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3D Printing Design for Automotive to Be Supported by Lehvoss & FENA

3D printing materials provider Lehvoss North America, part of the LEHVOSS Group of chemical companies operating under parent company Lehmann&Voss&Co., announced that it is partnering up with Forward Engineering North America (FENA), a new division of global engineering and consulting firm Forward Engineering. This collaboration between the two is for the purposes of supporting the automotive industry through Design for Additive Manufacturing (DfAM), helping to translate the performance characteristics of both 3D printed and injection molded components.

(Image courtesy of Forward Engineering)

Forward Engineering’s particular specialty is helping to include cost-effective parts, made out of fiber-reinforced polymer composite materials, in serial mass-produced automotive structures. As Lehvoss is something of a materials expert, it makes sense for FENA to partner with the group in order to teach how DfAM can positively benefit automotive components.

“Local support and bringing expertise around 3D printing together will create a hub for the 3DP value chain further strengthening the region and accelerating the deployment of additive manufactured components at automotive OEMs and tier suppliers,” stated Martin Popella, Sales & Business Development Manager at Lehvoss North America.

Germany-headquartered Forward Engineering has long supported clients in North America, which is why it opened the division in Royal Oak, Michigan. FENA, which offers production-based design and engineering services to meet the growing demand for cost-effective and automated solutions, works with technology partners in the area to speed up the adoption of “composite intensive mixed material solutions.”

We’ve definitely seen AM used for automotive applications, but materials that offer the same high-performance properties and characteristics as filled structural and semi-structural injection molding grade resin components can be difficult to find. But Lehvoss has expanded its reach, and is now offering its materials, such as Luvosint and Luvocom 3F, in North America.

3D printed automotive structural component (Image courtesy of Lehvoss North America)

Lehvoss materials have many application-specific properties, such as flame retardance, and can be custom compounded to fit specific requirements from customers, so that they can meet any necessary industry standards and requirements. One of its lines of high-performance compounds, available for FFF and powder bed fusion technologies in filament, pellet, and powder formats, definitely meet the criteria needed for automotive OEM applications.

Forward Engineering is helping OEMs and automotive tier suppliers translate specific product requirements so they can 3D print functional, structural 3F parts that mimic how the injection molded twin part performs. The 3F Twin Process that the firm developed will help engineers quickly develop and validate their concepts, and then interpret them for production parts.

“Automotive OEMs and suppliers want to accelerate product development through the production of functional structural prototypes with Additive Manufacturing (AM),” Popella explained. “3F Printing offers a relatively fast and cost-effective means to produce these functional structural prototype parts that meet demanding performance requirements. However, the right materials and process parameters must be selected to deliver quality parts that meet targeted requirements including quality, consistency and repeatability.”

(Image courtesy of Lehvoss)

As a result of their partnership, FENA and Lehvoss have set up a joint additive manufacturing lab, also in Royal Oak, Michigan, that will offer support to product development and automotive manufacturing engineers. These engineers can work directly with the Lehvoss/Forward Engineering team to determine the processes and materials that will best suit automotive applications, and even help them create functional prototypes on site.

“Successful product development requires the right mix of design, material and process,” said Adam Halsband, Forward Engineering North America’s Managing Director. “The Lehvoss/Forward Engineering collaboration and establishment of the AM lab in the center of the North American automotive product development region brings these resources together in a responsive package that is accessible to the engineers that need them.”

(Source: JEC Group)

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3D Printed Car Parts: Porsche Introduce 3D Printed Pistons for GT2 RS

German sports car manufacturer Porsche has been using 3D printing for several years in a variety of applications. For instance, it’s fabricated prototypes with the technology, along with using it to make steel, plastic, and alloy spare parts, such as a clutch release lever for the Porsche 959, that hadn’t been previously available. In spring 2020, the manufacturer introduced a bodyform full bucket seat featuring cushion and backrest surfaces that are partially 3D printed. While it wasn’t considered a production part at the time, the seats, which allow customers to select one of three firmness levels (soft, medium, or hard), are now available for the Porsche model series 911 and 718.

3D printed pistons for the high-performance engine of the 911 GT2 RS

The technology is interesting in both economic and technical terms for Porsche in its motorsports, special, and small series vehicles, and the manufacturer clearly recognizes the potential of 3D printing for giving its customers innovative and customized products. Now, it is increasing the efficiency and power of the high-performance engine pistons for its 911 flagship model, the GT2 RS, by cooperating with two important industry partners to 3D print these high-stress drive components.

Porsche took on this joint project with MAHLE, an international development partner and supplier to the automotive industry, and German family-owned company TRUMPF, which offers both laser metal fusion (LMF) and laser metal deposition (LMD) AM technology. In this case, LMF technology was used to print the pistons out of high-purity metal powder, which MAHLE identified as an aluminum alloy, and the pistons now feature a structure that’s been optimized for the high-stress loads acting on the pistons while driving.

