A key aspect of vehicle safety involves the front and rear car lights, which must be transparent and visible from a distance. What role can 3D printing play in the manufacture of such lights? Engineers at Ford Trucks invited 3E Rapid Prototyping to work with them to find out. The special front and rear lights that were printed were found to be safer as they had better visibility when tested.
The lighting components included the head and tail lights of cars and trucks. They had to be transparent and clearly visible on the road to motorists from a distance. Also, the material had to be suitable for 3D printing. The 3D printer was a ProX 800, 3D Systems‘ Stereolithography 3D printer, which features a laser print head and a print material management system. The material of choice for the transparent light guide was PMMA- used in the tail lamp of the car. There were aluminum parts that acted as reflectors for the tail lamp. PMMA softens at about 73 C and tends to burn without leaving any residue at temperatures higher than 700 C.
The main challenge, however, was printing out the yellow parts out of the Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS) plastic, which have various structural components essential for the assembly of a tail lamp of a truck. For the most part, the greatest obstacle in working with ABS in 3D printing is its tendency to curl upwards where it is in direct contact with the printer print bed. To eliminate this issue, it is important to heat the print surface, which helps ensure a flat, smooth, and clean finish. In addition, a mixture of ABS and Acetone is often used to prep the print surface beforehand.
It’s important to manage moisture within the print, as ABS can bubble or spurt from the printer nozzle tip, which can reduce part accuracy, visual quality, strength, and can even clog the printer nozzle. For these reasons, ABS can be tricky to work with.
As a polymer material, ABS can take many forms and be altered to have interesting properties. In its natural state it is a milky beige color, but it accepts color readily. A strong plastic, ABS does have limited flexibility. But this flexibility allows users to create interlocking or pin connected pieces. Plus, this material can be easily machined and sanded. Other advantages, such as high resistance to temperature and machinability, make it a preferred choice for engineers. Also, compared to other plastics, ABS is easier to recycle, providing for more eco friendly vehicle headlights!
To build the lights, the parts were first split up in specialized CAD software. Then printed on the ProX 800. Finishing consisted of machining the edges on a 3-axis machine. Then the parts were ready to be assembled.
The vehicle head and tail lights manufactured in this process took a shorter time and were an exact fit on the Ford trucks. For Ford, this process proved less costly than other methods of light manufacture. The end result was safer light for the trucks. So the next time you are driving home on a dark or foggy night and you see a bright light shining from a truck, it just might be this special light manufactured by 3E Rapid Prototyping. Drive safe and keep your eyes on the road and off your phone.
3E Rapid Prototyping Limited offers a range of additive manufacturing, 3D printing, and rapid prototyping services for various industries. It specializes in vacuum casting, CNC machining, sheet metal prototype formation, model finishing, and injection molding. 3ERP also has experience in lighting manufacturing for the automotive sector.
