D Special headlight assembly

As I said, from what I found in there, it may well be a bit from another car altogether.
I'll post a pic of the other side of it if I can find it :)
It's a bit like a square wall plug.
 
Don B. Cilly said:
As I said, from what I found in there, it may well be a bit from another car altogether.
I'll post a pic of the other side of it if I can find it :)
It's a bit like a square wall plug.
Click to expand...

There will be variations on that clip, Citroen used Cibie and SEV Marchal lights - the one I supplied is from a repro Cibie.

Cheers
Chris
 
I found the bit.
Probably nothing to do with Ds.

pezzet_zps9aj3ce83.jpg
 
Don B. Cilly said:
I found the bit.
Probably nothing to do with Ds.

pezzet_zps9aj3ce83.jpg
Click to expand...

Woah! That's different. I agree probably nothing to do with a DS. Curiouser and curiouser.
They're not that easy to get to unless you're changing a headlight over but it would be interesting to see what everyone else has.

SF
 
Don B. Cilly said:
As I said, from what I found in there, it may well be a bit from another car altogether.
I'll post a pic of the other side of it if I can find it :)
It's a bit like a square wall plug.
Click to expand...

Capture1.JPG
Parts arrived today and actually look very good, see attached image.
Interesting though, dealing with bureau printers.
The advertising blurb stated from 15c cm3. The part occupies what is called a bounding box of 2/3 cm3 which translated to 10c per part.
In the end I paid $14.03 but when you consider that $12.75 was for freight from New Zealand I suppose that's reasonable. I ordered on 2nd July and received 20th July, again reasonable from NZ.
Send me an address Don and I'll send you a couple unless you have had success with your local supplier.


SF
 
I gave up on the local guy.
After he requested the modification to the soft bit, which you kindly sent, he said he wanted another one.
He also said, If he could have the "original" file, (not STL), he could do it himself.
I said, well, what file format would you need. Hasn't replied. For a week.

Meanwhile, a friend dropped a little bag of those on my work bench the other day (hard and soft), old but usable.
I had to get the car back together (I changed the clutch disc and plate) so I used those.

So hey... I notice you only printed the "improved" ones with three cuts... why do they have a "corner" missing, though?

Let us know how they work.
 
Don B. Cilly said:
So hey... I notice you only printed the "improved" ones with three cuts... why do they have a "corner" missing, though?

Let us know how they work.
Click to expand...

The flat edge locates into the flat of the soft piece to stop the nylon part turning when adjusting the lights.

Cheers
Chris
 
I replaced the rectangular bit in blue with an old large pipe seal recently - left hand inside the headlight housing in situ, right hand holding the light. The old rubber had broken away and the nylon lug is then free to allow the headlamp support to move back and forth. The pipe seal (used just because it was handy) fixed the problem very well.
 
David S said:
I replaced the rectangular bit in blue with an old large pipe seal recently - left hand inside the headlight housing in situ, right hand holding the light. The old rubber had broken away and the nylon lug is then free to allow the headlamp support to move back and forth. The pipe seal (used just because it was handy) fixed the problem very well.
Click to expand...

I didn't bother with printing the rectangular piece since I was more interested in seeing how the fiddly bit came up. Personally I'd be more tempted to print a negative part, i.e print a tool recess which I could fill with Sikaflex or similar. I've done this in the past and it's a cheap and very successful option. I'll look at this when I clear the backlog of work on my desk.

SF
 
Yes, casting some urethane would be a good solution. Since this car was already together and the rubber had gone, I wasn't interested in taking the headlamp bucket out. Hence the old pipe seal, but any bit of rubber would do the job. It doesn't matter if the plastic socket turns or not as the adjustment is done at the threaded end of the rod and the only issue is to have it working as a balljoint when the self-levelling is altering the headlamp aim.
 
Well, I just replaced eight of those.
Easy enough to do with one hand on the headlight from the back and the other from the cleaning hatch.
What I at first took to be some sort of yellow foam was actually remnants of the square bits which had deteriorated/disintegrated to a mulch.

Whereas the nylon bits I recovered were as good as new.
The square bits are easy enough to fit in there after you got the nylon ones in place, and they make for a good assembly.

Just my experience, draw your own conclusions.
 
Don B. Cilly said:
Well, I just replaced eight of those.
Easy enough to do with one hand on the headlight from the back and the other from the cleaning hatch.
What I at first took to be some sort of yellow foam was actually remnants of the square bits which had deteriorated/disintegrated to a mulch.

Whereas the nylon bits I recovered were as good as new.
The square bits are easy enough to fit in there after you got the nylon ones in place, and they make for a good assembly.

Just my experience, draw your own conclusions.
Click to expand...

