Grill dimensions?

[EJensen]

(Now I'm seeing a bunch of Slates with brushed stainless steel accents... and perhaps a few with gold(ish) grilles.)

So interesting you should mention that. I replaced a bunch of copper pipe in our home with PEX and I kept most of the copper, thinking there must be something cool I can make from it. Lately, I started wondering whether I could slice it lengthwise and pound it into sheets. Copper's pretty malleable, after all.

Then I could solder or braze the sheets along the edges to make panels. Hmmm...

 

[GrizzlysGhost]

So interesting you should mention that. I replaced a bunch of copper pipe in our home with PEX and I kept most of the copper, thinking there must be something cool I can make from it. Lately, I started wondering whether I could slice it lengthwise and pound it into sheets. Copper's pretty malleable, after all.

Then I could solder or braze the sheets along the edges to make panels. Hmmm...

I would bet you dollars to donuts there will be at least one "Steampunk" Slate by the end of 2027.

 

[EJensen]

I would bet you dollars to donuts there will be at least one "Steampunk" Slate by the end of 2027.

Pretty sure you'd win that bet.

 

[kvermeer]

(Now I'm seeing a bunch of Slates with brushed stainless steel accents... and perhaps a few with gold(ish) grilles.)

Anodized aluminum or rainbow-oxidized titanium too! With the right build, even brass or copper could be sweet.

 

[EV Trek]

I wish the grille and light plates were 2D, for easy manufacturing from laser cut plates that would be vastly stronger than 3D prints. Maybe it can still be done in a stack of multiple parts?

You could design a 2d overlay for the Slate grille and signal lights.
if you print a 3d print right it can be pretty strong. How strong does the grill or light covers need to be anyway? They are not load bearing.

 

[EV Trek]

I can’t wait till they release the STL files for different parts. Hopefully they will be free but if they are not they better be cheap.

 

[Kopsis]

I printed some swatches of PETG, HTPLA and HTPLA-GF from polymaker a few weeks ago, and annealed 1 each of the HT types and they have been living sitting on top of my dash in high desert heat since.

Color can make a big difference. I tested black and transparent PCTG and the black warped badly in AZ direct sun while the transparent didn't warp at all. My experience with the HTPLAs is that they're really difficult to anneal without dimensional changes unless they're GF or CF reinforced. And the CF/GF reinforcement really compromises the strength.

For automotive parts I typically use ASA for stuff that's not structural and PPA-CF for stuff that is. PPA-CF is a little expensive and you need an enclosed printer with a 300+°C hotend (Ender 3 owners need not apply), but the strength, stiffness, and heat resistance is phenomenal.

 

[htmlprofessional]

I can’t wait till they release the STL files for different parts. Hopefully they will be free but if they are not they better be cheap.

As soon as people get there hands on the slate there's going to be free STLs for all the printable parts. There is no stopping that, but I'm pretty sure Slate will release a number of free models themselves. They have already released a slatelet STL. I've been meaning to sit down and start designing some things, but haven't had time. I wonder if Slate will try to host their own 3rd party parts market or just rely on places like Etsy.

 

[KevinRS]

Color can make a big difference. I tested black and transparent PCTG and the black warped badly in AZ direct sun while the transparent didn't warp at all. My experience with the HTPLAs is that they're really difficult to anneal without dimensional changes unless they're GF or CF reinforced. And the CF/GF reinforcement really compromises the strength.

For automotive parts I typically use ASA for stuff that's not structural and PPA-CF for stuff that is. PPA-CF is a little expensive and you need an enclosed printer with a 300+°C hotend (Ender 3 owners need not apply), but the strength, stiffness, and heat resistance is phenomenal.

I left the parts on the print bed, covered it with a heavy towel in multiple layers, and turned the bed heat to 100C and timed 30 minutes once it reached full temp.
Yeah they were flat parts, still stuck to the bed, but I can't find a difference between the annealed and non annealed, plain or GF. I used black for everything, since I figured it would be the most likely that I would use for the truck.

Still got to figure out how to test them with weight.
Hard to tell from the image, but the HTPLA ones have had from what I can tell zero warping, stack them up and they appear dead flat, annealed or not, while the PETG is obviously warped.

I've now rigged up a very basic way to weight test them, not much weight, but these are only thin swatches, probably have to wait for a bit to get any result, windy and not even 90s until next weekend.

This HTPLA is printed at 210-230C, annealed at 100C, and supposed to be stable, no warping or other deformation to 150C with no load. I've measured in vehicle temps in the past up to 150F(limit of thermometer), which would be 65C, well into the sagging range for normal PLA.
If the vehicle was to get to 100C water would literally boil, ordinary water bottles would burst, so highly doubtful it's getting that hot.
So in theory this formula should be fine for decorative parts like slatelets, and temp shouldn't be an issue at all for things like taillight covers, though with time UV might be an issue, and it hasn't been tested for UV, a good paint job should block UV if you wanted long term use.

For automotive parts like under the hood of an ICE vehicle, it may get even hotter, so people had issues with 3d printed air intakes and such, and this HTPLA may still not work for weight bearing parts like phone mounts.

I don't have an enclosed printer, don't really have a place to put one, so I'm sticking with what I've got for now.