How 3D Printing Drives Change in the Automotive Industry

Jump into the fast lane and learn how the automotive industry is utilizing 3D printing

From the past few years, the automotive industry has been witnessing some exciting changes, such as a shift from subtractive manufacturing processes to the onset of the additive manufacturing, which presents a range of benefits for the manufacturer of single automobile component or an entire vehicle while ensuring strong and suitable physical properties. The technology also offers possibilities for small producers to be able to create new parts and keep up with the competition.

Additive manufacturing is already being used for a while now to a great effect in the automotive industry. In fact, according to a 2015 Wohlers Report, motor vehicles constituted 16.1% of the additive manufacturing market that year. Today several automakers like BMW, Ford Motor Company, Porsche, etc are implementing 3D printing not only for rapid prototyping and complex designing but also in other areas such as digital inventory, legacy parts, and custom tooling.

3D printing for digital inventory

Many automobile companies around the world face the challenge of balancing the investment of holding a high number of spare parts as inventory and the ability to meet the demand of the customer on-time. One way a company can overcome this hurdle is by instantly manufacturing the product when the customer needs it, avoiding the need to maintain a physical inventory. A digital inventory coupled with 3D printing can provide such a solution. Instead of storing lower-demand parts on the shelves in a warehouse, they can be redesigned for 3D printing and stored in a virtual part inventory.

For German luxury automotive maker Porsche, manufacturing and storing spare parts for its classic cars did not make financial sense given the low demand. To meet unpredictable requirements, Porsche is now using 3D printing for metal and plastic parts and has added spare parts digital inventory to its catalog. This helps keep classic cars on the road – and classic car owners loyal and happy.

3D printing of legacy parts

Oftentimes the original tooling and engineering drawings for the part no longer exist, leaving engineers with the arduous and expensive task of reverse engineering tooling to produce a handful of final parts. 3D printing offers a solution that enables companies to meet customer demands more quickly and thus differentiate themselves in the marketplace, as one Markforged customer discovered.

A full-service contract manufacturer working in the automotive, aerospace, and petrochemical industries sought a way to stay competitive in a saturated industry by bringing new capabilities to customers. One of their customers presented just the right opportunity: restoring the original carburetor for a 1930s classic car. When efforts to repair the part proved impossible, the contract manufacturer leaped 3D metal printing. They reverse-engineered their customer’s carburetor cap using 3D scanning technology and printed a model on their Markforged carbon fiber printer using Onyx material to verify the fit with existing components. The carburetor was then 3D printed in 17-4 PH Stainless Steel on the Markforged Metal X printer. This was a game-changer for the contract manufacturer, thanks to 3D printing that met the company’s needs when it came to technology, price, and customer satisfaction.

3D printing for custom tooling

Automotive companies can also benefit from additive manufacturing by using the technology to produce custom tooling equipment and parts like jigs and fixtures on demand that can be designed and tooled for a specific vehicle or driver.

Take prototype race cars and bikes in the motorsport world for example, where vehicles are custom built to maximize performance on the track and race ahead of the competition. The speed with which the design of a new component can be modified and how long it takes to remanufacture are key factors for success. That’s exactly why the Moto2 motorcycle racing team TransFIORmers is using 3D printing for its new front suspension design. This approach quickly delivers a one-of-a-kind wishbone front suspension titanium part. The final product is 40% lighter and far more rigid than when created with other materials and methods.

What’s down the road?

You could say the future is already here, as3D printing is being used to produce complete cars – everything from utility concept cars and sporty electric cars to vehicles designed specifically to aid scientific research. 3D printing is also revolutionizing classic car restoration, like the recreation of Elvis’s BMW 507 which included several 3D printed components. Further down the road? Don’t be surprised to see 3D printed cars, mass-produced, and available for purchase.

Markforged 3D printers are along for the ride – offering automotive manufacturers the ability to make products faster, cheaper, and more efficiently by integrating 3D printing into the manufacturing workflow. Our metal and carbon fiber 3D printers improve supply chain efficiency by reducing manufacturing downtime with on-demand production. We also help speed time to market with 3D printers that can print up to 50x times faster than traditional manufacturing methods, all the while delivering up to 20x lower costs. All good reasons why automotive giants, as well as thousands of automotive OEMs across 50 countries, use Markforged printers to produce same-day prototypes, end-use parts, and tooling and fixtures.

