VW Lupo (and Seat Arosa) door handles

My driver-side handle on my Lupo broke. I couldn't find the part online for a reasonable price and unused. So I took photos of the broken handle and used them as blueprints to model and print my own handle in Blender.

I used a washer and longer screws to install the handle, and I've adapted the design to rely on those screws for support in the weakest areas (the feet of the handle).

The model might not be perfect, but it's very functional, the mesh has no errors and it looks great after some sanding and a few coats of spray paint. I might upload improved version in future.

I used M6x70mm screws (2 for each handle, so you need 4 of them overall)

Print info :

1. Material: ABS, ASA, PETG or even PLA. Although PLA parts warp in my car during the summer due to the heat, this is a relatively thick part, so it seems to work with PLA as well. We have hot summers in my country, going up to 44 deg (Celsius) and the PLA handles are holding as well.

2. Nozzle: I used 0.4mm, but since there's no need for extreme precision, 0.6mm or even 0.8mm might work

3. Parameters/infill: I used 3 parameters, 3 bot layers, 4 top layers and 20% infill, I assume increasing these numbers is gonna result in a bit sturdier print, but I've been using the handles for a month now and they're showing no sign of breaking.

4. Layer height: 0.16mm - 0.28mm ; It's up to you, but I used “Variable Layer Height” option in PrusaSlicer, and used smaller layer height only on the top of the handle just to make the sanding process a bit easier.

5. Post-processing: I used 240-dry sandpaper first, then 600-wet sandpaper to polish. I also used F 211 BODYSOFT Filler to fill out some imperfections and layers, which reduced the need for sanding. And finally sprayed 2-3 coats of paint.

So far, I've printed them in two ways (please let me know in comments if you see a better way to print them):

- Placed on the front foot with auto-generated supports This way spends a lot more material and requires extra sanding.

- Split in two parts horizontally (split in PrisaSlicer with the “Cut” option), printed separately without any supports, and then glued together with Loctite or some other superglue.