Feeler: Custom designed eyeball vents
 

This is just to see if there's any interest in this idea. I'm going to re-design my eyeball vents and make some improvements, like the ability to close them completely, and reduce/eliminate lazy eye. I can 3D print them in several materials, all of which will be UV resistant and able to take the heat, and possibly glow in the dark. I'm not sure what the price point will be, but the idea would be to make them reasonable, certainly less than OEM (which run $30-$40). Would there be any interest in buying such a thing?

it's a neat idea, but you'll have a hard time beating the bang-for-buck that the eclipse vent retrofit offers. it offers everything you listed, but for 40-60 bucks for all 4.

Hmm....but do they come in glow in the dark??:naughty: Thanks though, I should have known there was already a work around. Maybe I can improve on the eclipse vents too.

If you could create a method for using eclipse vents that allow them to "snap" into place kind of like an adapter, that would be really neat and I would be in the market. The eclipse vents I have used were kinda "slip fit" and while they looked good they didn't feel factory quality.

(I would also be interested in better eyeballs)

Ok, thanks for the feedback! I will look into the Eclipse vents; maybe I can create a hybrid between the two. Let me know if you think of any other inputs, I'll see if I can incorporate them.

The reason I haven't gone for the Eclipse vents is because my interior is set to feel old/vintage/retro. They just don't go along with the feel. If you could produce something that gave the old feel with the function of the Eclipse vents, I'd be all over them.

this. eclipse vents are ugly as fuck. as much as function>form, i don't wan't to be staring at ugly fucks.

The eclipse vents work pretty well if you can chuck 'em in a lathe and turn them down a bit. They'll sit flush, and you can put in a groove that'll hold them into the tombstone.

Ok, I'm glad to hear there would be interest. So far, the design objectives are:
1) Close all the way
2) Eliminate lazy eye
3) Look as close to stock as possible
4) Direct snap fit

Anything else? I think this is feasible; I'm going to start sketching up some CAD tonight.

I would be interested in something like that. Would be willing to pay 80-120 for a full set depending on how nice they are.

Main thing to me is ability to close them fully and not be overly loose like (old) stock ones are. I don't care for the eyeball design myself, would rather have some that are just flaps. I have eclipse vents in the tombstone but not the outsides of my NA because they don't fit very well on the outside.

Maybe you can find a center section and basically 3d print a adapter of some sort?

Agree 100%. Glow in the dark is an awful idea as well. The last thing I want is more flashy shit on the dashboard.

OEM vents work just fine, if they're loose, buy a new one from Mazdaspeed on the cheap or from a used vendor for $5. There might be a market for this stuff, but it isn't me.

What? You can get new eyeball vents? Never thought of buying them new.

Ya'll never stuck a piece of felt in them to tighten them up?

First rough prototype printed off last night; looks promising! One cool feature is that I was able to print the moving parts all at once, so there's no assembling. This will let me have tighter clearances and more solid parts. There are some aesthetic issues with this first design, so I'll wait to show pictures till the next iteration.

The ideal eyeball vent would be one where you can adjust the air flow direction AND rate granularly. The Eclipse vents let you adjust direction, and somewhat rate, but rate is binary--open or closed.

Ok, I have developed what appears to be a pretty solid design. I'm now waiting for my high temp PLA to arrive so I can print off the first real one. The basic material will be black, high temp PLA, which is UV stable and guaranteed not to deform below 250F. I will provide pictures soon.

Original design targets:
Look similar to original vents ------> Achieved
Be able to close completely ------> Achieved
Reduce/eliminate lazy eye ------> Possibly achieved, need long term testing to make sure
Direct snap fit ------> Achieved

Here's my proposal: Since these are untested and new to everyone, the first 3 or so sets will cost $40 per set, or $10 per eyeball, shipping included. I would ask, then, that for these beta testers, if you run into any issues, please contact me directly, and I will make efforts to solve the issues.

Does that sound reasonable?

PLA is junk, no matter how many letters you stick in front of it.

Wouldn't trust it on my dashboard.

