News and Insights of 3D Printing and Manufacturing
Automotive manufacturing company Continental has opened a new 3D printing competence center at its electronics facility in Karben, Germany. The additive manufacturing center will be run by the company’s experienced Continental Engineering Services team and will serve all of the company’s divisions, producing 3D printed components both internally and for external customers.
It is inspiring to see the leaps and bounds that additive manufacturing has made in recent years. In the automotive industry especially, the evolution of additive manufacturing is apparent, transitioning from an experimental early prototyping process to a full prototyping and even production technology. 3D printing giant 3D Systems has been along for the ride—often behind the proverbial wheel—showing us the full automotive potential of its AM systems.
Manufacturing services company Jabil has entered into an agreement with Renault F1 Team to accelerate the development and delivery of 3D printed parts for the Renault R.S. 19 race car. The vehicle now competing in the 2019 Formula One World Championship, and, despite a fairly disappointing result in Monaco (9th place), it could get the competitive edge it needs thanks to 3D printed parts.
One of the most important inventions of all time, the wheel paved the road for modern transportation to be developed, as it enabled people to travel and move goods faster than before. Today, the wheel is still undergoing development to improve efficiency and performance. At Formnext 2018, for instance, HRE Wheels and GE Additive announced that they had co-developed the first 3D printed titanium wheel, the HRE3D+. Now, the wheel production expert has reinvented the 3D printed wheel. Or, more accurately, it has revealed a new and improved design for the titanium assembly.
Large-format 3D printer manufacturer BigRep has revealed its newest AM system, the STUDIO G2. The hardware is the latest generation of BigRep’s STUDIO 3D printer line and it introduces a range of improvements, including compatibility with engineering-grade materials.
3D printing company Stratasys has signed a deal with NTT IndyCar Series competitor Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports. The agreement sees the professional racing team integrating Stratasys’ Fortus 450mc and F370 3D printers for the production of functional prototypes, tools and end-use components for its race cars.
Despite a fire at the Jerez circuit in March that destroyed many MotoE motorcycles and equipment, things are back on track for the Energica Motor Company and the FIM Enel MotoE World Cup, thanks in part to CRP Technology’s additive manufacturing know-how.
3D printing electronics company Nano Dimension is marking its first entry into the Japanese market with the sale of a DragonFly Pro 3D printer to CMK Corporation, one of Japan’s largest manufacturers of printed circuit boards (PCBs).
Two years ago, Premium AEROTEC, EOS and Daimler embarked upon an ambitious project to push forward automated metal additive manufacturing, NextGenAM. This week, the partners have announced that the NextGenAM project has reached a successful conclusion and they will go forward with a pilot production line for a next-gen AM process.
The joint project IDAM, which was recently kicked off in Munich, is intended to pave the way for additive manufacturing to enter automotive series production. Specifically, the project partners – consisting of SMEs, large companies and research institutions – will transfer metallic 3D printing into an industrialized and highly automated series process in the automotive industry.