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3D Printed Dealer Emblem

Someone on the Nova board was looking for a dealer emblem for their car. here’s a 3D printed version I made for them:

Original emblem
Scanned image of emblem

Using the scanned image of the emblem, I used GIMP to reduce it to a pure black-and-white image using the posterizing filter. Once that was done, I hand-edited the result to clean up and straighten the noise in the image.

Foreground outline

Once the basic image was created, I used parts of it to make a background outline.

Background outline

These two pieces were traced into SVG files using Inkscape to turn them into outlines. The SVG files were then imported into Fusion360, where I filled and extruded them to form the final object.

Background and foreground extruded in Fusion360

The object was saved as a STL file, loaded into Cura, and sliced for my Ender3 printer. I used PLA filament to print it.

3D printer in action
Final result in PLA plastic filament

It’s not perfect, but it’s a good 10-footer if it is painted with chrome paint. Another option would be using a service like https://shapeways.com to render it in metal, or https://www.gcartrim.com/ to have the plastic plated.