Please refrain from making uninformed derogatory comments. This PLA has the following properties:

• Tensile Strength @ over 6,000psi
• IZOD Impact Strength (notched) @ 40 Newtons
• no deformation up to 125c (250f)
• UV Stable

This is in fact stronger and higher temp than ABS, which deflects at 206F, and has a tensile strength of 5500psi.

If the material turns out to not perform as advertised, I will, of course, obtain another material. However, I see no reason why these properties will not be sufficient for this application.

For further reference, the vaunted Amphora 1800, which is considered one of the strongest and most advanced 3D printer filaments in existence, has a deflection temperature of 158F. It does have a higher yield strength (7300 psi), but this is not a high stress application, so it seems that the higher temperature capability would be a more useful property.

In for Pictures

pics sell!

I think what he meant to say is "PLA, as used in a filament-based printer and for automotive purposes, is typically known to be inferior to other materials."

Eg: PLA generally has a glass transition temperature of around 60-65° C, which is well within the range of temperatures experienced by a car in the summertime. Although I have no intention of buying aftermarket air vents of any kind, you've piqued my curiosity as to where your magical high-temp PLA is coming from.

Wikipedia covers it pretty well

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polylactic_acid

Mainly, this

Hi-temp PLA filament is pretty rare on the market AFAIK, and you have to bake it in the oven beyond the initial print temp to lock it down. I doubt it looks very well after it's all done.

Thanks, deezums, for following up on that; you are correct. High temp PLA filament is available from several suppliers, and the stuff I ordered is from Makergeeks. I have done a fair amount of research before I selected this material and the supplier, and as far as I can tell, the supplier is reliable, and the material should work well. I will perform the annealing process myself before shipping, and if they parts deform during the baking, then obviously I won't ship them. Again, if it doesn't work, then I'll find a better material. I have no intention of shipping people parts that melt in their cars. The advantage of the PLA is that it's very easy to print nicely, and this stuff can be sanded to a smooth surface. So I'm hoping I can make them look pretty nice, though I'll have to see how it works when the material arrives. I will post pictures asap, but I'm at work now, so Ill have to do it tonight.

Yes. I volunteer to be a paying beta tester.


P.S. I went to Columbus East High School
Attachment 183652

Haha, small world! I grew up in Greenwood, but I moved down here for work. Sounds good, I'll let you know when I'm ready to send out the first batch. It may be a week or more, especially since my wife is 40 weeks pregnant, so that could put a grinding halt on things any minute now :-)

Ok, please see the photos attached. I made a small modeling error, and one side of the rotational shaft ended up fused to the shell. I have already fixed the model, but I don't have time to print another one tonight. Overall, though, the print quality is pretty good. Let me know what you think!

Clever!

Update: I have received the new black Raptor PLA material, and printed off a test part. I performed the annealing process (baked at 210F for 7 minutes) without any deformation in the part. Pictures taken after annealing. I've got a few more design tweaks to make, and then I'm going to start putting them into my car for initial testing.

digging the oem style, but also able to fully close allowing more flow to other vents..

With my eyeball vents, in order to get them out I have to brace one hand on the tombstone and jerk on them hard. With the extra moving parts, how are these going to hold up to removal?

If you remove them that way, they will definitely break. Allow me to suggest an alternative method of removal, which is approximately 1472% more better:
GearheadsMiataClub.net

that way is definitely better, but when I tried it, still required having to pull pretty hard on the vent to get it to come out

As long as you pull on the outer shell part instead of the center "vane," it should be able to take it. I will include that in my battery of tests to make sure they can be removed without being destroyed.

Little update on the removal. I just successfully removed 2 more vents, which have never been removed before, with little to no force. You just have to make sure that you've disengaged the clips on both sides, and it literally slides right out. That being said, you can actually exert a significant force on these vents without them breaking. I just would not recommend the shoestring-through-the-eyeball method.

I'm getting close to being happy with the design at this point. It looks pretty much the same, but I've tweaked clearances and dimensions a bit to improve functionality of the moving parts.