Laser metal fusion (LMF) technology

MAHLE explained that bionic design, which only adds material in loaded areas, was used to develop the pistons for the GT2 RS. This technique allowed the partners to waste less material, and make the 3D printed pistons more rigid, and up to 20% more lightweight, than the traditional forged series production pistons.

“This project involved multiple challenges. From the design of the piston through the specification of the material and the development of the appropriate printing parameters, we had to make many fine adjustments to achieve the optimum result. We have now not only mastered the technical side of things, but can also assess how the method can be embedded into existing manufacturing processes,” said Volker Schall, Head of Product Design in Advanced Engineering at MAHLE.

These new pistons also feature an integrated, closed cooling duct, with a special shape, near the piston crown, which would not have been possible to make with traditional manufacturing technologies. The design of the cooling gallery was based on MAHLE’s work with piston thermal processes, and the duct actually optimizes combustion by lowering the temperature load at this part of the piston, which undergoes significant stresses.

Additionally, an extra 3D printed charge air cooler, which optimizes flow control and cooling, was added to an air pipe between the turbo and original cooler. This ensures a much larger heat transfer, lower fuel consumption, and more efficient engine performance.

“Thanks to the new, lighter pistons, we can increase the engine speed, lower the temperature load on the pistons and optimise combustion. This makes it possible to get up to 30 PS more power from the 700 PS biturbo engine, while at the same time improving efficiency,” explained Frank Ickinger, Project Manager, from the advance drive development department at Porsche.

The piston blanks were analyzed at MAHLE, and engineers paid plenty of attention to the piston skirt and the pin bore, which is where it’s connected with the conrod. Then, the components underwent 200 hours of endurance testing to determine performance capability and quality using measurement technology from Zeiss. The results found that the 3D printed piston offers the same high quality as pistons made with conventional manufacturing.

“The project illustrates how 3D printing can be used to further improve components whose performance potential has already been exhausted by decades of development,” stated Steffen Rübling, Project Manager at TRUMPF. “This will benefit many other industries, such as aerospace and energy.”

(Images courtesy of Porsche AG)

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Joyson Safety 3D Prints Functional Airbag Housing Using Windform

Joyson Safety Systems, a leading provider of mobility safety components, systems and technology, recently developed its first functional 3D printed prototype of a Driver Air Bag (DAB) housing, using selective laser sintering (SLS) and Windform composite material from CRP Technology.

Image courtesy CRP Technology

Joyson Safety Systems already has a history of pioneering innovation in mobility safety solutions, such as airbags, seatbelts, safety electronics and more, for automotive and non-automotive markets. Worth noting is the fact that it was the first manufacturer to supply leading OEMs in North America and Europe with steering wheels with Hands on Detection (HOD) for autonomous driving. In this instance, the company’s Core Innovations team looked to quickly develop prototypes for its airbag housing and turned to additive manufacturing to explore new processes and materials.

Image courtesy CRP Technology

Traditionally, the airbag housing is produced using injection molding made up of a material that is polyamide with 40% glass fiber reinforcement, PA6-GF40. The DAB system, which needs to deploy in just 30-50 milliseconds to prevent injury to the driver, consists of the inflator, airbag cushion, cover and housing attached to the steering wheel. The performance of this system is essential, as a critical safety component of the vehicle that needs to have enough strength, impact resistance, and stability under heat and other diverse environmental conditions. Samer Ziadeh and Daniel Alt from the Core Innovations team explain the requirements for the DAB,

“It is to withstand a high amount of dynamic loads in addition to holding the inflator and the airbag cushion fixed in location during and after the deployment of the airbag system. This load is developed due to the pressure required to inflate the airbag, as a result the large stresses will directly be applied on the airbag system and more particularly on the DAB housing. The test procedures are normally conducted within a various range of temperatures between -35°C and 85°C.”

Image courtesy CRP Technology

In looking for the right material for the DAB, the team found CRP Technology’s patented Windform range of high performance SLS materials more than suitable for their requirements:

“…after running some market analysis in order to find out the most suitable material and process that could deliver the required performance, we came across the Windform TOP-LINE family of composite material and, specifically, the Windform SP. Windform SP brought our attention to the fact that it’s a material produced from polyamide PA grades, reinforced with Carbon fiber or fiber-glass, as a powder form material, and it has almost the required and even better performance for our application.”

Windform has emerged as a high performing SLS material which has been applied in sectors such as motorsports, as with Mercedes AMG Petronas, automotive, and aerospace, as with NASA. Windform materials not only meet the stringent requirements for use in aerospace or motorsports, but can also be CNC machined or post-processed with tooling equipment. CRP has become a leader in high-performance AM materials for SLS with Windform, applying its expertise in a range of proven applications from medical to UAVs, satellites to electric motorbikes.

Image courtesy CRP Technology

This application is a first for Joyson Safety Systems in producing, in a short period, a functional prototype of a DAB housing using SLS with composite materials.

