared to a core XY printer (P1S, P2S), depending on the 3D model and type of filament.

 

[MattTX]

I don’t have their email ability to 3D print, but if you would be willing to print some that match the orange interior trim in a 23 XLT, I would pay you for your time and materials!

The orange filament arrived this afternoon so I made some caps with it. It's quite a bit lighter of an orange compared to the Maverick, though when the caps are on the bolts the difference doesn't jump out as much as when they are side by side. I've used two different orange filaments and both are the same color as the caps in the photos. I'll see if I can get an accurate reading of the Maverick orange so I can compare that to filament colors that are available.

Forgive the print quality of these caps, I opened the package and put the filament right into my printer to see how the colors would look, without drying or running any calibrations on the filament. Calibrations can be done fairly quickly but drying PETG takes 8+ hours, so I won't be able to have that done until tomorrow. I'm going to dry them overnight so I can get the filament dialed in better, I have one more roll that is supposed to arrive today (translucent dark blue) so I'm waiting for that before starting the drying. Though not being dry or calibrated doesn't affect the color, mostly just the strength and visual quality of the print.

 

[MattTX]

I would like to print some for my truck. I also have a roll of Overture Orange PLA and would be willing to print some and post photos. I have a 2023 Lariat.

Were you able to get some printed? My orange is from Creality, I compared the listing photos on Amazon to the Overture and they look to be pretty close in color and brightness.

Sponsored