As I'm sure you've been able to see in the pictures, 3D printing inevitably shows layering, especially on round surfaces. How much of an issue is this to people? I've got a set in my car right now, and yesterday I had a buddy riding with me. I pointed out the new vents, and his response was "If you hadn't pointed them out, I never would have noticed they were different." So it's not SUPER noticeable.

However, if this is a huge turnoff, I may be able to find a way to finish them to look smooth, at least on the most noticeable areas, like the center vane section. Thoughts?

At this point, I think they are looking good. My car is far less refined than most though.
I am curious if perhaps you could offer a budget or premium kit. I might be interested in a set with the lines depending on cost. While some people might be willing to pay more for a nice finish.

Yeah, that's what I was planning on doing if it seemed like the layering was excessively repulsive to people. Finishing them will require a not-insignificant amount of time and effort, so I would have to charge at least a little more. I'm also not sure how it would work with the moving parts, or whether it would be possible to get a nice even coating overall. Personally, I'm fine with them unfinished. My Miata is in really good shape on the inside, and they don't look out of place.

Ok, so I said before that the first 3-5 sets would cost $40 per set shipped; this will be a "Beta" run to see if there are any serious issues that I haven't caught. If any such issues arise, I will endeavor to resolve them before the next run. I hope to be ready to start on the first set this week, and probably have them done and ready to ship by the weekend. Let me know if you're interested!

Soooooo….after a somewhat major redesign, and figuring out how to make my printer less sensitive to ambient temperatures, and some extensive abusive testing,
I now have a finished product.

The final design details are as follows:

Can be fully closed by rotating the interior vane by 90 degrees. The vane is held in position via magic (aka high grade [N52] neodymium magnets),
so it will stay open or shut even at full blast, and none of that spinning vent silliness. -->
Outer shape is such that the vent can be "locked" into a particular orientation by pushing it firmly into the socket. To change orientation,
simply give it a little tug, and it will rotate freely again.

Testing completed:

Thermal cycling: I left a set in my car for about 2 months in the hottest part of the summer without any effect. I've also heated them up in the oven to about 225F with no effect.
If your car gets more than 225F inside, it's probably on fire. Just for thoroughness, I also stuck one in the freezer overnight too, to see if it degraded the epoxy I used to glue the magic. No effect.

Structural Strength: I attached a 30 lb weight to the interior vane, and lifted it off the floor holding the outer section - no effect. Nevertheless, I still strongly recommend using this removal method:
GearheadsMiataClub.net If done correctly, the socket just pops out, no force required, and no permanent damage to clips, vent, face, dental work, etc.

Cost is $60 per set, shipped. For now, they will be made to order, which will take about a week to get them printed, assembled, and shipped, assuming everything goes well.
Printing issues, sick baby, visiting in-laws, etc. may extend the lead time a bit. If you're interested, either PM me here, or shoot me an email at PRINT3DNINJA@protonmail.com. See nifty pictures below:

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...2fd548e6b8.jpg

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...a78f22f860.jpg

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...5a52b883ef.jpg

Heh, I use to do that in my pontiac grand am with the vents :laugh:

Yours looks good too :likecat:

I want pontiac grand am vents now

Ha, well, I can hook you up with some without magnets which will probably do the same thing.

Is this still a thing? I emailed you.

Yes sir! I just got caught up on orders, but I haven't had a chance to make any more yet. If you're interested, I'll get to work on a set ASAP. Just checked the email, but I don't see your message. Did you make a typo in the address?

*edit*
I just found it in the spam folder...very odd. I will respond through the email.

Thanks! my irregular domain gets flagged all the time!

A little help needed. I had thought that the vents were identical between NA and NB; however, one customer, who owns an NA, says he had to replace the felt strips with electrical tape to get them to fit nicely in his. I've checked the fitment on all the vents I've shipped so far, and they all rotated freely in my vent sockets. Does anyone have an old NA socket and eyeball lying around that I could buy for cheap and use to check fitment?