Aug. 18, 2014
Automotive giant Nissan has been using 3D printing to manufacture parts for Nissan DeltaWing racecar. But a recent video from Nissan Nismo Insider revealed that Nissan Motorsports Australia has also partnered with Melbourne-based evok3d to use 3D printing to build prototypes and manufacture parts for their V8 supercars.
Evok3d was appointed as official supplier of 3D printing solutions to Nissan Motorsport V8 Supercar team back in May. Through this partnership Evok3d has created an in-house 3d printing facility onsite at the Nismo V8 Supercar headquarters in Braeside, Victoria, equipped with high end 3D printing equipment such as 3D Systems' ProJet 3500 HDmax, and ProJet 660Pro.
The center allows engineers to utilize the professional 3D printers to build components for research and development purpose before production.
Perry Kapper, chief designer at Nissan Motorsports said the critical thing is the capability to be able to produce parts really quickly to check if they fit on a car before the full-scale production. "[The partnership] gives us a multitude of capabilities for really quickly producing parts that we need." Kapper says.
Images: Nissan Motorsports
The evok3d team works closely with the Nismo race engineers, utilising these professional 3D printers to build bespoke parts that provide the team with a competitive edge. evok3d founder and Managing Director Joe Carmody said that the ProJet 660Pro from 3D Systems is fast and relative low-cost for concept modeling. It is able to build large accurate models quickly; and the ProJet 3500 HDmax, a plastic 3D printer with very hight precision is more suitable for fuctional use.
Carmody told James Moffat of Nissan Nismo Insider that 3D printing is very suitable for producing low to medium volume bespoke parts in tight time frame, such as developing cutting-edge products for motorsports.
According to Kapper, the company has been use 3D printing to build a fan housing with a built-in switch, which comes out fully assembled. "Something like that you couldn't create any other way", says Kapper. Another part they have printed is a trumpet for the intake system which can be used to test different configuations. Check out the video below that host James Moffat gives you a closer look at the Evok3D Printing facility.
Posted in 3D Printing Applications
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