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BMW Opens €15 Million Additive Manufacturing Campus

BMW Group has opened its new Additive Manufacturing Campus, which combines 3D printing for research, prototyping and series parts production in a single facility. The €15 million investment is meant to further the vehicle giant’s position in the use of additive manufacturing (AM) for the automotive industry.

At the ribbon-cutting ceremony, Milan Nedeljković, BMW AG Board Member for Production, said, “Additive manufacturing is already an integral part of our worldwide production system today, and established in our digitalisation strategy. In the future, new technologies of this kind will shorten production times even further and allow us to benefit even more fully from the potential of toolless manufacturing.”

In 2019, BMW Group 3D printed roughly 300,000 parts. The Additive Manufacturing Campus employs 80 workers running about 50 industrial AM systems, including metals and plastics. Beyond the center, BMW runs 50 other 3D printers globally.

Within the site, there is a “pre-development” team that is dedicated to improving new technologies and materials for use throughout BMW, with a focus on automating process chains. By reducing manual labor, the unit aims to reduce the cost of 3D printing and make it better suited for industrial scale.

An example of the BMW Group’s work in this area is the Industrialisation and Digitisation of Additive Manufacturing for Automotive Series Production (IDAM) project, funded in part by the German Ministry of Education and Research. With the IDAM project, a production line, from production preparation to manufacturing and reworking of parts, is being established at the Additive Manufacturing Campus. The IDAM team will use the production line to create 50,000 series parts annually with 3D printing, including more than 10,000 individual and spare components.

Demonstrating automation work at BMW, this image shows the use of a robotic arm with an HP Multi Jet Fusion system.

Also at the campus, BMW will be performing its work in the POLYLINE project, in which process steps for the series production of plastic parts are connected digitally and a quality assurance strategy is developed to ensure consistent quality throughout the process chain. The 15 members of the POLYLINE consortium will use the facility to create and test what they consider a “future-proof” automated production line for 3D printing plastic parts that is digitally linked. So far, the project members suggest that, through this work, manufacturing costs can be cut by 50 percent, while improving the stability of 3D printing and sustainability of production overall.

The Campus will also provide consulting and training courses for workers throughout the BMW Group as a means of successfully rolling out the various AM technologies and methodologies.

BMW has been involved in 3D printing for nearly 30 years, first prototyping parts for concept cars in 1991 before using AM for small series production in 2010. Namely, metal powder bed fusion was used to 3D print water pump wheels for DTM race cars. Since then, the company has 3D printed parts for the Rolls-Royce Phantom, BMW i8 Roadster and MINI John Cooper Works GP, a vehicle that features four 3D-printed components standard.

The 3D-printed water pump wheel for DTM.

In addition to part production, the corporation has been investing in new AM technologies via its venture capital arm, BMW i Ventures. In 2016, the division funded Carbon’s Digital Light Synthesis for continuous digital light processing. The next year, it contributed to Desktop Metal, which has since released metal binder jetting, bound metal deposition and carbon fiber 3D printing systems.

Other investments have gone to digital manufacturing platform Xometry and German startup ELISE, dedicated to automating product design. The company can purportedly save up to 90 percent in design time by producing part “DNA” that encompasses such information as technical and load requirements, as well as manufacturing restrictions, optimization parameters and costs. The DNA can be used to then automatically create optimized parts.

The Studio system from Desktop Metal installed at the Additive Manufacturing Campus.

All of this is directed toward BMW’s larger goals for AM and automation, which Daniel Schäfer, Senior Vice President for Production Integration and Pilot Plant at the BMW Group, spoke to: “Our goal is to industrialise 3D printing methods more and more for automotive production, and to implement new automation concepts in the process chain. This will allow us to streamline component manufacturing for series production and speed up development. At the same time, we are collaborating with vehicle development, component production, purchasing and the supplier network, as well as various other areas of the company to systematically integrate the technology and utilise it effectively.”

As described here, BMW has demonstrated expert use of the technology, just as one would expect. When it comes to series production, so far 3D printing has been limited to luxury and sports vehicles. Given its experience and expertise, however, it seems relatively safe to assume that it will be among those pushing series production of AM to more mainstream product lines. By reducing costs through the projects described above and by adopting newer technologies designed for large batch production, we may ultimately see 3D-printed end parts make it into products that the average consumer might interact with.

[Images/Source: BMW Group.]

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The State of 3D Printing at Continental Automotive

Other organizations like NASA have also been using 3D printing technology for prototypes and functional parts—long before the rest of the world had an inkling about the impacts that would be made decades later in nearly every major industrial application. The Continental Automotive division serves as a good example of the long evolution of 3D printing and additive manufacturing within industries like automotive.

