Hello all. I've been browsing these forums since before I bought my 04' UL a few months ago, but this will be my first post. Thanks to everyone for being so helpful to owners like me!

Anyways, an issue that my car had when I bought it was the center console latch was broken, a pretty common failure point it seems. This part is readily available on ebay (PN 58908-50040), but I didn't think this piece of plastic was worth $50. Since I have CAD programs and a 3D printer, I decided I would model the original latch myself and print my own replacement.

The center console latch is two pieces. A small rod with a torsion spring on it keeps the two pieces together, allowing the piece that interfaces with the latch on the console to spin when you press the wide plastic "button" on the console. I modeled only the piece that was broken, as they come apart very easily and the piece that mounts to the console would likely never break. You can see the progress on the model below:





I printed my initial model, and I will certainly need to make adjustments on some things. For one, I need to enlarge the hole that the pin slides through, as I had to drill it out slightly to get the fit I wanted. I also need to adjust the size and angle of the tab portion that is broken on a lot of these latches. I had to guess its size since I didn't have an exact reference. I got it very close, and when installed my console now stays shut! It is just a tight fit and I have to help it get over the part of the console it holds on to. This will be an easy adjustment to make. my initial part installed is shown below:





I will work to make this part fit and function just like factory. I am just happy that for now the console doesn't fly open when I breathe on the gas. If anyone is interested, once the model is fine tuned to fit better I could certainly make some and send them for cheap. I just couldn't stomach the cost of the OEM part costing $50 knowing I could make it myself. When I have the model fitting right, I will make it out of higher strength ABS plastic (test pieces are PLA material, less strong etc.), and I will clean up the portions that look rough in the pictures. Those are where support structures were printed due to the part over-hanging in those areas. Once cleaned up this part will look like it came from the Lexus dealer, especially once it is made of the higher quality ABS that I have.

Thanks for checking out my weekend project!

 

Very cool 😎 please keep us posted on your progress. Suspect this is the future for these older items once manufacturers stop making replacement parts available.

 

Very cool 😎 please keep us posted on your progress. Suspect this is the future for these older items once manufacturers stop making replacement parts available.

 

Will do! I haven't been able to print another trial yet, work has been really busy! Hopefully I will have V2 printed up by this weekend.

 

I couldnt find the part on ebay, can I get the STL from you?

 

Could I possibly get the .stl file as well. This was something I just thought about yesterday and figured I’d give it a search to see if someone else has had the same idea. Brilliant!
Thanks in advance!