No way I won't have a laser cutter within a couple of years :)

To lock things in better axially people will use a washer/part that isn't round, same principle as printing a hex shaped cavity for a encapsulated nut. People also use heat inserts which you heat up with a tool (like a modified soldering gun) and press into the plastic ... been used for years on manufactured plastic parts. Far as bonding as well as a bushing shell is bonded to the rubber ... I am unaware of a 3D printing process that would do that .. but then my knowledge of the process is limited.

I know it's being used more and more, exotic cars often have 3D printed parts, speeds prototyping and makes production of a very limited number of items more economical. Makes design changes much easier .... literally a matter of hours.

There are now numerous "Printer Farms" .. facilities with dozens of high end printers, you just upload your designs and they print them in high quality engineering plastics, much like a production machine shop. Ferrari is big into 3D printing in both composites and Metal.

I will be opening the Church of 3D shortly :)

Forgot the photo my "test cubes" for TPU filament ... each one printed at a different level of flexible .... I just grab one and squeeze it in a scientific way to determine if it will be right for the job :)

https://forums.maxperformanceinc.com...8&d=1672400975

Tnx for all the insight. Must be fun for you. You're learning a lot!

Just watched a video from a guy that electro plates plastic ... looks fantastic. He paints them with a conductive paint, plates them in copper .. quite thickly, and then brush plates them in palladium. They come out looking outstanding. All done in a "at home" method, nothing industrial required.

3D
 

Interesting topic.
I've had 3D Printers in my toolbox for the last 20 years or so.
In fact, I just took delivery this week of my 3rd one.
Check out this monster

Car Parts
 

Tri Power End Carbs. One is modeled and printed as 3 separate parts- baseplate, body, airhorn. The other is printed one piece.
These were done about 10 or 15 years ago on a Stratasys Dimension FDM in ABS.

Car Parts
 

Here's another set of end carbs

Be interesting to 3D print a factory RA V head.John 3D scanned one of mine when we were doing the Bathtubs.Tom

Car Parts
 

Here's an air cleaner lid on an LS6 in a Z28 done in Nylon 12 Carbon Fiber with a Fortus 450mc FDM.
It was tough getting the Victor/Dominator/NOS Plate under the 4" Cowl hood even with a drop base. No way it would've fit without the custom contours.

Car Parts
 

Here's another car with a 3D Printed PCV Valve Extension in the Valve Cover.
It also has some 3D Printed Spark Plug Wire Separators.
I think probably every car in my shop has a set of these dressing the wires.
In fact, I just ran off another set this afternoon for a 455 that is going in my 66 GTO.

Car Parts
 

Another set of Spark Plug Wire Separators on my L71 427 Corvette

Panhead
 

Panhead

Materials
 

I've worked very closely with the major players and materials manufacturers in the industry to develop some pretty exotic materials with very specific properties.
Antero 840CN03 was my baby. That material is PEKK based with carbon nano-tubes.
It took a lot of years to get that material to work.

I did the same with the company in Germany that built my latest acquisition.
The new HT25 material is going to blow some people away.
Very high strength high temperature with enhanced thermal and electrical conductivity.

Currently working on some very unique next generation stuff.

Tom, I could print a functional RAV intake that you could bolt on your car & run.

MC Parts
 

This was a MC License Plate Bracket

Carbs
 

Carbs

CAD
 

CAD

Last one
 

Last one. This MC was almost entirely 3D Printed. And you could ride it (had an electric motor)

Very cool!

How about a 1970 Formula Firebird?

:D

3X ... so with the carbs .... they are functional? And hold up under various types of fuel?

Were they modeled from scratch or were original blueprints available?

I'd love to know the specs of a large modern printer ... print speed, nozzle temps, nozzle size ... assuming they even spec things the same way as hobby printers do.

Very interesting stuff, additive manufacturing is in my opinion is the future, so many advantages over conventional machining. The technology is going so fast it's hard to keep up with.

Those carbs were done in ASA on an FDM machine.
ASA material is basically ABS- not compatible with gasoline.
And FDM technology is porous without some post-processing work.
I was just goofing around one day and modeled them up because I was missing a set of end carbs for a spare Tri Power I had kicking around.

I subsequently modified the design slightly for one set because I was considering printing some in metal using DMLS and using them as throttle bodies with a set of fuel injectors replacing the NOS fogger nozzles I had in the cast iron '65 manifold.
I could've also done those in another polymer material that was compatible with gasoline though.

You can look up the specs of my old Stratasys Fortus 450mc FDM online. High temp materials extrude as you can expect at pretty high temp- approaching 800F. And the chamber temp is accordingly very high- over 300F. Nice machine. Run you about $250K though.

One problem with that FDM technology is soluble supports are liquified at those high temps- so you are forced to use breakaway supports- which can be problematic and time consuming to remove.
And the layer resolution with the high performance materials is only 0.010".

My latest acquisition is SLS Polymer powder bed fusion technology.
No supports required for exotic high temp materials.
Also isotropic strength & 10X faster builder times.
My first beta samples parts that used to take 3 hours to build on the old FDM platform now build in 20 minutes.
Price of admission for that bad boy runs north of $.5M+
But if you're savvy with the numbers, and you want to look like a hero for the company you work for- just do a cost benefit analysis showing the payback.

I submitted a very conservative CBA with a $650K CER showing a <6 month payback- on just a couple small parts.
Approvals came back almost immediately when you show $1M+ savings annually.
Lot of smiles.

In fact, I already have FY 23 budgeting in place to purchase another new machine.
Top secret discussions though- ground breaking technology.
I have NDAs in place so I can't talk about what I'm doing yet.
All I can say is it's DMLS based (metal) and kick-ass.