Selective Laser Melting (SLM) is used to print steel and aluminum. (Image credit: Claus Dick)

With a market cap of roughly $18.5 billion, Continental is a German multinational auto parts maker that manufactures such products as electronics; safety, powertrain and chassis parts; brake systems, tires, and more. Its customers run the gamut of car, truck and bus companies, including Volkswagen, Ford, Volvo, BMW, Toyota, Honda, Porsche and others.

As with every automaker, the firm has been using AM for design and prototyping purposes for some time, but it is now taking the technology to the next level. Just last year, the German-headquartered company opened the competence center for additive design (ADaM) at its Karben site. Five different 3D printing techniques are currently being used at ADaM:

Selective laser melting (SLM)
Selective laser sintering (SLS)
Stereolithography (SLA)
Digital light processing (DLP)
Fused deposition modeling (FDM)

“Practically at every location there are at least smaller additive systems, but this abundance and variety of systems is only available in Karben,” said Frauke Berger, site manager at Continental Automotive, in a recent interview.

Site manager Frauke Berger presents a printed component made of plastic. (Image credit: Claus Dick)

As the automotive and engineering divisions of the company, founded in 1871, work together closely, they are able to put the advantages of 3D printing into action using both plastic and metal materials.

For Continental, this means enjoying savings on the bottom line, more efficient manufacturing processes, ease in designing and making changes without waiting on a third party, and, most importantly for many industrial users, the ability to fabricate more complex geometries previously impossible with traditional techniques.

“A major advantage of additive manufacturing is that parts can be designed differently, and projects are therefore approached in a constructively different way,” said Berger.

Previously, the Continental team was able to create a more durable brake caliper:

“Usually such patterns come from sand casting. It takes about 14 weeks. The printed part was finished in less than a week,” explained Stefan Kammann, head of the Additive Design and Manufacturing business segment. “In principle, all weldable metals such as aluminum, stainless steel and tool steel, titanium or, to a limited extent, copper can be printed.”

Plastics are usually printed at Continental via selective laser sintering (SLS), as the team finds it to be the fastest route, as well as the most similar to ‘series technology.’ Materials such as PA12, as well as PA6, are often employed, along with polypropylene for parts like brake fluid containers.

As 3D printing and AM processes have continued to make impacts around the world and progress due to user’s needs, that growth has been seen at Continental, too, as software, hardware, and materials have been further refined. Orders for parts that may have previously involved up to 40 hours of production time now may take as little as 60 minutes.

“In the past we knocked the supports off the lattice platform with a hammer and chisel and had to be careful not to tear out any piece of the model, the material was so firm,” says Kammann. “The process is extremely precise, and we achieve good surfaces with it.”

With Selective Laser Sintering (SLS), support structures are no longer required. (Image credit: Continental)

DLP printing also allows for the option of 3D printing several parts at once, along with using a selection of materials, like ABS, PLA, TPU, and other plastics.

“For this purpose, a filament, i.e. a rolled plastic, is pressed through a hot nozzle and applied in sausages in a manner comparable to a CNC-controlled hot glue gun,” said Kammann. “You need an infrastructure and other technologies to process, combine, and instill the parts properly.”

Next year, the Continental team is planning to complete a large order for a manufacturer in need of 9,500 parts—all of which will be 3D printed.

Stefan Kammann explains how the rolled plastic is pressed through a hot nozzle. (Image credit: Claus Dick)

Industrial users continue to enjoy the positive impacts of 3D printing and AM processes in a wide variety of other applications too such as aerospace, dental and medical, construction, and far more.

What do you think of this news? Let us know your thoughts! Join the discussion of this and other 3D printing topics at 3DPrintBoard.com.

The Continental Competence Center for Additive Design and Manufacturing (Adam) in Karben houses various systems for 3D printing. (Image credit: Claus Dick)

[Source / Images: Automotive IT]

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POLYLINE Project: Developing Digital Production Line for 3D Printing Spare & Series Automotive Parts

Because 3D printing can ensure complex structures and geometry, mass production of individualized products seems closer than ever. But, since standards are somewhat lacking across process chains, and automated levels of handling and transport processes are low, it’s only possible to achieve horizontal and vertical AM integration in production lines on a limited basis. Additional obstacles include limited monitoring and a lack of transparency across the process chain, due to a non-continuous digital data chain at lots of interfaces. But the potential benefits of integrating AM into assembly and series production lines in the automotive industry are great, which is why the POLYLINE project was launched.

With 10.7 Mio. Euro in funding by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), this “lighthouse project” is bringing together 15 industrial, science, and research partners from across Germany with the shared goal of creating a digital production line for 3D printed spare and series automotive parts.

The three-year project officially began at a kick-off meeting of the consortium partners this spring at the Krailling headquarters of industrial 3D printing provider EOS, which is leading the project. The other 14 partners are:

BMBF is funding POLYLINE as part of the “Photonics Research Germany – Light with a Future” program in order to set up AM as a solid alternative for series production. The resulting next-generation digital production line will 3D print plastic automotive parts in an aim to complement more traditional production techniques, like casting and machining, with high-throughput systems.