Did you print the rectangular bits Don and if so how did they come up dimensionally?
SF
 
Don B. Cilly said:
I gave up on the local guy.
After he requested the modification to the soft bit, which you kindly sent, he said he wanted another one.
He also said, If he could have the "original" file, (not STL), he could do it himself.
I said, well, what file format would you need. Hasn't replied. For a week.

Meanwhile, a friend dropped a little bag of those on my work bench the other day (hard and soft), old but usable...
Click to expand...

He still hasn't replied. It would have been interesting to see how they came out, but I really have no time for complete muppets.
These guys just don't deserve it.

I guess someone else here will try them out and let us know.
What can I do. I tried two shops.
 
Don B. Cilly said:
He still hasn't replied. It would have been interesting to see how they came out, but I really have no time for complete muppets.
These guys just don't deserve it.

I guess someone else here will try them out and let us know.
What can I do. I tried two shops.
Click to expand...

You can ask me to post you a couple.:thanks: PM me your address.
 
Er. well.
Yeah no maybe.
I really appreciate the offer. And your actually doing what I vaguely suggested.
And sending me the files to print. And the modification for the donkeys.
It's not that I don't want to send you my address. You're welcome to visit any time. It's that... I actually have the lights assembled, got spares (especially of the round bits), and I just feel it would be... silly to have you send me some physical bits at this stage. From Australia. To Spain :)

As if you had. Thanks.
I'd still like to hear from anyone who's actually tried the printed stuff.
Me, at the moment, the printers here are useless, it's a very hot and humid July... laziness is the universal constant, forget the speed of light...
 
Well.
The shop, after more delays - I had to convert the STLs to every file format that Blender would do - finally printed the stuff.
€10 for three bits, one of each.

As expected, the soft bit, which was the one I was more interested in, is hard as a rock.
The softest they can do, sorry.
I didn't even waste any time discussing it.

So I wonder, has anyone managed to print the soft bits?
Because as I said, I recovered some of the nylon ones from there, good as new too, but all the soft ones were gone or completely wasted.
And apparently one can.
On the wobbly bit page, it says:
"It is printed with Dutch Filaments; flex 45 a flexible polyester variant.
Printsettings; temperature 250 degrees, bed temperature 90 degrees, infill 30%.
Using a 30% infill this block has a comparable flexibility as the original part. "

And the wobbly bit material is pretty much the same as the headlights square bits I got.
That would work.

Maybe I'll try a three-cut nylon bit... but you have to get the headlight off all the rods and bring it near the cleaning hatch to do that, so...
I don't think the cut corner is a good idea though.
 
Well... uh. oh.
I had one round clip that tended to come out, so I said, WTH, let's do it.
Pried the rubber bit, fitted the freshly printed three-cut.

It categorically refused to click onto the rod. Positively. Unquestionably. Definitely.
I mean, you can exert quite a lot of force with one hand on the back and one on the glass.
You don't really want to end up with your hand through the glass, though.

So I tried... I got the rod with the wobbly bit out, tried both pieces, the old one and the new, well, with everything off the car, it does go in.
The old ones, I tried another one, do take quite a bit less force to do so.

Maybe it was badly printed.
Still, too hot to try more, maybe this evening (it's just before 1 PM here now).
I put the other old one in.
 
Don B. Cilly said:
Well... uh. oh.
I had one round clip that tended to come out, so I said, WTH, let's do it.
Pried the rubber bit, fitted the freshly printed three-cut.

It categorically refused to click onto the rod. Positively. Unquestionably. Definitely.
I mean, you can exert quite a lot of force with one hand on the back and one on the glass.
You don't really want to end up with your hand through the glass, though.

So I tried... I got the rod with the wobbly bit out, tried both pieces, the old one and the new, well, with everything off the car, it does go in.
The old ones, I tried another one, do take quite a bit less force to do so.

Maybe it was badly printed.
Still, too hot to try more, maybe this evening (it's just before 1 PM here now).
I put the other old one in.
Click to expand...

You're certainly not having much luck Don. I tried my printed bits at the weekend, the 3 cut nylon clips. They were stiffer than original, as you'd expect being new and unworn, but not unduly so.
Depending on the quality of the printer, male features tend to be slightly (technical term) oversize and female features slightly (technical term) undersize. In other words a pin is bigger, a hole is smaller.
Our desktop printer errs by 0.2mm in this regard so you can end up with 0.4mm clash radially or 0.8mm clash across the diameter if this makes sense.
The NZ printed trial parts I have here are 0.05 oversize/undersize which is acceptable and is why they work.

SF

All above is normal in therms of manufacturing considerations and once understood can be allowed for.
 
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