Plastic Nuts for Wood From Mercedes Dealers

[Pawel66]

I thought I would share, when I was doing my homework before work on wood, I sensed there were availability issues of the plastic nuts from MB. They are there, quite decent, not blue.

Price is, of course, ridiculous, $17 per piece vs. , e.g. $6.70 at Authentic Classic or about EUR 1 at SLS (just those from SLS are a bit worse by looks).

[wwheeler]

Seems like back when I was reinstalling the dash wood, these new MB nuts were a bit tight. Made me nervous and reused the old blue ones. Anybody else had that experience?

[ja17]

For that kind of money they should be able to supply the correct color. The scarce original blue plastic nuts were used on some sedans of the era also. The W108, W109, W114 and W115 cars used two of them below the rear windscreen, they hold a trim strip on the flat shelf. They can be removed from the trunk (boot) of the car. I always salvage these when parting an old sedan.

[wwheeler]

Those plastic dash nuts would be a perfect piece for the new 3D printing method. I would think getting a blue color wouldn't be all that hard either. 

[Jonny B]

You would just need someone to put together the file (that is the model) in a file for the 3D printing process. Don't know if you can scan the original is some way. I would assume that is possible.

 There are a number of different plastics that can be used, and colors too. This would also be an application where the lines from the printing don't really matter. The lines in the part are from the filament that is used to form the part. Not all 3D printing uses that, but that is what we had from the company that did the battery caps/bases.

[mrfatboy]

You would just need someone to put together the file (that is the model) in a file for the 3D printing process.

If someone can give me the dimensions of the nut I can attempt the model. Shouldn’t be too difficult. 👍

[Pawel66]

I think this is a very good idea.

We just need dimensions of the original blue one or statement that the new one is the same, just different colour- then I would just take mine for scanning.

[wwheeler]

They are not exactly the same. See page from SLS -  https://www.sls-hh-shop.de/main/en/mercedes-230-280sl-w113-/67-windscreen-230sl-250sl-280sl/fastener-for-window-frame-p-5901/waehrung/Pfund

Pretty sure I have both and could send to someone who can handle this.

Wallace

[Pawel66]

You are right, certainly not the same...

I know one gentleman who is fluent in this

I will be fixing my wood back in about a month...

[mrfatboy]

@wallace

If you can provide a picture or hand sketch with the dimensions I will attempt a model.

[wwheeler]

I can do that. I designed rubber tooling for years, so this will be easy. I assume you want the original design (blue), not the newer white version?

[mrfatboy]

I think the vote is for original blue👍

[ja17]

If you need an original blue one I can donate it to the cause.

[mrfatboy]

Ja17,

That might better if you have a spare. If will be easier to see all the little detail and will save Wallace the work of marking all the dimensions.

I will pm my address to you👍

[Pawel66]

Ok, so this is rolling, great!

I will help any way I can.

[WRe]

Hi,
you can buy these flanged Polyamid-Nuts (e.g. white, grey, black) in specialized shops for 50 cents.
...WRe

[Pawel66]

WRe, thank you, but the point is:
1. To have fun
2. To have even more fun
3. To have a nut that looks like original that everyone can print

[wwheeler]

I will finish this tomorrow and put the dimensions on it. Complicated little nut and unbelievable how much time they spent designing this with the little knubs on the side. They could have made it much simpler, but when has Mercedes ever done that!

[66andBlue]

Here is a small monkey wrench for the 3D printing project.
There are actually two types of blue nuts as shown in the photos.
I believe the longer one is the one that was used for the wood in Pagodas. It has an M5 thread whereas the shorter one has a smaller thread, M3 or M4?
Perhaps Joe (JA17) has the answer for that.

[ja17]

Yes, only the larger thread is correct for Pagodas. The smaller thread blue nut is used to hold dash pieces on w111 and w110 Mercedes sedans of the era. I possibly may have sent you the wrong one some time ago. Do you need the correct one?

[Pawel66]

Having seen how threads come out of the 3D printing, let me perhaps have a small suggestion to mrfatboy and wwheeler - perhaps the design for 3D printer does not have to be with the thread? perhaps it would be easier to print the nut with a hole so that we can thread it ourselves?

I am happy to test the printing when the files are ready - with and without thread and see how it goes.

[mrfatboy]

Wallace and I have already had a discussion regarding the threading and came to the same conclusion.   I will be making two versions. One version with M5 threads and the other with a hole that you can tap yourself.

You would definitely need a high quality 3D printer for the threaded version to work. We will just have to see.

[wwheeler]

FYI, the larger thread and taller nut is what came off the wood on my W111 coupe. That is the one I used to make a print of. It is for sure 5mm. Mine is an early ‘68. Maybe earlier W111 cars were different?

Maybe the smaller one is for the W108 cars and the wood on the rear window like Joe had mentioned earlier?

I just sent Col a PM asking him if he can measure both his Pagoda and his W111 dash wood studs.

[wwheeler]

I agree on the threads. Depending on how it comes out, the pilot hole size may need to be adjusted to account for this being plastic. Won’t know until you try it on parts.

Also, is there any shrinkage on this part when it is printed? If so, the dimensions may need to be adjusted. About the only critical dimension is the flats on the nut. They cannot be too tight for a wrench or like wise too lose. Everything else is just for looks.

[ja17]

The smaller threads are used to secure dash face panels on W110 and W111 sedans not coupes and cabs. The nuts that hold the dash top wood on pagodas and probably the coupes and cabs, like yours Wallace, used the larger hole blue nuts.