Aarvix
Stinger Enthusiast
Starting this thread to document a little project I've been wanting to tinker with.
I hate front license plates. I wish my front bumper was untouched, but unfortunately TX is a front plate state and the dealer was kind enough to drill five holes in it for the plate. I'm sure many of you can relate.
Unless I replace the bumper, this leaves me two options:
1) Run a front plate (boo!)
2) Install some kind of decorative front plate delete.
There's a nice one on Etsy with the stinger script:
But I thought I might try and kick it up a notch, here's the plan:
First I modeled a prototype in Fusion360. The cover is supposed to snap in place with a release tab at the bottom. I've never designed snap-together printed parts, so this is new territory (more on that later).
3D printed the parts.
Unfortunately my printer's build volume is too small for the cover, so I had to split it (sadpanda.jpg). For prototyping I'll just glue them together, but I'll have to find a bigger printer for the final product.
Bought a 2ft strip of RGB LEDs with remote. Cut into 8" strips, soldered the jumper wires, and attached to a piece of aluminum sheet.
In retrospect these are pretty bad, I was hoping for more color control instead of just seven pre-set colors, and a tighter LED pitch, but it'll work for proof-of-concept.
Fits (more or less) in the housing.
And here's how it looks mocked up on the car.
NOTE: This is just the first draft and there's a lot of problems to address and improvements to make, but I think I like the concept enough to try again.
What do you guys think? All thoughts & suggestions are welcome
I hate front license plates. I wish my front bumper was untouched, but unfortunately TX is a front plate state and the dealer was kind enough to drill five holes in it for the plate. I'm sure many of you can relate.
Unless I replace the bumper, this leaves me two options:
1) Run a front plate (boo!)
2) Install some kind of decorative front plate delete.
There's a nice one on Etsy with the stinger script:
But I thought I might try and kick it up a notch, here's the plan:
- Create a new plastic piece to cover the bumper holes.
- No visible fasteners
- integrate the new KIA logo
- RGB backlighting!
First I modeled a prototype in Fusion360. The cover is supposed to snap in place with a release tab at the bottom. I've never designed snap-together printed parts, so this is new territory (more on that later).
3D printed the parts.
Unfortunately my printer's build volume is too small for the cover, so I had to split it (sadpanda.jpg). For prototyping I'll just glue them together, but I'll have to find a bigger printer for the final product.
Bought a 2ft strip of RGB LEDs with remote. Cut into 8" strips, soldered the jumper wires, and attached to a piece of aluminum sheet.
In retrospect these are pretty bad, I was hoping for more color control instead of just seven pre-set colors, and a tighter LED pitch, but it'll work for proof-of-concept.
Fits (more or less) in the housing.
And here's how it looks mocked up on the car.
NOTE: This is just the first draft and there's a lot of problems to address and improvements to make, but I think I like the concept enough to try again.
- The light does not diffuse properly and causes spots at each LED. Need to investigate better diffusion techniques/materials, or perhaps try edge lighting instead of backlight.
- 2-piece cover is janky.
- The LED's "white" setting does not match the DRLs, this drives me nuts (same problem I have with the devil's claws).
- fitment is poor. The bumper has some curvature that version 2 will attempt to follow. I'll use foam to seal any light leak around the edges.
- Lower "snap fit" tab is trash, broke it trying to remove the mockup. Will probably just use a set screw since it won't be seen.
- mockup is PLA, which won't survive outdoors, will need to print in PETG (my printer hates PETG).
What do you guys think? All thoughts & suggestions are welcome
