Useful way to get knobs etc made?

[Yorkie]

For anyone who doesn't know, the 'AC97' is the famous 'Robot' or 'Cyclops' Ekco, known as such due to the layout of the three front  knobs, the speaker, and the magic eye. Inwardly it has a striking resemblance to the AC77 that I'm sloooowly restoring, both having similar circuitry and a separate power supply and receiver chassis. Gary's superb AC97 restoration featured in a very well illustrated article in the BVWS Bulletin in Autumn 2008, which has helped me greatly with the AC77 - a rather uninspiring set, visually, and my first (and probably the last for me!) total strip-down and rebuild. Ben Djikman supplies quite a range of knobs, dials etc, including complete sets for certain Ekco models, but usually they're black, so fading of colours isn't an issue. The ones shown by Gary when new, in the article were then an exact match in colour. Presumably it's UV that's changed the colour?  At least the 'chicken head' know is on the side of the set rather than alongside the other knobs.

Ben was able to supply a new dial for my AC77 - excellent quality screen printed, but with continental rather than English station spellings. He did kindly say that if I could get an order together for say ten dials, he'd get a batch made with English spellings, but unlike say the A22, the AC77 is not sought after, and not particularly common as far as I can see, so ten dials is out of the question. (I guess that they must be more commonplace on the continent or he wouldn't have made any AC77 dials).  

I got as far as the pics in post 52 in this thread, and since then other diversions have occupied my time. Must try to get on with it!

http://golbornevintageradio.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?tid=3709&page=6&highlight=AC77

Ben Djikman's website is well worth a browse:

http://www.bendijkman.nl/index.php?option=com_sobi2&catid=7&Itemid=53&lang=en

As to the 3-D printing, I assume that the material is some sort of thermoplastic. Quite how it would stand up to be drilled, tapped etc, I've no idea. Don't know if when the part has been made, it feels hard,  as Bakelite is, or 'plasticky'. My understanding of Bakelite is that it isn't simply moulded, but put under extreme pressure at high temperature - a totally different material and process.  The moulds/dies must have been eye-wateringly expensive, but for radio cabinets, cheaper than wooden ones, as was reflected in the lower price of Bakelite cabinets when wood was offered as an alternative.  I recall as a child, that Bakelite was seen as inferior to wood. No-on realised that in years to come, wooden cabinets would de-laminate and become attractive to woodworm infestation when stored in damp conditions.

Rambled Yorkie, drifting right off topic again.