Project NSX: Part 9 – Designing, Fitting and Testing a 3D Printed Door Card Frame

Acura NSX rear door frame broken

The driver’s side was even worse.  Not only were the two top tabs broken off, but the entire rear frame was split in two!

NSX rear door frame

When these tabs are broken, the door card starts to ‘bow’ and warp away from the metal door.  This is something to keep an eye out for.

NSX front door frame

The front door frame is the most visible, albeit only when the door is open.

NSX Front door frame tab broken

The front door frame tabs didn’t go unscathed, as most were also broken.

Acura NSX New Front and Rear Door Frames

To fix all of these issues, new front and rear door frames were needed.

Acura NSX New Front and Rear Door Frames

The outward face of the door frames are textured, while the inner are smooth injection-molded ABS plastic.  The texture is crucial for the large front door frame that’s really the only one that’s noticeably visible when the door is open.

Table of Contents:

Page 1 – Problem: Broken Door Frame Tabs
Page 2 – Broken Tabs Con’t & New OEM Front & Rear
Page 3 – Replacing Front & Rear Frames, Laser Scanning
Page 4 – Drawing & Designing Door Frames
Page 5 – 3D Printing Door Frames
Page 6 – Test Fitting & Destructive Testing
Page 7 – Redesigning NSX Door Frame & Finished Product

5 comments

  1. Have you looked into black PEI like ULTEM9085? It’s pretty amazing for a FDM material. We have a lot of parts made with it, but we aren’t printing it ourselves so I don’t know if it’s something limited to the very expensive commercial/industrial printers.

  2. You guys should try a Nylon CF like Esun EPA CF. the layer lines basically dissappear and you wont need to worry about car temps. I can promise those will deform on a hot day when you pull on the door card.

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