The project is looking to disrupt the digital and physical production line system, and is using an interesting approach to do so that, according to a press release, “takes a holistic view and implements all required processes.” To succeed, all of the quality criteria and central characteristic values from the CAD model to the printed part need to be recorded and documented, and individual production sub-processes, like the selective laser sintering, cooling, and post-processing, will be automated and added to the production line. For the first time, all technological elements of the SLS production chain will be linked as a result.

Schematic representation of a laser sintering production line

Per the application partner’s requirements, the production line will be realized with “a high degree of maturity,” and uses cases for POLYLINE will include large amounts of both serial and customized components.

Each partner will add its own contribution to the POLYLINE project. Beginning with the leader, the EOS P 500 system will have real-time monitoring and automated loading of exchange frames added to its features; the printer will also be embedded in an automatic powder handling system. Premium automotive manufacturer the BMW Group, already familiar with 3D printing, has a massive production network of 31 plants in 15 countries, and is creating a catalog of requirements for the project to make sure that the new line will meet automotive industry standards. Additionally, the demonstrator line will be set up near its Additive Manufacturing Campus, and cause-and-effect relationships will be jointly researched.

Iterations of a BMW Roof Bracket made with 3D printing. (Image: BMW Group)

Industrial process automation specialist Grenzebach will be responsible for material flow and transport between AM processes, as well as helping to develop automated hardware and software interfaces for these processes. 3YOURMIND is setting up a data-driven operating model, which will include “qualified digital parts inventories, orders processing, jobs and post-processing planning and execution, material management, and quality control,” while software solutions developer Additive Marking is focusing on quality management optimization and resource efficiency.

Post-processing specialist DyeMansion will develop a process for certified, UV-stable automotive colors, create Industry 4.0-ready solutions for cleaning and mechanical surface treatment with its PolyShot Surfacing (PSS) process, and contribute its Print-to-Product platform’s MES connectivity. Bernd Olschner GmbH will offer its customer-specific industrial cleaning solutions, Optris will make fast pyrometers and special thermal imaging cameras adapted for plastic SLS 3D printing, and air filter systems manufacturer Krumm-tec will work to upgrade the manual object unpacking process.

(Image: DyeMansion)

Along with other project partners, Paderborn University is “working on the horizontal process chain for the integration of additive manufacturing in a line process,” while the Fraunhofer Institute for Casting, Composite and Processing-Technology IGCV is developing a concept for POLYLINE production planning and control, which will be tested in a simulation study for scalability. The Fraunhofer Institute for Material Flow and Logistics IML will work on “the physical concatenation of process steps,” paying specific attention to flexibly linking the former manual upstream and downstream AM processes.

TU Dortmund University will help apply deep learning, and implicit geometric modeling, for data preparation and analysis, along with online monitoring and quality management, in order to achieve sustainable automation and efficiency for the project. The University of Augsburg’s Chair of Digital Manufacturing works to integrate AM processes into current production methods, and will apply its expertise in this area to the POLYLINE project, helping to develop strong vertical process chains. Finally, the University of Duisburg-Essen will focus on creating quality assurance for the material system, and its laser sintering process.

The consortium of the POLYLINE project (Image: EOS GmbH)

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Porsche Creating Partially 3D Printed Seats that Offer Different Levels of Comfort

3D printing is used often in the automotive sector, and many recognizable names, from Volkswagen and BMW to Ford and Toyota, are adopting the technology. German automobile manufacturer Porsche, which specializes in high-performance sports cars, SUVs, and sedans, has turned to 3D printing multiple times in the past to make components for e-drive powertrains and turbo inlet ducts. Now, the company has revealed its latest innovation – 3D printed bodyform bucket seats.

Michael Steiner, a member of the executive board for research and development at Porsche, said, “With the ‘3D-printed bodyform full-bucket seat’, we’re once again giving series-production customers the opportunity to experience technology carried over from motor sports.”

The manufacturer, based in Stuttgart, currently considers the seat a concept study, and not yet a production part. The seat’s central section is partially 3D printed, because the technology will allow Porsche to offer customers an exceptional level of customization – people who order the seat in the future will be able to choose between soft, medium, and hard firmness levels. The central section of the seat will then be custom 3D printed to provide whichever level of comfort they choose.

“The seat is the interface between the human and the vehicle, and is thus important for precise, sporty handling. That’s why personalised seat shells customised for the driver have been standard in race cars for a long time now,” Steiner said.

In the future, the manufacturer plans to bring the 3D printed seats to customers as production parts through Porsche Tequipment. But for now, only 40 of these seats, for the driver only, will be made and installed in the 911s and 718s Porsche racing models; in fact, the new 3D printed bucket seat is based on the company’s current sports seat. These 40 seats will be considered as prototypes, and will only be used on European racetracks this summer with a six-point harness.

