Ive been on a waiting list for months and months for the carbon version.. Though, I dont foresee it coming soon at this rate. Has anyone recently had good success/experience with a particular printer/person/method? (besides whats already been documented here)

 

He's going for the TSE record.

(there are some molds that need to be made, current process is like 8 hours of labor per part which is an awful ROI)

 

Right. I should've known that and had one made for me by now. Or ten of them.

 

I haven't had time to work on this in months- Working long hours at day job, co-owning a small software company, + family time hasn't left much time to mess with cars or intakes. I published one of the earlier designs under an open source license, you can always print yourself one of those. Making a one off is relatively easy, if it takes 40 hours to make one off its not a big deal. Figuring out how to do serial production that is time efficient so that I can offer them cheap enough for miata owners is a lot more difficult.. I think I have that worked out, it just involves a significant cash outlay on tooling, more time, and some risk that the process doesn't work as intended and it's all wasted.

I am attempting to step down my commitment at my day job to 4 days a week (it's been 6-7 days a week for the last few months). Assuming that happens, you should start seeing new posts from me in this thread.


Also, as sean alluded to I did recently build this (and painfully have not had much time to use it):

 

If you want to get one printed, make sure of a few things:

1) It's done in ABS and not PLA. PLA will fail.
2) Someone (you or the printer) bonds the pieces with the right solvent - I use ABS plumbing cement.
3) The print gets an acetone vapor bath. Ideally after it's fully assembled. This will make the part stronger. Acetone applied cold has ruined several of my prints.
4) Ask if they have calibrated their printer for ABS. Big hollow structures like this warp and contract as the part cools during printing.

 

Nice setup, that almost makes me want to get back into iRacing. Hnnggg.

 

Hey Austin, could you build this CAI? If you build yours, I got $$ for a second one!

 

I'm the last person I'd trust to get this built correctly, hah.

 

I can give you guys the info for the printer I work with for my plugs. The quality is very good but he won't assemble or acetone vapor bath the part. You can also pay $$$ for one piece nylon print from shapeways.

 

It was worth a shot!
Dude, I'm a finance man. Give me spreadsheets or tax returns to work on, I'm your man. This awesome creation of yours, is so far out of my element as Andromeda is far from us all! But thanks for the offer!

 

I am looking for someone to make one for me. I emailed Austin that you mentioned on your website, but haven't heard back yet. Is the file linked on the site the most up to date? Is it the one piece file?

 

Don't suppose you've had any success refining your production process?

 

Any idea how much that would run? I'm assuming it's the "Strong and Flexible Plastic". My NASA points build is coming back full circle to utilizing an intake and being a street car that has to pass OBD-II testing I don't have room for the cold side u bend.

 

In my Formula SAE days, I helped design the intake we used (600RR engine) and it was printed by Realize using one of their ABS like materials. It ran about $700-$1000, probably is a little more now. The miata intake would use more material too I assume.

 

Yikes. Maybe I'll just man up and do the assembly myself if it's that bad.

 

Yeah, shapeways would charge somewhere around $400 for the part. I'm also not 100% confident in their nylon doing well enough with the heat.

I'm trying to get back on this project. Time is tough for me, family, full time job, and other business obligations.

 

Could you point me to a printer you've had success with? I tried Austin and got nothing
if I go makexyz, what do you think about infill %?

 

I ordered mine from makexyz... Cost $82 and they printed it in one piece. No vapor bath, and mine did crack eventually, but I wrapped mine in HVAC tape and it still works a year and a half later.

 

I've had good luck using protomold for low volume runs. They're surprisingly affordable, and molding opens up a lot more material options.

 

It seems like this would be expensive to protomold based on what we do at work.