During my 3D printing adventures, I have found myself working on varied projects but this one has been the most fun yet. A good friend of mine runs a fleet of busses and coaches, and part of the responsibilities is to ensure they have a source of replacement parts for those that are regularly broken. Keeping the maintenance budget stable and predictable is part of the juggling act in his profession. Now with new coach manufacturers entering the field -especially in the “new energy” class- a lot of the parts are coming from the far east and the delivery times and costs can vary.
Some parts perhaps haven’t been exposed to the more robust tests inflicted by the UK’s energetic youth; including the above seat ventilation controls and flaps.. Just a few of the components can break resulting in the whole panel needing replacing, as the individual components are not available to order. This can be quite expensive.
After a conversation about the issue, I suggested I have a go at creating these parts from scratch – as I do not have a scanner – with a view of these having a high availability and providing a repair solution for these parts. Possibly making them stronger or at least easy to replace so the coaches are not out of service for too long. Having “kits” made and kept in stock in the depot so technicians can have these operational with minimum fuss is the plan.
First batch now printed and time will tell how well they fare in the hands of the british coach goers!
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