Once Porsche receives feedback from the customers, the 3D printed seat will then be included as a regular offering in its Porsche Manufaktur catalogue starting in mid-2021 – if the feedback is good, of course. At that point, Porsche will also offer the seat in a variety of different colors as well.

The base support for the bucket seat is made out of expanded polypropylene (EPP), which is then bonded to the 3D printable, breathable custom comfort layer, featuring an aesthetically pleasing lattice structure. The seat’s final layer is made from a material that Porsche calls Racetex, which has a distinguishing perforation pattern that helps with climate control.

Porsche hopes that in the long run, it will be able to use 3D printing to offer its customers even more customization, such as seats that are designed and molded for a person’s specific body contour and shape, similar to how vehicle seats in motorsports are made for the race car driver.

There isn’t yet a price listed for these customizable 3D printed Porsche seats, but you can bet your bottom dollar that they won’t be cheap; customization rarely is, of course.

What do you think? Discuss this story and other 3D printing topics at 3DPrintBoard.com or share your thoughts in the comments below.

(Sources: Autoblog and MSN / Images: Porsche)

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3D Systems & TOYOTA Motorsport: Collaboration to Expand 3D Printing in Automotive & Racing

Although 3D printing has already gained a foothold in the automotive industry, a new collaboration between 3D Systems and TOYOTA Motorsport GmbH (TMG) should intensify that progress significantly as the two partners work together in developing new 3D printers, software, and materials.

A subsidiary of Toyota Motor Corporation, TMG has made a name on its own as a leader in the motorsport industry, working not just with the Toyota family in Cologne, Germany but also external clients who will benefit from their ongoing development strategies with 3D Systems—an undeniable pioneer in 3D printing and AM solutions.

With a focus on increasing and improving manufacturing workflow, 3D Systems will be able to complement TMG’s design and production with a range of solutions to accelerate manufacturing of parts, since ‘being first is what counts,’ as Andreas Schambach, project general manager future production technology, TOYOTA Motorsport GmbH, explains.

“We are on the cutting-edge of motorsport and want to partner with companies that are leading the way so TOYOTA can maintain its advantage,” continued Schambach in a recent press release sent to 3DPrint.com. “TMG has chosen 3D Systems for this partnership because they share our pioneering spirit—exhibited by the fact that they introduced the world to 3D printing.

“We see the unparalleled potential of combining 3D Systems’ expertise and know-how with that of TMG to create technologies and define new additive manufacturing innovations in the automotive industry.”

The two companies are not only creating a powerful partnership as TMG has named 3D Systems their ‘Additive Manufacturing Machine Provider of Choice,’ but together the two companies will also be making a powerful statement about the impact 3D printing and additive manufacturing processes can have on major industries like automotive—and motorsport.

“TMG’s facility will become a showcase for world-class advanced digital manufacturing,” said Schambach. “Our team of experts will complement that of 3D Systems’, to develop advanced laser sintering technologies, and a portfolio of materials with improved properties to meet the rigorous demands of motorsport. We intend to use these new technologies to more quickly and efficiently create lightweight, high quality production parts for our motorsport projects, leading to competitive advantage.”

TMG will be incorporating the following 3D Systems software into their workflow:

“I’m inspired by the potential of our collaboration with TOYOTA Motorsport,” said Herbert Koeck, EVP, global go to market, 3D Systems. “TMG is a known leader in their industry as 3D Systems is in ours.

“Bringing together our collective expertise, curiosity, and desire to bring solutions to new applications challenges will yield first-to-market technologies that have the power to redefine an industry. I look forward to the innovation we’ll bring to fruition over the course of this partnership.”

TMG and 3D Systems will be in attendance together at the FIA World Endurance Championship, from August 30-September 1 at Silverstone, in the UK. During the races, two different TOYOTA GAZOO racing cars will bear the 3D Systems logo:

#7 – driven by Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and José María López
#8 – driven by Sébastien Buemi, Kazuki Nakajima and Brendon Hartley

News of this collaboration follows closely on the heels of a recent partnership announcement with Rodin Cars and Stewart Haas Racing as 3D Systems worked with both companies to refine speed and performance in their racecars.

Automotive leaders began using 3D printing long before anyone knew it existed, but as accessibility and affordability has expanded around the world, so has their continued use of the technology—from a big push overseas for 3D printing to development of the Supercar, to restoration of BMW that belonged to Elvis.

What do you think of this news? Let us know your thoughts! Join the discussion of this and other 3D printing topics at 3DPrintBoard.com.

[Source / Images: 3D Systems]

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3D Printing News Briefs: May 26, 2019

This year’s RAPID + TCT ended late last week at the Cobo Center in Detroit, so we’re again starting off today’s 3D Printing News Briefs with more news from the busy show floor. DyeMansion launched a new extended color series at RAPID, while 3D Systems made the announcement that its Figure 4 Modular is now available. Moving on, SLM Solutions just celebrated the grand opening of its new Shanghai application center. Finally, a Reddit user made an adorable miniature 3D printer.

