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OEM engine manufacture 3D printer design

standardparts

Diamond
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Mar 26, 2019
The last couple of weeks was shopping around a single part that will be done by investment casting. It is part of 4 other parts to make up an assembly.

Was suggested that I consider getting all parts 3D printed and shake out the design as it will exist. Obviously $$$ but end product would benefit from a more integrated design.

So this vid gave me a new appreciation of the use of 3D printing in design. (yeah I'm old and out of touch)

Anyway the vid below covers a whole lot of interesting stuff design and production wise from what appears to be a start up OEM "crate engine" manufacturer. Couple of other vids show the production shop. Lots of basic stuff to a high volume manufacturer being adapted by a smaller OEM.

Anyway---to keep in short jump into the vid at about 10:45

BluePrint Engines Factory Full Tour & Behind The Scenes: Engineering Dept and R&D Zone! (Its Wild) - YouTube
 
I've gotten a lot of good remarks from some of our machine builders, assemblers, machinists when we are fitting up and trying 3d printed parts. It's nice to know "It'll work" before they even go and cut a piece of stock to machine. I'll be out on a workbench building a prototype assembly with actual pneumatic actuators, but a lot of 3d printed parts, and McMaster Carr hardware, and it might not last after 20 cycles, but it'll tell me if the idea works.

It saves machinists from making a bunch of parts that end up in the scrap bin which, while it's part of the R&D process, is not the most fulfilling kinds of parts to make, I'm sure.

All our parts are machined from bar/plate/extrusion, so I can only imagine the benefit of doing all these before a /mold/ or casting is made, ya know? That lead time reduction is huge.

Those colorful plastic bits are worth their weight in gold, just about.
 
I've gotten a lot of good remarks from some of our machine builders, assemblers, machinists when we are fitting up and trying 3d printed parts. It's nice to know "It'll work" before they even go and cut a piece of stock to machine. I'll be out on a workbench building a prototype assembly with actual pneumatic actuators, but a lot of 3d printed parts, and McMaster Carr hardware, and it might not last after 20 cycles, but it'll tell me if the idea works.

It saves machinists from making a bunch of parts that end up in the scrap bin which, while it's part of the R&D process, is not the most fulfilling kinds of parts to make, I'm sure.

All our parts are machined from bar/plate/extrusion, so I can only imagine the benefit of doing all these before a /mold/ or casting is made, ya know? That lead time reduction is huge.

Those colorful plastic bits are worth their weight in gold, just about.

How common is it for a manufacturer that size to have the ability to 3D print those engine components or is that usually farmed out?
 
How common is it for a manufacturer that size to have the ability to 3D print those engine components or is that usually farmed out?

We're a pretty small business and our printer has, I believe, a 300mm cube size. They also offer one that is 300x300 x600mm height. You can get machines like that for a few thousand. Definitely easy to find machines like that for under $10k.

There are plenty of places geared well for farming it out there. We use Xometry for stuff we can't do in house, usually.
 
I am working on starting a 3d print business.
A bunch of online sites will farm out the work to people with the proper printers, and that is what I am trying to figure out now. What is the proper printer for supporting people in my area.
 
I am working on starting a 3d print business.
A bunch of online sites will farm out the work to people with the proper printers, and that is what I am trying to figure out now. What is the proper printer for supporting people in my area.

How do we know? I mean, what are you looking at doing, complex assemblies, toys and trinkets, "simple" shapes that would be easier to print instead of machining? I can say I have a home hobby printer, and although it does a good job for me making BS toys and crap, it does not hold geometric forms very well (close, but no where near a machined surface accuracy).
 
How do we know? I mean, what are you looking at doing, complex assemblies, toys and trinkets, "simple" shapes that would be easier to print instead of machining? I can say I have a home hobby printer, and although it does a good job for me making BS toys and crap, it does not hold geometric forms very well (close, but no where near a machined surface accuracy).

Material choice and print settings help with accuracy.

Big names like Markforge hold .005 in y .001 in x but z holds good accuracy, but that is true for 90% of the machines, Markforge gives you good support but you pay for it in every way. Now you have new machines coming online that can hold teths in all directions by 9tlabs swiss company, and other machines that can produce, directional structural parts stronger than Aluminium, less weight, and less price than raw stock. That is by Anisoprint they just came to market they can print with carbonfiber in geometric layout coextruded with base material. By comparison Markforge just runs a few loops of carbonfiber, Kevlar, or Fiberglass in the print it would take too long to have heavy fill huge expense too.

Circles are the problem in 3d fdm/fff printing due to support, sag, and swell but can be done.

I am looking at it from a material perspective, parts that can be used if not by a machine shop then by a Lab/phd group, or the online print q companies that bid it out.

Yes, simple parts but also complex assembly. Nylon, CFNylon, PEEK, CFPEEK, and ULTEM, is what I would like to work with.

On my desk right now is a few parts one 1/4 inch drive ratchet printed as one part, a multi use tool, and a small radiator all sample test parts. I am machine shopping still.

I am also building a machine right now 350x350x350mm limited to printing 300f so Nylon varients, PP and few others but engineering grade parts, parts you can use. It is also one of the fastest/ accurate designs on the market.


I have a ULTEM part the postman was not kind to and jammed it through the mail slot with enough force it took the paint off my mail slot and blew out the package, part is fine and with in .005 tolerance over 4.5 inches. Consider it cost $4 in materials to make and has a working temp of 350f and doesn't mind harsh enviorments or chemicals.

I am starting my business small, I have a passion for it and I like working with people to get a goal.
 
Printing material and size tolerance aren't what separate the home printers from the industrial printers in my mind, its the support material. Once you get into things like dissolvable support material on an FDM printer, its a whole different ballgame.

Building a fast 350mm printer, must be a Voron2.4 machine?
 
Yep building a Voron 2.4. Multi head, for printing supports is on the radar, 3dxtech new printer looks amazing. Got to start somewhere. I will say the voron dev and group are very welcoming. I just found out how many people farm print with them. Bigger market than people think
 
We're a pretty small business and our printer has, I believe, a 300mm cube size. They also offer one that is 300x300 x600mm height. You can get machines like that for a few thousand. Definitely easy to find machines like that for under $10k.

There are plenty of places geared well for farming it out there. We use Xometry for stuff we can't do in house, usually.


Can I just suggest 3 companies that I've used for 3d printing without going through Xometry?

Additive Manufacturing | 3D Printing

3D Printing Service & Digital Manufacturing | FORECAST 3D

Impossible Objects | Composite 3D Printing (These guys do the weird stuff... I had them 3d print me PEEK parts)
 








 
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