If you want it made out of metal you could cast it yourself out of aluminum for much cheaper. If you'd be interested in learning the process and making the furnace and everything, I could see it being a very useful skill combined with your 3d printer. I believe you can also melt aluminum in a normal convection oven too if you don't want to make a whole production/hobby out of it. Would be much cheaper than $1600 but not as pretty as CNC, but if you're painting it anyways then it shouldn't really matter. You could also use a bodyfiller on the 3d printed part to smooth it out if you would want it out of plastic
Recently having taken a bell casting class at the Crucible here I am very familiar with the casting process and setting up a small forge to do something like melting down aluminum cans would be something I'd be interested in, however, what I don't have an abundance of is time. I was retired but went back to work, full time, to help pay for this restoration and the time I do have I need to spend managing the project and finishing the complete electrical redesign of the wiring as well as actually implementing it once I get the chassis back from the body shop.
![Passive circuit component Circuit component Hardware programmer Electrical wiring Electronic engineering]()
Things like this new electrical distribution panel shown in the above photo that will be going into the passenger footwell now that the factory HVAC system will be replaced by a much more compact unit. The hole in the center is for the engine compartment wiring harness which will give you an idea about where it will be mounted. The three fuse panels shown are for the Battery, Accessory and Ignition circuits respectively with the two black 130 Amp relays, one each for the Accessory and Ignition circuits, are controlled by the ignition switch assembly as part of my redesign effort to keep the current flow through all the various control switches on the steering column to a minimum. OEM replacements for the factory stalks and switches are almost non-existent and those I have found have cost me an arm and a leg to purchase. Original replacement parts are only ever going to get harder and harder to find and anything I can do to increase the longevity of these new parts I have managed to obtain I am doing. That includes pretty much putting every circuit carrying current anywhere in the car under relay control.
Like I said earlier in this thread, I want the heater control panel made out of aluminum so I can powder coat it to match my center console but I don't have time to come up to speed to do the casting myself and to have someone do a prototype one-off cast will be as expensive or more as the CNC. I also checked into having it 3D printed in metal and the price was double the CNC work so I will just have to bite the bullet I guess.
. my $0.02