RAPID 2019: DyeMansion’s New Colors

DyeMansion at RAPID 2019 [Image: Sarah Saunders]

Munich startup DyeMansion, a leader in finishing and coloring solutions for 3D printing, launched its new ColorsX extended color series for end-use products at RAPID last week, in order to continue helping its customers achieve the perfect finish for all of their applications. Automotive ColorsX and Neon ColorsX are the first solutions under the startup’s X Colors for X Industries premise, with more to follow in the future. The automotive color line has improved light and heat resistance for better 3D printed polyamide components and interior car parts, and features Automotive BlackX, which has a less saturated black tone than DyeMansion’s basic DM Black 01 and was created according to ISO EN 105 B06 method 3’s hot irradiation standards. The luminous neon color line includes GreenX, YellowX, OrangeX and PinkX to help create striking end-use products. Both of these new color lines are compatible with DyeMansion’s PolyShot Surfacing (PSS) and VaporFuse Surfacing (VFS).

“Some of our earliest customers who made use of DyeMansion Print-to-Product technologies for serial production are from the Automotive and Lifestyle industries,” explained Kai Witter, DyeMansion’s Chief Customer Officer. “While working closely with our customers, joint strategies are always about creating even more value to their businesses. So, I feel very delighted to now offer additional value creating products. Automotive and Neon ColorsX are only the beginning of providing more specific industry offers.”

Once DyeMansion decided to launch its ColorsX series, it also named the coloring process it established back in 2015: DeepDye Coloring (DDC), which can be easily controlled and traced through integrated RFID technology and offers a limitless choice of custom colors.

RAPID 2019: 3D Systems Announces General Availability of Figure 4 Modular

Also at RAPID last week, 3D Systems announced the general availability of its scalable Figure 4 Modular production platform. The flexible digital light printing (DLP) system has multiple configurations that can print parts with high surface quality, and allows manufacturers to iterate designs more quickly, as well as produce end-use parts without having to worry about a minimum order quantity. Three models make up the Figure 4 – Standalone, Production, and Modular – and several customers, such as D&K Engineering and Midwest Prototyping, are reaping the benefits. Additionally, 3D Systems also announced five new DLP and SLS materials, the first of which is the immediately available Figure 4 FLEX-BLK 10. The other new Figure 4 materials, such as TOUGH-BLK 20, MED-AMB 10, MED-WHT 10, and HI-TEMP-AMB 250, are expected to be available in Q3 and Q4 of 2019.

“The newest additions to our plastic 3D printing portfolio demonstrate our commitment to driving the adoption of digital manufacturing. With the industry’s first, truly scalable plastic production platform and our robust selection of materials, 3D Systems enables customers to rethink manufacturing and realize improved agility, reduced complexity, and lower overall total cost of operation,” said Vyomesh Joshi, the President and CEO of 3D Systems.

3D Systems also announced that its customers Rodin Cars (based in New Zealand) and North Carolina-based Stewart-Haas Racing are using its plastic and metal 3D printing solutions to improve the speed and performance of their cars.

SLM Solutions Celebrates Opening of New Shanghai Application Center

The same year that SLM Solutions opened an applications and demonstration center in Germany, it also established Chinese operations in Shanghai. Earlier this week, the selective laser melting experts celebrated the grand opening of their expanded office facilities and application center in Shanghai, which will help the company continue to grow its presence on the Asian market. The new center has installed four SLM systems: one SLM 125, one SLM 500, and two SLM 280 printers. Additionally, the facility also has equipment to represent an SLM build’s supporting process chain, such as a metallurgical lab and post-processing capabilities. The grand opening included a tour through the new new customer service and application engineering center.

“As we continue to grow our Chinese team, the opening of our Shanghai Application Center is an important milestone in SLM Solutions’ development and indicates the confidence in the Chinese market,” stated Jerry Ma, General Manager of SLM Solutions (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. “As part of the global strategy for growth we have the capacity to more than double our number of employees and the equipment to support all Chinese users with the technological resources shared by our applications centers around the world. We can also provide high-quality, fast technical services to better promote the development of selective laser melting and create more value for customers.”

Mini 3D Printed 3D Printer

A reddit and imgur user by the name of “Mega Andy” used 3D printed parts and DVD drive motors to make his own miniature 3D printer. And by miniature, I mean that he used a banana for scale, which was taller than the 3D printed 3D printer itself! It’s a really interesting project – the device runs Marlin, and features a glass bed and an E3D V6 hotend. The black and gold parts of the mini 3D printer were made out of PLA material, while PETG was used to make teeth for the leadscrews. Speaking of this, Mega Andy said that the printer is “fairly unreliable” because it easily ruins the teeth that guide the device on the leadscrew. Additionally, he’s also working to improve and lengthen the Z axis due to binding problems. Mega Andy released the STLs onto Thingiverse so others could try to make their own versions of the miniature 3D printed 3D printer…say that five times fast.

