Reverse engineering the Mach 460 Tweeter Housings

[maillemaker]

I just bought my second 1995 GT. My first I lost on ice 20 years ago.

This one has the Mach 460 sound system. The door tweeters are held on with a single screw threaded into sheet metal. The plastic housing does not hold up to the repeated abuse of door closings, and busts out under the screw head.

I am going to try and reverse engineer these so they can be 3D printed. It's just outside the envelope of what my3D printer will handle. Might have to buy another 3D printer.

With luck the entire housing can be 3D printed as a single structure, instead of 2 halves. And I will make the mounting area MUCH stronger.

First step was to 3D scan the pieces. Here is the inner housing. Next I will extract surfaces and create a new "real" CAD body I can work with.

 

[ttocs]

if your tweeter housing is hitting the door frame you probably need to replace the bushings on the door. I have never had an issue with my tweeter pods and I have taken them on/off many many times now.

What kind of 3d scanner do you have?

 

[maillemaker]

Outer cover:

 

[maillemaker]

if your tweeter housing is hitting the door frame you probably need to replace the bushings on the door. I have never had an issue with my tweeter pods and I have taken them on/off many many times now.

What kind of 3d scanner do you have?

The tweeter is not hitting the door frame. The plastic is simply weak under the head of the screw holding it in place, so it broke, allowing the tweeter to wobble around on what was left, supported by the speaker wire. Now on mine, it looks like someone replaced the screw with some kind of replacement so maybe that contributed to the failure. Plus the backing foam under it is permanently deformed due to age, so any shock absorbtion it was providing was long gone.

The scanner is an Einscan Pro +.

 

[Quest]

Keep us up to date with your update/ upgrade, might be interested in a set.

 

[ttocs]

I have been considering adding a 3d printer to my shop but the business has not been good enough to get a scanner to really make it fun.

 

[Procharged87]

If you need someone to do a test print, my printer is easily capable of 12x12x12.

 

[Adfalenski]

For temporary use, remove the screw and then reinstall with a fender washer.

 

[maillemaker]

For temporary use, remove the screw and then reinstall with a fender washer.

Yes, for sure, there needs to be a wider surface area under the screw head. I suspect it came that way from the factory and mine has been "jury rigged". They used some kind of countersunk head screw which would make it even MORE prone to cracking and breaking.

 

[maillemaker]

I'm wondering now if my tweeter pods have been "hacked on" and cut down to fit a non-Mach door panel?

The bottom of my pod appears to be much shorter than other pictures I've seen.

 

[joemomma]

That def looks like it has been cut on from what I can remember.