 

 

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5 Metal 3D Printing Applications That Will Change Manufacturing

Metal 3D printing is a very promising technology, creating great opportunities for the industrial landscape across sectors as diverse as aerospace, manufacturing, automotive, marine, and medical industries. Using this technology, manufacturers can produce fully functioning 3D printed parts with great mechanical properties. As the metal 3D printing is becoming more and more popular, businesses need to gain application-centric intuition about the process. Just as machinists understand which components are best made on a waterjet vs. a 3-axis mill, it is essential to know which parts are a good fit for additive manufacturing and 3D printing applications.

The first step to gaining this intuition is recognizing the fundamental benefits of metal 3D printing. The following advantages are the root of each successful metal 3D printing application.

• Gematric Freedom

Designing and manufacturing of geometrically complex shapes can be hard and expensive with traditional manufacturing techniques. The restriction imposed by traditional manufacturing practices on what can be manufactured is generally not relevant for 3D printing. With metal 3D printing, however, complexity is free. There’s not much metal 3D printing technology can’t do with the proper support material.

• No Tooling

There is no need for expensive tooling and fixtures to hold or secure the parts when making with additive manufacturing. It allows fabricators to create parts with minimal overhead and effort, bringing the cost per part drastically down for low-volume production.

• Automation

Most manufacturing processes require continual human direction to ensure successful outcomes, but that’s not the case with metal 3D printers as it automatically produces parts directly from design files.

With these three benefits in mind, here are five common metal 3D printing applications that are a good fit due to their compatibility with the process.

5 Best Applications for Metal 3D Printing

• Functional Metal Prototype

Metal 3D printing is a great technology for printing metal prototypes as it requires no tooling and less machine set up. It allows you to print metal parts with minimal efforts. With metal 3D printing technology, you can not only achieve creative solutions in engineering and design, but you can also overcome limitations that many of the traditional manufacturing technologies impose.

• End-of-arm tooling

Metal 3D printers can produce conformal end-of-arm tooling much easier and cheaper than traditional methods. 3D printing software automatically generates toolpaths, allowing engineers to skip the CAM process. Additionally, the part complexity of conformal grippers introduces no additional cost, so they can be optimally designed to grip parts securely and precisely.

• Custom Tooling

 While most tools are mass-produced, many situations call for specialized instruments that are manufactured in low volumes. Metal additive manufacturing allows engineers to bypass steep overhead and create custom tools at a low cost per part. 

• Complex bracketry: 

Metal 3D printing offers an alternative way to create intricate brackets that are difficult or impossible to machine. Thin, complex lattices pose no challenge to the 3D printing process, allowing for the inexpensive production of brackets with specialized geometries.

• Low-volume end-use parts

Metal additive manufacturing can remedy high part costs for low-volume production. 3D printers make parts without tooling, getting rid of the need to spread overhead across thousands of parts.

 

 

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What Can You Make with a 3D Printer?

3D printing has come a long way since it was first developed in the 1980s. This technology is at a tipping point, about to go mainstream in a big way. Most executives and many engineers don’t realize it, but this technology has moved well beyond prototyping, rapid tooling, trinkets, and toys. Today, 3D printing is being used in an amazing number of innovative ways to help make our world a better place — on land, in the sea, and even on Mars.

Read on to discover some unexpected use cases for 3D printing that show how widely usable the technology is becoming.

• 3D Printed House

Today, 3D printers are capable of extruding concrete that enables the construction of various structures of varying degrees of complexity, from houses to bridges and offices.

The house you are looking at the picture above was 3D printed by a company called ICON in collaboration with New Story, a housing non-profit company in San Francisco. The two companies used 3D printing technology to produce a 350-square-foot structure that costs around $10,000 and took just 48 hours to build. Projections for 600- to-800-square foot homes based on this prototype are looking to come in under $4,000 with the approximate build time of roughly 24 hours. The two companies plan to build a whole neighborhood of these fast, affordable 3D printed houses in El Salvador. The goal is to provide homes for people who, unfortunately, don’t yet have appropriate living conditions.

• 3D Printed Coral Reef

The coral reefs are suffering from numerous threats such as climate change, overfishing, damage from boats, and other human-caused damage. Humans may be responsible for threatening the coral reefs, but many engineers and scientists are taking responsibility for saving and restoring them. 3D printing artificial reef structures may sound like a gimmick to draw attention, but it has been found to be an effective way of creating artificial coral reefs. 3D printing can provide temporary yet flexible enough solution to recreate complex coral shapes in a way that invites the return of sea life.

