SLA and SLS 3D printers generated prototypes and tooling inserts to accelerate electrification.
When the Formlabs Form 4 debuted earlier this year, the company promised faster, more reliable 3D printing for prototyping and production. Today, we’re getting a new example of what that means with a reveal from one of the Form 4’s beta testers: Ford Motor Company.
The automaker has made extensive use of 3D printing in designing the new Electric Explorer, including the Form 4 as well as the Fuse 1+ and Form 3L. In addition, Ford’s designers combined these additive manufacturing tools with more conventional subtractive manufacturing, such as milling, and injection molding.
According to Ford, the latest generation of Formlabs printers has enabled designers to fulfill requests in under 24 hours, even those from other facilities, provided they’re in range of overnight shipping. Stereolithography (SLA) enabled the company to validate designs of both interior and exterior parts, such as the sideview mirror assembly. Selective laser sintering (SLS) assisted with mechanical testing, particularly for the complex design of the Electric Explorer’s charging port.
“For this charging cover, it was important to use SLS, based on the fact that we needed a functional part that would enable us to test the mechanisms,” said Bruno Alves, additive manufacturing expert and tooling specialist at Ford in a media release. “It’s a really complex design that we are not able to produce in any other way. We cannot mill this part. We cannot use injection molding to produce just some samples. So the best way is to print in a material that we can test physically.”
Even when Ford’s designers did use injection molding, 3D printing proved to be a valuable supplement. The Electric Explorer’s door handle design requires two rubber components for damping and insulation and, while these were injection molded, the designers also 3D printed inset molds for their in-house injection molding machine.
“This was a complex process because we are using several inserts and there are also several different designs that could have several iterations each,” said Alves. “Normally, external injection molding will take maybe two or three months. Internally, using additive manufacturing, we can speed up the process to maybe two weeks, three weeks maximum. For this project, if we had to use external tools, it would have been much more time-consuming and we would not have been able to deliver the parts on time.”
Even more than volume or repeatability, speed is the most critical variable in 3D printing when it comes to adoption, especially for prototyping. As this story of the design work for Ford’s Electric Explorer suggests, it’s also essential for accelerating electrification.
