News and Insights of 3D Printing and Manufacturing
Japanese automaker Honda is hoping to reduce the impact of its vehicles on the environment using smart design and advanced manufacturing processes. Recently, for instance, the automaker’s R&D department teamed up with software company Autodesk to redesign and 3D print a crankshaft component to make it lighter and more fuel-efficient.
The Bugatti factory – like those of just about every major automaker in Europe – is closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, however, development and automated production is ongoing at APWORKS, one of its suppliers. The advanced manufacturing firm is additively manufacturing the extremely lightweight and highly temperature-resistant exhaust tailpipe for the latest Bugatti Chiron Pur Sport.
Remember the 3D printed Lamborghini story? So much has happened since, including Lamborghini swapping it for a real one and… a pandemic. However, Sterling Backus never stopped working on the project (actually can you think of anything better to do during a lockdown?) and now he’s taking the beast – whose official name is the 3D Printed Interceptor – out for a spin.
The German Federal Ministry of Education and Research has funded and launched POLYLINE, a collaborative project aimed at developing a next-generation production line for the automotive industry. The €10.7 million project specifically addresses the integration of additive manufacturing into plastic part production in the automotive industry to complement conventional production methods through high-throughput production line systems.
With a record market cap, Tesla is among the automakers that are best positioned to get through the COVID-19 crisis. The recent – possibly a bit uncalled for – tweets by its exuberant CEO do not seem to be getting in the way of the company’s climb to the top of the automotive world. And the reason is that its technology is – according to experts – six to ten years ahead of competitors (this used to be true for Apple, and look where it got). Tesla is not very open about its use of AM, however in the latest Q1 financial release, the company showed a very large, generatively designed metal part that will go into its new Model Y’s.
Collecting 1:8 models of cars and boats can be an expensive hobby however for many people the best model cars can be considered alongside fine watches and works of art. Amalgam Collections creates unrivaled examples of the world’s most iconic and luxurious cars at scale combining a vast array of manufacturing methods. For such unique, custom-made high-precision products 3D printing can provide an ideal solution. And it does.
For the past two years, officials and teams from Formula 1 have negotiated to come up with a new set of regulations for the 2021 racing season. Among the many updates made to the Formula 1 2021 technical regulations is the approval of two additive manufacturing metal powders developed by Colorado-based Elementum 3D, A6061-RAM1 and A2024-RAM2.
Last April – in the midst of the first leg COVID-19 outbreak in the US, General Motors was tasked with building 30,000 COVID-19 ventilators for the national stockpile for a total of $489.4 million, the first contract under the Defense Production Act invoked by the US President Donal Trump.
The BMW Group has now officially opened and further consolidated its new BMW Additive Manufacturing Campus. The new center brings together the production of prototype and series parts under one roof, along with research into new 3D printing technologies, and associate training for the global rollout of toolless production. The campus, which came at an investment of €15 million, will allow the BMW Group to develop its position as a technology leader in the utilization of additive manufacturing in the automotive industry.
After Elementum’s own aluminum alloys, APWORKS‘s Scalmalloy aluminum alloy has now also been officially approved by the FIA (Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile) and added to the Formula 1 regulation as one of the additive metal materials. Given that APWORKS is based in Germany it seems safe to assume that the current world champion Mercedes team will be making use of the material for its seemingly unbeatable vehicle. Mercedes F1 has been a major adopter of AM for rapid car development throughout its tenure.