3D Printed Seat Belt Loops

[Dr Lebaron]

A buddy has a 3D printer and I was asking him about some parts.

The F seatbelt loop on the seat seems to be something that can be done and needed.

If anyone has one to play with, let me know and I can see what can be printed.
I have E body seats in my F and can't compare if M 4drs are the same.

 

[BudW]

I have E body seats in my F and can't compare if M 4drs are the same.

Only the 2-doors have the seat belt loop – unless you are talking about something else.
BudW

 

[F body Deconstructor Jim]

What filament is he going to use?
Some of the 3d printing filaments do not hold up to UV, some dont deal with moisture either.
(I have a 3d printer and 3d laser scanner, both yet to be assembled...done a little research on the plastics available)

 

[BudW]

Me thinking out loud (yes – it can be dangerous). Once a 3D Model is made – a person might contact one of the repop places out there to see if they can make a plastic mold using the 3D item and if they can create a truck load for us using plastic that will withstand what cars can dish out.

I would “think” making a suitable “copy” is the hard part - and a 3D printer should make that job a lot easier.

I would like to see some A-pillar trim (2 and 4-door), FMJ bumper extensions, F-body grills and a host of other things repop’ed. It sounds like we may have to make our own “copies” then off-source it for mass production.
BudW


Edit, also don’t forget the front outer seat belt buckle covers.

 

[F body Deconstructor Jim]

My printer is limited to an approx. 9"x9"x9" build envelope, maximum.

 

[Dr Lebaron]

All I know it's PVC or ABS.

I was thinking about small, easy stuff to try out.
I'd really like to be able to re pop grills.

 

[kkritsilas]

Straight ABS (without a UV protection coating) is notorious for breaking down in sunlight. For creating a model, it would probably be fine, for use in car without a UV coating, let's just say, make a lot of them.

 

[Oldiron440]

Or just paint them. Painting is a uv coating.

 

[kkritsilas]

It is best that the color be molded in. Paint can wear off, through the friction of the seat belts, for example. If it were as easy as just painting them, the cheap as possible bean counters at the car makers would have been painting them.

 

[BudW]

I agree, it would be best to have color of plastic, molded in – but I just don’t see that happening.
It is going to be hard enough to get someone to mass produce them . . . in one color.

After all, just how many colors were these parts made in – over the years?

But – these plastic items can be color dyed to match.

Now the UV protection – I don’t know anything about.
BudW

 

[kkritsilas]

I don't know the number of colours, but they would match the number of interior colours that were available. Unlike the even cheaper bastards at GM (where colour keyed seatbelts were extra cost; otherwise they were black), from my own J bodies, the seat belt loops are the same colour as the interior, as are the seat belts.

 

[F body Deconstructor Jim]

I've seen at least 6 different color loops.
2 greens, red, 2 tans/browns, 2 blues, black and white. OK, thats 9
Most of the rear belts (at least 90% of the few dozen F's I've had) were black.

 

[kkritsilas]

In GMs from the 1970s to the 1990s sometime, all of the seat belts were black, unless you paid for the colour keyed seatbelts option. I don't know if that was true for the Caddys, but it was true for all of the other car lines.

 

[BudW]

After all, just how many colors were these parts made in – over the years?

Sigh, I meant that as a rhetorical question.

Now I opened a can of worms.

 

[DCAspen]

Most F-Bodys came with black seat belts,Colored belts were for SE and Premier models or could be had as an option,but not all SE and Premier models came with colored belts,A guy I know has a 78 SE Aspen with black belts,just sold him my set of red belts for his interior,colored belts look so much nicer but hard to find.

 

[F body Deconstructor Jim]

Most of the few dozen F's I have had had interior matching colored front belts, not black.
Only a couple had colored rear belts.