printing NLA parts

[Huw Powell]

I have 3 sunroofs from/for my '88 90.

Out of six of those plastic "wedges", 4 or 5 are broken at the mounting 
screw hole.  So I have good templates, and have wanted to print some for 
a while.

If I can talk Marc into it, perhaps we will try.

It's a simple part, and all it does is push down the airfoil as the roof 
shuts.  When they get cockeyed the drive gear tends to skip a tooth or 
three on the control cable thing.

I'll check the part numbers to see if they are the same as yours tomorrow.

Now... how much could we expect pricing to be to offset the development 
costs?  There must be a market for at least 4 or 5 pairs of these...

- Huw

On 10/28/2015 8:02 PM, DeWitt Harrison wrote:
> On my car's sunroof, there are two (L&R) bits of plastic trim, little black
> fin-like pieces roughly 8 1/2" long, which visually hide some of the
> unattractive lifting mechanism bits which would otherwise be seen when the
> rear edge of the sunroof is tipped up. The original parts are "rotten" and
> disintegrating due to heat exposure and age. Although these parts still
> show up on Audi Tradition with pricing, they are, in fact, NLA, as you
> would expect based on Audi's "get lost" philosophy on old cars.
>
> So I'm casting about for options. One would be that good used ones exist
> somewhere in the world. If anyone has knowledge of such, I would obviously
> love to know. Unfortunately, this parts issue is probably too small
> potatoes to attract the attention of our main go-to guy at Force 5.
>
> Another might be having the parts 3d printed. The downside there is the
> cost of either having someone generate a CAD drawing or doing a 3d scan and
> then doing the work of correcting the scan file for age-induced
> distortions, cracks and imperfections. This cost could be amortized by
> printing a number of parts if there are other Audi owners with the same
> need. The parts are found on all type 44 sunroofs after a certain date,
> which I do not recall at the moment, and, the Audi Tradition catalog
> suggests, other Audi models of the late 80s and early 90s. The part numbers
> are 321 877 781 and 321 877 782.
>
> It would be great to hear from any qlisters who have an interest in this
> problem.
>
> DeWitt Harrison
> '88 5ktq
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