I wanted to pass on a fairly inexpensive way to get custom parts like this adapter made for our speaker projects. Wave-guides also come to mind.
The 3D printed part shown in the pictures below is an adapter for an AMT tweeter, (returned Dayton Audio B452-AIR), to allow it to install into the original cutout on a pair of BIC DV64 speaker I had. These AMT tweeters transformed these speakers, which were harsh and very fatiguing before, into something very listenable. Amazingly the change it did not require any crossover work, however it did require a custom adapter to allow the oval AMT tweeter fit he original round enclosure cutout.
I used a caliper to measure both tweeters to develop the 3D model, (Inventor), for the adapter, this took me about 15 minutes on my lunch break. One tip to pass on, create a
full scale 2D print to check your model before having the part made, then you can take each tweeter and lay it on the paper to check hole locations. The part is going to be exactly as you drew it good or bad, I had caught some issues on this adapter this way.
A few things 3D printing inexpensively allowed on this part is oval shaped recess for the tweeter, the (3) counter-bores on the OD, and the (4) small holes on the ID who's diameter is less that the part thickness. These would features would not be possible in the laser cut part which I considered. It also allowed me to select black color to match the new and old tweeter so the part was plug and play, no painting needed.
I am sure there a hundreds of 3D printing companies online but i used "Jawstec" for this part and a Robotic jaw I had made previously for work. I am very happy with them so far. Their website has an automated quoting tool, just upload your file, pick the material, quantity and and color, custom colors are extra 5% and it develops a price in a few seconds. Multiple revisions can be quoted quickly without much bother to see the price impact of changes that were made.
OK now the price...$10 each with $5 shipping and a 1 week of turnaround! This is crazy cheap compared to alternatives, if I had this part sent out for machining I would be looking at $100-$200 easy. If you have your own printer all the better!
