Parts for the Audi R8 are not cheap. Seemingly innocuous parts like a plastic duct that sits inside an air diffuser can do quite some harm to the wallet if you pay the price that Audi are asking. I believe their motto for this car is ‘come up with a reasonable price then add a zero to the end…’
Fortunately 3D scanning and printing is here to save the day! The plan was to get the shape of the diffuser 3D scanned to obtain the subtle curvature of the part where the ducts attach. Using this information, the shape of the one of the ducts was formed in Fusion 360 CAD software. The second duct is a mirror of the first so it doesn’t need to be modelled separately.
Scanning the part of the diffuser where the duct will attach
At this stage, a draft revision of the part has been 3D printed and is ready for test fitment. Once that’s done, any fine tuning to the 3D model will be carried out.
The ducts are barely visible from the rear of the car (note this is not the customer’s car, just an example!)
Although the ducts are almost invisible from the rear of the car, they will be printed in a filament that is suitable for filling, sanding and painting at the customer’s request.
It’s a short and sweet update this week. I’ll post some pictures of the finished part when the customer has them installed.
Bye for now.
Gallery - Audi R8 3D Scanning