“So this project is nothing new, people have made 3d printers, CNC, engravers before using this hardware. What I wanted to do differently with this is have a designed 3D printed frame to hopefully fit standard parts. Instead of mounting full metal dvd drive assembly’s together and look like a DIY project I wanted a something that could be more compact and neat,” Mega Andy wrote on Thingiverse.

“This project is not for everyone and would only recommend to someone with a decent knowledge of 3d printers, basic soldering and lots of patience. Also some fiddling was needed to get the right amount of tension on the leadscrew, this bit is a massive pain but hopefully no one else needs to go through quite as much issues as i did with this bit. They will wear out though and a 3d printer will be needed to print new parts for it when they inevitable wear out.”

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Big Push in Germany to Enable 3D Printing in Automotive Industry

3D printing and additive manufacturing have become a matter of national importance in Germany, and to the automotive industry overall. Several organizations—along with the ongoing support of the Fraunhofer Institute for Laser Technology ILT and the Chair for Digital Additive Production DAP of RWTH Aachen University—are eager to see the Industrialization and Digitization of Additive Manufacturing for Automotive Series Processes (IDAM) lead the way for furthering the use of AM processes in the auto industry. Project partners for IDAM include a variety of small to medium enterprises (SMEs) and research institutions, all dedicated to the progress of metallic 3D printing for the manufacturing of vehicles.

BMW Group is behind much of this push, and their dedication to additive manufacturing for almost 30 years has not gone unnoticed. From an investment in a new AM facility in Munich to specialized projects like restoring Elvis’ long-lost BMW 507 from 1958, their work in 3D printing has been so prolific that by last year they had fabricated over one million parts, harnessing the untold power of this progressive technology. Currently, 3D printing and AM processes with metal are in force at BMW’s facility in Munich, along with GKN Powder Metallurgy’s factory in Bonn.

This structural optimized differential housing, jointly developed by GKN Powder Metallurgy and Porsche Engineering, is one of the growing new e-drive powertrain applications for Metal AM (Photo: GKN Powder Metallurgy)

There are 12 partners total working within the ongoing project via IDAM, and as Fraunhofer Institute for Laser Technology ILT points out in their latest press release, the use of metallic 3D printing should ‘sustainably strengthen Germany’s technological pioneering role and the country itself as a manufacturing location.’ Everyone involved is obviously envisioning making use of all of 3D printing’s most famed benefits, beginning with greater affordability. Along with that comes exponential reduction of turnaround time in manufacturing, and the ability to offer a wide range of customization options for clientele.

The IDAM team is present at both facilities, qualifying the technology for production of metal parts, with projections for manufacturing at least 50,000 3D printed parts annually. They also expect over 10,000 individual and spare parts to be created. This is a far cry from the initial use of 3D printing for low-batch production of customized parts. Even with plans for mass production, the partners expect high-performance parts to be created ‘under extreme cost pressure.’

Project partners include:

Aconity GmbH, Herzogenrath
Concept Reply GmbH, Munich
Fraunhofer Institute for Laser Technology ILT, Aachen
GKN Powder Metallurgy, Radevormwald
Myrenne GmbH, Roetgen
Intec GmbH – Ingenieurbüro für Automatisierungstechnik, Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler
Kinexon Industries GmbH, Munich
Chair for Digital Additive Production DAP, RWTH Aachen, Aachen
Technical University of Munich, Chair of Metal Forming and Casting, Munich
Schmitz Spezialmaschinenbau GmbH, Rheinbreitbach
Volkmann GmbH, Soest

Additive series production at the BMW Group (Photo: BMW Group)

This activity truly marks the beginning of metal AM taking a prioritized role within Germany’s industrial dynamic, with two modular production lines being installed (one in Munich; one in Bonn). Customization is key here too, as modules can be changed to fit production needs.

“In addition, their process steps can be controlled and utilized flexibly,” states Fraunhofer Institute for Laser Technology ILT in their press release. “By taking an integrated view of the automotive production line into account, the project partners plan on reducing the manual share of activities along the process chain from currently around 35 percent to less than 5 percent. In addition, the unit costs of 3D printed metal components should be more than halved.”

The IDAM partners are currently using their experience and expertise in designing modules for the mass production line, to include automated processes for powder handling, monitoring, post-processing, and more.

“Since large industrial companies are involved, these linked modules can be used in the AM production lines under real conditions and on a large scale,” explains the Fraunhofer Institute for Laser Technology ILT release. “In addition, industrial standards can be set, and industry-relevant quality characteristics elaborated. Only through this interdisciplinary cooperation does the IDAM project make it possible to holistically examine metallic 3D printing for automotive series processes and to establish it sustainably in production.”

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Consortium of the BMBF project IDAM at the kick-off in Munich on March 27, 2019 (Photo: BMW Group)

[Source: Fraunhofer Institute for Laser Technology IL]