Car Wire Loom Clips

I have a few cars with electrical doors. For a while I thought that some Electrical Gremlins were nested in one of them, chewing on the wires...

One day I decided to catch some of them, but no luck. instead I discovered that they broke some of the wire support clips inside the doors, and now the wires were dangling over sharp metal edges causing problems...

So I decided to fix that myself and since no dealer carried the clips any more or any other commercial solution was available i made them myself.

See the picture above, the replica in teal next to the original black.

I made it at TechShop Chandler, techshop.ws.

Step 1: Materials: Makerbot + Filament

First I carefully took out the last remaining intact clip. I used it to get some rough dimensions and using Solidworks I drew the new one. Dimensions are metric since the car was European...

Enclosed are some files to make your own. Feel free to modify as you see fit. The PDF is a 3D file so you can actually rotate the part around with the mouse using the plain old PDF reader. Not many know about this feature but it is handy. Click and hold left button while rotating image. It will go in any direction.

Step 2: Making the Clip

Using my favorite shade of Teal Filament, I took the STL file and manipulated it to get a good part. It is 100% fill with 2 shell layers, on medium quality, plenty good for inside car doors. Build time about 18 minutes each. I recommend that, if you find the design useful, to make these in a batch of several. The software can do that for you. That way you get them all done in one sitting.

The small "lip" hooks on the edges of the door reinforcement sheet metal inside the door. You snap the loom inside the big "hoop". On the edge of the clip there is reinforcing ridge making the clips stronger. Supports are already build into the file. Tutorials on how to use the makerbot are on Instructables. This is just on making the clips.

Making them of ABS on an X2 makerbot should be better than the "bio-plastic" that makerbots with only one nozzle can do however, if not exposed to UV light they should hold pretty well inside the doors. They fit inside Jaguar XJ40 line of cars and probably other models also.

Hope this helps somebody !!!