• 3D Bioprinting

3D Bioprinting technology is changing the future of medicine and has emerged as a powerful tool for building tissue and organ structures in the field of tissue engineering. 3D Bioprinting is an additive manufacturing process where biomaterials such as cells and growth factors are combined to create tissue-like structures that imitate natural tissues.

• 3D Printed Industrial Tooling

3D printing technology is one of the fastest ways to make prototypes and custom tooling, including those with complex geometry. 3D printers can significantly reduce production time which gives companies the possibility to increase their competitiveness.

Using Markforged Industrial Series 3D printers and continuous carbon fiber material, Siemens Gas & Power created a 3D printed customized circular cutting saw — and only needed to purchase the motor and blade. The Gas & Power division owns compressors, generators, and turbines around the world. Often, the gas turbine housings need maintenance, so engineers need to use a circular saw to repair them. Standard cutting saws aren’t contoured, meaning the team used to send all the components overseas, wait for the custom plate to be made, and then reassemble the tool when they received the parts back. By using 3D printed components, the team saved roughly $8,000 per tool (of which there are many) and reduced lead time by 35 days. Now, their engineers can efficiently repair turbines in the field instead of waiting on third parties.

3D printing innovation knows no bounds

These are just a few of the countless ways, from education to medicine to industry to the arts, that 3D printing technologies impact our world today. And you can be sure that the creative and diverse uses for 3D printing will continue to grow — and continue to improve the way we live and work.

 

 

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Dump the air pump. These 3D-printed flexible bicycle tires could be the future of riding.

BigRep created the world’s first 3d printed airless bicycle tire. The design was printed with the new PRO FLEX flexible filament on the BigRep ONE large 3D printer. More prototypes are in the works.

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Dexter manufacturer Haddington Dynamics 3D prints majority of its robotic arm using Markforged

Haddington Dynamics is reducing the production cost by 58% and increasing manufacturing speed by 70% by 3D printing the majority of its Dexter robot arm

 

Haddington Dynamics is a leading manufacturer of robotics technology. The Dexter robotic arm manufactured by Haddington Dynamics is a 7-axis fully assembled robotic arms and kits which are supplied to NASA, GoogleX, and Toshiba. After using the Dexter robotic arm, a high profile customer suggested moving away from using weak PLA material and instead utilizing the Makforged’s Onyx Material with carbon fiber reinforcement to get the desired strength and quality they wanted in their product. The benefits of 3D printing technology attracted Haddington Dynamics to purchase four Markforged 3D printers. The inventor of the Dexter robotic arm, Kent Gilson said: “within about three weeks of receiving our printers, we had completely redesigned the robot with the carbon fiber layup and saved all kinds of volume.” Dexter is now almost completely made from Markforged 3D printed parts, which has saved the company 58% in costs by reducing the number of parts from 800 to less than 70.

 

Haddington Dynamics’ customers receive custom swappable 3D printed gripper fingers with each robotic kit. Dexter’s modular end effectors are capable of pick and placing, gripping, 3D printing, and even working with CNC machines. A single Dexter pays off a printer. “You recover your ROI in a single output, which changes the manufacturing model,” said Todd Enerson, CEO at Haddington Dynamics.

 

Haddington Robotics are Exclusively Sold by Chemtron in South East Asia.

 

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Markforged: Introducing Pure Copper Material for the Metal X 3D printer

The Markforged Metal X 3D printer provides cost and speed efficiencies to copper. This 3D printer makes it easy to create complex parts with high electrical and thermal conductivity.

Markforged, the leading manufacturer of metal and carbon fiber 3D printers, has announced on February 13, 2020, the release of pure copper material for the Markforged Metal X system. It makes it the only reliable, affordable, and safe way to the 3D print copper – one of the most widely used material. Copper 3D printing can lead to reduced lead time and cost of the parts, as well as it can eliminate the need for holding expensive inventory. Thus, 3D printing copper parts on-demand can benefit manufacturers in keeping the production cost in control and increasing the supply chain efficiency of customers. Available today, Markforged Metal X provides an easy and fast way to print geometrically complex copper with high electrical and thermal conductivity.

 

“Copper powers our world. It’s everywhere. It builds our cars, enables phones, and keeps electrical equipment running,” said Greg Mark, Markforged CEO and Founder. “Copper has traditionally been an expensive and challenging material to machine and incompatible for 3D printing in a pure form with other techniques. Now, we’ve made it easier and cheaper to produce. Markforged 3D printed Copper will be a game-changer for the automotive and electronics industries, and it will open the door to innovation across many more.”

