$30 DIY Frunk

[TheHellYouSay]

With my son's help, I was able to install a 37 quart Sterilite Gasket Sealed Storage Container under the hood. There is a post on Thingiverse that shows another gentleman doing something similar, but I simplified it a little bit by just mounting it at 3 points. If you can get someone to 3D print just the round piece (x2) that fits over the supports with the rubber nipples, which are the 2 nearer to the back of the engine after you remove the cowling, then the 3rd mount point is just to the top of the engine itself. It seems to be fairly level and sturdy. The back side does not easily latch because it's a little too close to the firewall, but there are still 4 latches.

https://www.doitbest.com/shop/stora...2cutxWU2Za7DESMtRbCKSbiJG8mhk2ecaAqiiEALw_wcB

 

[PB+J]

That looks great but I wonder if three attachment points are enough? Do you have a 3d printer? I looked into having the mounts printed and it wuickly got very expensive

 

[Robert Bratton]

Often local libraries have small 3d printers.

 

[TheHellYouSay]

That looks great but I wonder if three attachment points are enough? Do you have a 3d printer? I looked into having the mounts printed and it wuickly got very expensive

I was going to go with 32 quart tote from Target, which came in at a mere $10, but my son said something about too bad it's not a bit more moisture proof, so I stepped it up to the one from The Do-It Center. It feels a bit more sturdy, the box has a ridged edge which I think adds some structural strength to it. It also weighs 4.25 lbs compared to 3.5 lbs for the lesser tote and has 37 qt capacity versus 32 qt capacity. Both are made by Sterilite. I don't think I'll be carrying anything heavy in it, perhaps the granny charger, a blanket and maybe some other useful things for roadside emergencies.

Of course my son is also the one with the 3D printer. He has made a gazillion different doo-dads on that thing, but he has progressed to the point where he can also do design, so I think I'll ask him if he can improve upon the design that the other guy did and make me a 4th leg for the leftmost front corner. I don't think either of us have ever looked at what a fair price would be to charge for printing custom pieces to sell, although I guess some folks do that sort of thing? I think it's hard to put a marketable figure on it because of all the learning, and a bit of financing, that he had to undertake to get to that point, sort of like recouping the R&D investment in creating a new prescription drug. Having said that, I'm sure he'd be good with cranking out a few more as the Prusa is not that busy these days.

I've attached a couple of pictures of the pieces I didn't use in front. These have the grooves in the side so they can slide into another piece, but I don't believe those larger pieces are needed, so if we do it over again, it will just be solid sides. I had to modify this piece by drilling a hole in the top, then I used #8 x 3/4" machine screws and a nut with no washer on the bottom. On the inside of the bin I used some nice looking washers with rubber backing to snug it up real tight.

Here's the link to the original works on Thingiverse:

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4717228

 

[IanM]

You might be interested in this thread?

https://www.speakev.com/threads/frunk-install-possible-issue.165033/#post-3144248

 

[TheHellYouSay]

It seems that there are some small differences amongst Niro EV models, depending on left hand or right hand steering position. Also, possibly different years have different locations for the coolant reservoir? I did not have to make any adjustments to get around things, but I did have to make some modifications after my first post. It turns out the 37 quart Sterilite tote was just a little bit too tall, so the bonnet would hit the box. I dropped back to the 32 quart Sterilite, then to provide support to the 4th corner, I just jerry-rigged it with a cork I had saved from a bottle of champagne I believe (yes, I save corks!). Maybe not as waterproof, but now it's a $15 DIY frunk.

32 quart tote

https://www.target.com/p/sterilite-...vZlCtLGvkp6EyI23-BBoCzWEQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds