3D Printing/Rapid Prototyping & Manufacturing
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.