 

Copper – the new material introduced by Markforged is available for the Metal X 3D printer, which is Markforged’s patented technology for safely and rapidly 3D printing metal. Metal X is capable of printing various materials which includes aerospace superalloys like Inconel 625, 17-4 PH Stainless Steel, H13 Tool Steel, D2 Tool Steel, and A2 Tool Steel along with Copper which is the lastest in the lineup of material. The Markforged Metal X 3D printer is used by various industries across six continents. This 3D printing system is used by manufacturers for printing applications such as functional prototypes, tooling, and fixtures, and end-use production parts. It helps customers in reducing manufacturing costs and improve supply chain efficiency.

Automotive Spot Welding with Markforged Copper Shanks

“Every automotive factory in the world uses copper for welding,” Greg Mark added. “Complex production parts are required to weld tight spots of the car body. They cost thousands of dollars to make and can have months-long lead times. But Markforged is changing all of that by enabling manufacturers to produce parts in-house, so they get them faster and for significantly lower costs. With our 3D printed parts, automotive manufacturers can print the parts they need on-demand instead of holding significant inventory and will be able to design new kinds of welding shanks that were never before possible.”

 

Markforged has delivered hundreds of its 3D printers to nine of the ten highest-valued auto manufacturers in the world. To conduct in-depth weld testing using copper, Markfrged partnered with one of its existing customers – a well known automotive manufacturer. After conducting thousands of tests, the auto manufacturers have been thrilled with the results. The testing of welds showed the same resistance as traditionally manufactured spot welding shanks, and they plan to extend the use of the 3D printing parts to the production line. The use of Markforged additive manufacturing technology by the automotive manufactures has resulted in reducing the lead time by 12x and part costs by 6x.

 

“I’ve always been impressed with the technology behind the Markforged Metal X system, and our experience with 3D printed copper has been incredible – especially when looking at its conductivity and structural stability,” noted the maintenance manager at the global automotive manufacturer. “And now that we’ve successfully evaluated weld testing, we plan on expanding our metal 3D printing capacity for this and other metal components. 3D printing copper with Markforged is faster and more cost-effective than purchasing complex machined components, and we expect it to help us mitigate downtime exposure and reduce inventory costs by $200,000 a year using only one Metal X system.”

Material Benefits

• Harness high thermal and electrical conductivity — including greater than 350 W/mK thermal conductivity and 84% IACS electrical conductivity
• Consistently create complex, tight tolerance parts with the safe, easy, and affordable Metal X system
• Bring copper part production in-house, reducing lead time to a few days

 

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From functional prototypes to custom tools and even complex bracketry, here are some of the best applications for metal 3D printing.

Metal 3D printing is disrupting traditional methods of metal fabrication. As technology becomes more and more prevalent on manufacturing floors, businesses need to gain application-centric intuition about the process. Just as machinists understand which components are best made on a waterjet vs. a 3-axis mill, it is essential to know which parts are a good fit for additive manufacturing and 3D printing application.

Recognizing the fundamentals benefits of metal 3D printing is the first step to gain intuition. The following are the benefits of each successful metal 3D printing application.

• Geometric Freedom

Traditional methods of manufacturing rely on mold and machining to generate the desired shape, which is costly and requires hours to produce the parts. 3D printing is a great way of manufacturing complex objects. 3D printing can produce parts with ease, and there’s not much the technology can’t do with the support of proper material.

• No Tooling

3D printed parts do not require any tool and fixtures. It allows the manufacturers to cut the cost of production even for low volume production. Besides, shops are enabled to take on more jobs when tooling cost is no longer a limiting factor.

• Automation

Labor cost plays a significant role in the overall cost of the product. Traditional manufacturing of parts is thus costly as they require a lot of human labor that ensures a successful outcome. For example, designs for machined components must be processed in CAM before being cut. Conversely, metal 3D printers automatically produce parts from design files.

With these three benefits in mind, here are five common metal 3D printing applications that are a good fit due to their compatibility with the process.

5 Best applications for metal 3D printing

• Functional metal prototypes

Metal 3D printing offers a way of producing metal prototypes with minimal efforts. Additionally, metal 3D printing requires no tooling and little machine setup, which saves the cost of the manufacturer. It also allows customers to have accurate metal parts in hands in a matter of days rather than weeks, helping evaluate designs more quickly while avoiding expensive tooling rework. Engineers can explore more designs in a shorter period, compressing their product development cycle.

