All posts tagged: cars

Realize 3D printed service parts for vintage cars

Realize, Inc. partners with Calsonic Kansei to create new parts for vintage vehicles.

Realize has been helping a company to fulfill the needs of a client in looking for replacement parts of vintage instruments in older vehicles. This required team work between the two organizations to come up with the right solutions to get the needed results from the parts. Our team used our collective knowledge about SLA and 3D Printing to find the right answers and provide the right look and feel to make their customers satisfied.

Alan Conlu, Sales Manager at Realize, was thrilled to be working on this project with Calsonic Kansei.

“We were excited about the challenge Calsonic Kansei presented us with this unique project. Upon hearing about their intended use as OEM(original equipment manufacturer) parts and after some initial test runs, we were glad to hear that painted SLAs were going to work as suitable replacements parts. Over the years, we’ve worked closely with their team to perfect our process in order to match the quality and look of the original parts. They have been a valued client ever since and we hope to continue to work with them in any way we can.”

We talked with Geoff Lackey, Sr. Manager Purchasing Department at CKNA about the experience working with Realize.

“Providing service parts for OEM’s is somewhat difficult at times, because there are several issues to contend with; tooling that is no longer available or has no life left. Finding alternate or new suppliers and tooling is equally difficult due to lack of interest from potential suppliers for low-volume parts, as well as internal funding issues for new tooling. However, our customers prefer to hear what we can do, not what we cannot do. So we reached out to Realize, Inc., not knowing whether the type of service they provide could solve our issues. But we ordered some samples, trialed them, received customer approval, and have not only shipped replacement parts to customers who were waiting on their vehicles to be repaired, but are now using SLA parts from Realize, Inc. to fulfill these ongoing service orders. Specifically, we manufacture instrument clusters for a major Japanese OEM, and Realize, Inc. has helped us maintain our on-time delivery rating with this customer. We appreciate the solution they provide!”

For Realize these are the types of stories we like to share. Just a small example of what makes our job so exciting and fulfilling. Working together with a client to make what was difficult and challenging a reality. Advancing excellence!

January 27, 2017 Blog

The Realize Photo of the Week

We created this 3D Printed Hellcat wheel prototype for DSM and after a US tour of trade shows we are now featuring this beauty as the Realize Photo of the Week!

August 18, 2016 Blog

Building a vehicle using 3D Printing

One of the more interesting and exciting projects we have been working on at Realize involves customizing and creating parts for automobiles using additive manufacturing. We talked with the Senior Designer on the project about the creation of these 3D prototypes.

How did you use Realize and 3D Printing to help with your project?

Originally our Product Design and Development teams were looking for ways to replicate automotive sheet metal and trim based on 3D Math CAD data. We wanted something we could mount our actual parts to that would show how our parts were intended to perform on the vehicle if it was built to spec. Eventually our company decided to starting using 3D Prints to replicate changes to sheet metal and trim to show customers how a certain sealing environment changes would be helpful to our methodology. This would help our customers understand why we needed to make environment changes. Then we turned to using 3D Prints to make check fixtures for our sealing environments. During prototype phases, getting actual sheet metal to mount our parts to in the environment it was intended by CAD can be difficult. Also, a vehicle would have to be located for a meeting. Being able to replicate a portions of the body side, door and trim panels and include door swing gave us the ability to bring our sealing environments straight to the customer in an office setting for discussion. I cannot stress enough the complexity of some of the fixtures and jigs we have designed.

How do you think you will use additive manufacturing in the future and are there any new directions or capabilities you would like to see in the industry?

Our Teams are always looking into how we can take additive manufacturing to the next level. We strive on continuos improvement and are always fine tuning our fixture and jig designs in CAD to get the most testing possibilities we can out of them. In the beginning we had single parts printed to mount to. Now we are making multiple piece fixtures and jigs that you can simulate glass movement, door closing and a variety of environment possibilities with shims and hardware.

What were the biggest challenges with creating the parts we did for you?

Learning the properties of the various materials. Our customers have always demanded fast turn around times and we cannot always wait for our preferred materials for printing. In some cases we have had to choose something different than our normal selection so we can have the parts in our hands by a certain date for a customer meeting. Some times it works out for us and others it does not. We try not to stray away from what we know will work, however, some times we are forced to due to timing requirements.

What is something that you personally would like to have 3D Printed?

