[75vs1885]

I like the idea of 3-D printing the plates. I don't know why everybody is so against it, last year we (1885) used 3D printed parts to join an axle for our intake, it worked very well and only "broke" when we didn't check it and a shaft collar was loose. Then the axle would fall off and we would have tighten the collar up again.
Just use a high quality plastic and use a dense pattern while printing AND MAKE EXTRA'S!!!!! Better to get into 3D printing now while it is still being developed heavily, we all know it will only become more and more common, so this is a great foundation to build off of in the future.