• End of Arm Tooling

Metal 3D printers can produce conformal end-of-arm tooling much easier and cheaper than traditional methods. 3D printing software automatically generates toolpaths, allowing engineers to skip the CAM process. Additionally, the part complexity of conformal grippers introduces no additional cost, so they can be optimally designed to grip parts securely and precisely.

• Custom Tools

Metal 3D printing technology offers great benefits to various industries over traditional manufacturing techniques. It allows for creating unique and customized tools to answer specific requests and needs of the customer in a short period. Metal additive manufacturing also allows engineers to bypass steep overhead and create custom tools at a low cost per part.

• Complex bracketry

Metal 3D printing offers an alternative way to create intricate brackets that are difficult or impossible to machine. Thin, complex lattices pose no challenge to the 3D printing process, allowing for the inexpensive production of brackets with specialized geometries.

• Low-volume end-use parts

Metal additive manufacturing can remedy high part costs for low-volume production. 3D printers make parts without tooling, getting rid of the need to spread overhead across thousands of parts.

 

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3D Printed Prosthetics: How Markforged’s 3D printing technology is helping people in need

With the advent of 3D printing, along with the most advanced manufacturing materials, innovators are providing a greater level of independence and better quality of life for the amputees and those affected by neurological disorders.

There are millions of people around the world who depend on prosthetics and other mobility devices to negotiate the world around them. Yet, access to prosthetics care and technology depends on the country’s available resources and technological advancements. In fact, according to the World Health Organization, “only 1 in 10 persons located in low-resource areas has access to adequate prosthetic technology.”

The advancement in 3D printing technology has enabled clinicians and engineers to push boundaries and change the face of medical industries to provide cutting edge devices. Additive manufacturing also helps develop durable, high-functioning prosthetics more affordably, allowing more people from resource-starved areas access to greater mobility. 

Toughware Prosthetics‍

Bradley Veatch, President, and CEO of Colorado-based Toughware Prosthetics are committed to creating affordable and convenient prosthetics for the underserved amputee community;

The use of the latest technology has given the freedom to Veatch to design and manufacture high-functioning prosthetics. He was extremely successful in the engineering sense, he recalls, “but I had this device that was so expensive that there were probably ten people in the United States that could afford the thing.”

The experience taught Veatch that the world is not searching for more sophisticated and expensive prosthetics, but rather they want more enduring and convenient options. So he changed his career path and decided to focus on creating more affordable and accessible prostheses for people in developing countries. He developed a new design which was ideal for those who may rely heavily on physical activity for their daily needs, or who may not have a reliable power source or the ability to access to a computer – accessories mandatory for other, more complex designs. “I wanted to actually focus on creating technologies that were appropriate and that could do what these people needed them to do, like swing a hammer, carry a 22-pound bucket of water, or lift a child,” says Veatch.

The new design concept was more complex than the traditional ones. It became an issue for Veatch because the design needs to be sent out to be prototyped before actual production. He would also have to wait upwards of six weeks to get them back, slowing down his entire design process.

The Solution

Markforged’s 3D printing technology was the solution for Veatch and his team. They decided to purchase a Markforged composite 3D printer. This 3D printer from Markforged is capable of printing in continuous carbon fiber. “As we got further on some of our projects I became more interested because we needed high strength in some of the parts,” says Veatch. When some budget became available to the team, they jumped on the opportunity and bought a Markforged desktop printer.

The manufacturing of some elements became easier for Veatch and his team, as the Markforged 3D printer allows them to print their design which is not only stronger but also quicker; “I wasn’t interested in losing six weeks of schedule while things were made in a machine shop,” he says. “I’m actually able to get a lot more done in a much more concentrated timeframe. I can produce an engineering design … print and then begin running tests, sometimes even the same day. I can print what I need, when I need it, and continue with my iterative design process.” 

The use of Markforged additive manufacturing machines helped Toughware to cut the cost and time in prototyping. One prototype bracket, for example, was going to cost Veatch $65 to be machined out of aluminium but was only a few dollars when printed using his Markforged composite printer, according to Veatch. “And I was able to put carbon fiber in it, which was really cool. So it was strong and just what I was looking for in the application time. And it only took five hours to print!” Veatch and his team are now able to quickly iterate on new designs and don’t have to worry about long lead times.

 

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