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[jotjotde]

Crashed my Ribelle while driving off after getting new tires     Ground was moist and some slick stuff was on the road…

Now my right upper fairing is splintered badly and the steel plate holding it is quite bent. While the latter I probably can bend back into shape, the fairing needs to be repaired and repainted.
In the past I ordered a spare from Energica, but that is not possible  now and might not be anymore.

So I wonder if it would be possible to have the fairing 3D printed.
Is there anyone with experience in these things?
I guess I need to have the fairing 3D scanned first and someone needs to develop a printer file from that, right?
What material do I need?

[Specter]

jojo from what I have read, even overseas (im in the us) Energica was ordered to keep operating I believe.
Give them a try, try to contact them directly, they might be able to send you one.
I do NOT know if they have any more etc etc but AF1 in Texas used to sell used Energica fairings from time to time, if they have one you might be able to get them to ship one.

I *might* have an Ace up my sleeve.  It's new years so nobody will answer but give me a day or three to see if I can reach someone, I might know where one might be, or something that might work for you... it's a longshot but ill give it a try.

aaron

[jotjotde]

THX aaron for your offer.

I already searched the web for spare parts. Some bits and pieces are there but no fairings at all.

BTW, this is what AF1 is stating on their website:
AF1 Racing is no longer a Energica Dealer. The parts listed below are left over stock. No new Energica parts will be ordered.

So, if you do not draw a magic rabbit from your hat, I will pursue this idea of mine to have fairings 3D printed.
My idea is also to tinker with the design a bit to avoid any copyright issues and then make it available to all Energica owners.

[Curt]

I'm sure a body shop wouldn't be cheap, but it would likely still be way more cost and time effective than contracting out a 3D design and print, unless you can somehow design it yourself.

In the past I've repaired severely damaged fairings using sanding, fiberglass, epoxy, Bondo, sanding, Bondo, sanding, Bondo, sanding, wet sanding, paint and clear coat.

Of course best of all is to get it from what's left of Energica!

[Motoproponent]

When I eventually break a fairing I intend to do some plastic welding, bondo it out smooth and then vinyl wrap the bike.

Unless There are spares to be had from Energica or Ebay.

I feel like that's easier than trying to match colors and graphics, and cheaper than getting the whole bike sprayed with another color. 

[DerKrawallkeks]

I think there are some good ideas and valuable opinions and alternatives in this thread already.

If you want to go with 3D printing though, and possibly do it cheap, then I recommend an app called kiriengine for the scanning. You'll get really good results usually.
I recommend the freeware meshmixer for any cleanup and modifications of the scan.
Since kiriengine is using many photos of your part for the scan, you might have to temporarily sprinkle some paint on it (or draw many lines and dots on the parts with a removable marker). That is so any clean smooth surfaces have enough details for the scanner to recognize the geometry.

[Specter]

depending on the color of your bike.
maybe sprinkle some talcum powder   coffee  sparkilies like they throw on cakes and such all over it.  something that is easily blown off with air wiped off etc but givces a good contrast for the software to see 'edges'

shrug.... just some idle thoughts

aaron

[jotjotde]

Hey folks, thanks for all the advice and even offer for help (Zarathustra, if all fails, I will come visit you in NL  )!

Actually the fairing is already in a body shop, let's see what they can do with it.
Nevertheless I will go on with this - so first step would be production of a sufficient scan of the fairing.
@Krawallkeks: Thx for the hints about the apps!
@aaron: Thx for the hint about sparklies. I was always convinced that glitter makes life much better 

In the meantime I found a 3D printing company not far away who can do prints up to 800 mm size and offer different materials. Because the fairing is not exposed to engine heat or is stressed by some high load, I suggest a relatively cheap printing material would be sufficient. As I plan to let the fairing painted, UV radiation shouldn't be a problem either. Am I guessing right here?

Having the cost in mind, I think it would be best to use the same design left and right. Original fairings are different - the left one has a bump to make room for the coolant pump. So it will be scanning the left fairing and then mirroring it.

[Demoni]

Unless the stock fairings are shattered they can be fixed, they are made out of ABS so welding is possible. Once the fairing is back in 1 piece standard body work and paint would be all that is required.

IMO 3d printing is not the answer for replacement fairings. Due to their large size there are limited 3d printers with the capacity to print them in 1 piece.  Would require a lot of post processing to smooth the surface.

If you need replacements and cant source new fairings from Energica let me know. I created moulds of the upper fairings of the EVA for our race project so I could pull fiberglass or carbon replacement fairings for the bike.

Left and right side moulds


Carbon fairing straight from the mould


Backside of fiberglass fairing


Painted unit ready for the race bike


Also created a mould to make one piece tank fairings for the EVA

[Specter]

Demoni I may need to have you look at my bike there!

On the plastic and 3d printing.  UV can be a BIG issue,  depending on the composite / polymer it is made of, UV absolutely can break it down in as little as a year.  It can crumble, get very brittle shatter etc etc from UV degradation.  So make sure whatever you are making it from, if you go that route, can handle UV.   ABS will discolor and eventually get brittle from UV.   Besides for working with various items and the chemistry of it all for a few years, I recycle electronics and used to get computers whole from shops all over the place.  Long story short I would keep shit stacked up in my back yard, waiting on me and / or a helper to bust it down.  Life got busy and some of the stuff stayed out there a year or so in the weather.  Now granted your bike is NOT out in the weather 24/7 but even the stuff that was under plastic sheet but still exposed to the sun, the ABS gets very brittle and can shatter from a blow or just bending it, instead of flexing it cracks and breaks off and it is NOT a nice frangible either, the ends can be very sharp and cut you.  It also discolored / faded pretty badly too.

Don't want to spend that money to make your bike all purty and go cheap and have it look like crap a few months later because you didn't know any better.

Aaron

[jotjotde]

@Demoni: Thank you for your post!

It's good to know that there is a fallback solution in case everything fails! I'm happy for all owners in the US that there is a relatively easy way to get spare fairings from you. For me, the shipping cost and custom duty for these parts alone would be so high that I will first try something else.

Regarding getting original parts from Energica: From my last communication with my dealer (beginning December 2024) I heard that no one is picking up the phone there right now and e-mails remain unanswered. I asked for a rear brake disc in October and have no feedback on that yet.

Regarding printing material for the fairings I talked to a 3D printing shop and they assured me that there are materials available that are UV/weather resistant (e.g. PETG, TPU). They already did something similar for a Ducati, so I am quite positive. About the post processing of the prints I have to talk to them yet.

[toothless]

Well demoni, I think I'm going to need new fairings this summer.

Mind helping a brother out? 🤣