3D printing

I am thinking that 3D printing for throttle bodies, carbs and manifolds would be a good thing. This would eliminate the casting and welds required.

When I first heard about it a couple of years ago my thought was replicating some of those strange one-of-a-kind bolts would be cool. I have thought carbs would be interesting to try too.

David G,

What actual material would you put into the 3-D printer to make the "throttle bodies, carbs and manifolds"?

And, would that material be in liquid form so that it could be sprayed out of a nozzle in multiple passes to build up the item being made?

Simple minds want to know.

Tom in TN

Companies now make Metal 3D printers. The best of them sprinkle powder .020", sinter the powder with a laser system, then machine the sintered layer. to dimensional correctness and flatness, then do it again. The process is used in Aerospace and extreme technology applications. One cubic inch of deposited material can cost more than $150.00. We have seven 3D printers (None of them metal!!). They print in a variety of plastics including Nylon and ABS. The methods of deposit of the technology is to spread a layer of plastic, then spray glue on it, then repeat and eventually the part is complete and embedded in a loose powder matrix. We then dig them out and dust them. NExt the component is infiltrated with a binder that seals the pores. Several binders can be used. Epoxy, crazy glue, and acrylic are 3. The second process uses liquid polymer and lasers to crosslink the material into a solid. The result is a pretty fair plastic representation. The third is a direct deposit machine that liquifies a "wire" of ABS and extrudes it out in a tight pattern to create the component. The result is still porus and has fair strength, these can also be treated to fill the pores. The 4th type "prints in wax. The wax is then invested in casting plaster and burned out. This allows very precise nearly impossible components to be cast into the resulting molds. The cost of printing with our printers is about $3.00 per cubic inch. The "machines cost from $30,000, to $125,000 each. (The metal printer is way more than that.) We use the printers every day in Engineering and Technology classes and research. Jim

There are several 3D printing processes that will "print" metal parts: selective laser melting, direct laser melting and electron beam melting, all which use powdered metals. There is also electron beam wire melting which "prints" using very fine (~0.002") metal wire.

The downside to the process right now is COST. The price of a 3D metal printer can easily into 6 figures. Further the raw material (finely powdered metals, etc) are not cheap.

Also current production rates are very slow. It's OK for prototyping and creating "one of" parts. But it can be prohibitive even for low volume production.

The good news is we can expect cost to fall and production rates to improve as the technology evolves.

(quoted from post at 15:42:54 01/19/15) There are several 3D printing processes that will "print" metal parts: selective laser melting, direct laser melting and electron beam melting, all which use powdered metals. There is also electron beam wire melting which "prints" using very fine (~0.002") metal wire.

The downside to the process right now is COST. The price of a 3D metal printer can easily into 6 figures. Further the raw material (finely powdered metals, etc) are not cheap.

Also current production rates are very slow. It's OK for prototyping and creating "one of" parts. But it can be prohibitive even for low volume production.

The good news is we can expect cost to fall and production rates to improve as the technology evolves.

Click to expand...

My brother works on them for GM, doing prototypes at the Tech Center. Pretty impressive.

There are contract places that will take a plot file. I would like to get a printer for plastic, sometime, but would send the files out for metal. I want to get a 3D model made of zenith throttle body, then send plot file out for pricing. I made the first one by scratch, but am not fast at solidworks.

$150 per cubic inch is way out of my price range, I can machine and weld a throttle body for less than $100

Nice dream anyway.

I'm hearing not so much making the actual part but the 3D printer has the ability to make the pattern or mold you can cast the actual part from. All you have to store is the digital file so someone making reproduction parts for something doesn't have to store a building full of patterns and minor modifications or different attributes for parts to be used in similar but different applications can be made. Would be interesting if they ever develop a 3D printer that does ceramic components as they can be effective for turbine wheels and cylinders.

That would probably be more cost effective for a casting, than making the part.