I have many little projects I've picked up and not yet finished so I though I'd try to post some on here in case they're of any interest.


At my work we have inherited a 3D printer. It's not the best and it's not the fastest, but because it can't build high strength parts no-one is very keen on using it, so I have been 'practising'


It uses PLA in a strimmer wire type format. PLA is lower temperature than ABS, but it can be sanded which makes post processing available.


First off I want to make something to hold my Bluetooth speaker. It used to sit in the glove box, but it takes up room so I though it could fit underneath instead.
I designed 2 plastic arms that slot into the air vent at the rear of the speaker. There is access to the buttons on the top and the speaker can be easily removed for charging.

Next job was a mobile phone holder.


I use the mobile connected to the Bluetooth speaker and wanted to be able to change the volume while driving.
The volume buttons are on the side but when I left the phone in the little cubby in front of the gear shift it would slide about making it difficult to find the volume buttons.


I made a little holder which fits on the side of the cubby leaving the volume buttons pointing up (although you can't see the volume buttons due to the flash!)

I have been missing the upper half of the ignition cover for my car for a number of years. The part that I do have is in the picture below


I fitted a 126 steering column many years ago (I prefer the U-joint steering rack for a bit of perceived safety in a crash!) The only downside to this is that the ignition lock for the 126 is about 15 degrees out of alignment with the 500R one.(pivoting about the column.) So even If I found the top half it would not fit.


In addition to this the odometer is from an earlier 500 and doesn't have the flat base mine should have.

In short - There is nothing that would fit my unique arrangement so I made a new set in CAD that would fit the odometer and fit the 126 ignition lock.

Very industrious �� Well done.

It took a few attempts to get it right.
While I am pretty good with CAD and measuring stuff, it is very difficult to datum off of a steering column and dashboard and odometer all at the same time!


The last set involved making the top half too long and trimming it by hand, measuring the changes and updating the CAD.


The final set was printed and fitted with steel threaded inserts and bolted in place.

Must have to have the speaker ramped up to hear it over the purr of the engine ?

stocky said:

Must have to have the speaker ramped up to hear it over the purr of the engine ?

Click to expand...

Max volume at 60mph! Some songs are a bit quiet, but most are ok. At 30-40mph I usually turn the volume down as it's a bit loud.


I used to have a 4 speaker installation with a minidisc player which may give away the age of the install! I've decided to go a bit minimal since I lost the rear parcel shelf area to rear seatbelts.

Very cool.

I have the 1/12th scale Italeri model that I want to turn into a replica of my 500. Which means creating a sports steering wheel and Abarth style dash. Both possible to create by hand but 3-d printing would be better.

The tricky one is the Bambina italic font for the boot lid.

Nice allways wanted to have a 3d printer to do a few little bits
Not enough things however to make buying one worthwhile haha

Great work! I got my own 3D printer when i started my restoration project and it's been great for production parts (Carbon fibre Nylon and PLA) and also rapid-prototyping components for suspension, engine etc, which I then later had CNC'd out of suitable metal.

3D printers are a fantastic way of making anything custom, and as you've shown, great for iterative design!