If I still had the files it would be the CAD parts I made back when I first started learning in CAD design 17 years ago. The only way to really understand what a software is capable of is to log hours on it and explore beyond what you are taught. So I used to stay after classes and design my own ideas and concepts and also on my lunch hours. This was back when SDRC I-Deas was popular and everything was still on Unix. It was also a few jobs ago. I saved a lot of those files on a hard disc many moons ago but couldn’t tell you what happened to it.

August 20, 2015 Blog

Realize and Penn State Formula SAE

Realize enjoys working with students that are in the process of doing amazing things. We are a sponsor of the Penn State Formula SAE team and helped them out with a new intake. We talked with George Mishkin, Team Captain, about how they are using 3D Printing and additive manufacturing to gain an advantage over the competition.

Realize: Tell us about your team and how we started working together.

George: Penn State Formula SAE is a student run design team with the task of designing and prototyping a formula style racecar for the annual Formula SAE competition. At this competition, held at Michigan International Speedway, teams from all over the world are judged in both static and dynamic events including: cost of production, ergonomics, an investment presentation, acceleration, autocross time, and a grueling endurance race. The competition provides students with an opportunity to apply their engineering, organization, and communication skills in an industry-like setting. Every year, the team 3D prints a new intake design and that is how the relationship started between Realize and the team.

How did you use Realize and 3D Printing to help with your car?

Every year, the team needs to design a new intake for the car. The 3D printers the team uses in house is no where near as technical as the team would like them to be because we need to print an intake that is lightweight and durable. We find that Realize and their 3D printers supply us with our needs.

How do you think you will use additive manufacturing in the future and are there any new directions or capabilities you would like to see in the industry?

In the future, I feel I will use additive manufacturing as a means to test new prototypes. In the automotive industry, new components are being invented all the time. It is one thing to see this new component on screen, but it is another to see it being used. Additive manufacturing will allow me to print my new component and test right away to see if it works in the total design. This way, I can make changes right away instead of waiting for mold to be created first, saving me time along with money. I would like to see more components mass produced using additive manufacturing. The team makes our uprights by machining aluminum in a CNC machine. This process takes weeks to make just one upright. If they were to be done using additive manufacturing, the uprights would only take days. I feel industry needs to shift mass produced parts over to additive manufacturing.

What were the biggest challenges with creating the parts we did for you?

The biggest challenges with creating our parts is making sure the intake is positioned correctly to the headers on the engine along with the intake being durable. The team has seen in the past where the throttle body breaks the neck of the intake due to the weight of the throttle body. We have also seen the intake broken due to removing it from the engine. The team has to maintain a balance between durability and lightness of the intake and it is always a struggle.

What is something that you personally would like to have 3D Printed?

I would love to have a 3D printed corvette. It has been my favorite car ever since I was a young boy and it still is today. I could stare at one all day.

August 5, 2015 Blog

Volvo Truck 3D Model

The Realize Featured Project: Volvo Truck 3D Model

Realize, Inc. worked with Auto Research Center to create a 3D Printed model of a Volvo truck.

“When Steve (ARC) came to us for help we were very happy to be a part of it. This SLA project is especially unique because it is going to be on display in our customers lobby. These are fun projects for the whole team and when it all comes together like this- it is always exciting to see the finished model.”

-Alan Conlu, Sales Manager at Realize, Inc.

We asked ARC’s Engineering Manager, Steve Roskowski, a few questions about the project.

Realize: How did this project come about?

Steve: The Volvo truck model came about to fill a void in our OEM tractor inventory. We do quite a bit of testing for both aftermarket aero device manufacturers, fleets and regulatory agencies. Several had requested the 670 VNL for their testing, so we completed it to satisfy customer requests.

What do you plan to do with this prototype?

The model is now available for any customer to use to advance their knowledge of tractor trailer aerodynamics.

What makes this design different then what’s out there now?

So far as we know, this is the only publicly available wind tunnel model of the Volvo 670 VNL for rent.

Tell us about the design process and how much time is involved for a project like this.

We started the design by renting a full sized truck, bringing to ARC and laser scanning it. From there it was converted to surface files and the model designed from there. The overall design process took about two months. Before we release the files to you, we have the whole model built in the CAD world to check for interferences and fits.

The hardest part in the process of creating this prototype 3D model was?

The most difficult part is scanning such a large object. The physical size simply creates unique problems that we need to work around. Since we have scanned many other vehicles for the same purpose we have a good handle on it and can get to the solution fairly quickly.

November 13, 2014 Blog

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