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For a manufacturer that produces parts such as engine mountings, rubber bushes, radiator hose, etc (main components rubber and metal) used in mainly automobile industry as car parts, I was wondering if this new technology can be used to manufacture parts in quantities and how economical would they be. Please refer to the attachments for an example of parts I am talking about.

Any help or guidance would be highly appreciated.
engine-mountings-1522366.jpg air-hoses-1522364.jpg

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Hey Mohit_Daliya,

From my experience with 3D printing, certain automotive part can be 3D printed. However those that may get hot are not ideal as it would melt the plastic. You mentioned how economic it would be. First of all you’ve got to think what there is out there already. Many parts are made through injection moulding, which is extremely cheap and quick one the moulding has been made. If these automotive parts are for popular vehicles then they will be cheap to buy, but for vehicle parts that are no longer made or very rare, it may work out cheaper. Generally 3D printing is cheap as it only uses the material required, but if there are moulds already made then it may be best to go there.

Some parts may cost next to nothing to produce, but due to demand they can be expensive. I can not say specifically which would be cheaper as various parts may be more economical when bought from manufacturers, while others will be cheaper when 3D printed.

The best advise I can give is that when you find a part, look into it for a decent price. Then use 3D hubs and search for printers with decent rates. If you explain that you have small parts, or would like a large quantity, some may reduce the price for you.

I hope this has helped you and if you have any questions please ask.

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Thank you Gifthub,

But maybe i was unclear in my question. I am a manufacturer myself who produces parts by first making the metal moulds from 3rd party and then using moulding machines to manufacture parts in quantities. I was thinking to use new technology and came across 3D printing. Now the question is can i manufacture those parts using the printer or even the mould as the moulds are usually very expensive and even a small error in the mould can prove very costly.

Any help in this case?

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Hi again,

Sorry about misinterpreting your comment. I’ve found that there may be inconsistencies with prints, so you would have to fix these. I thinks his this could definitely work out cheaper to begin with if you 3D printed the part. The main problem with 3D printing is the time consuming side of things. It can sometimes take hours, but you could probably 3D print a part and then mound this.

If this still leaves you asking questions then please ask. I would be happy to help you out were I can.

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@Mohit_Daliya

From a materials standpoint… engine components can get very hot, be potentially exposed to chemical attack and experience quite a bit of vibration. Assuming you go the FDM route I don’t think that any “rubber” filaments you will find will outlast a molded rubber piece under thermal and mechanical loading. On top of that I’m not aware of any filaments that would allow you to achieve the required durometer (most rubber engine components are fairly hard) to effectively absorb and distribute the vibration energy.

All of the thermal/mechanical issues aside, it’s not likely that you’ll be able to produce anything in quantity for cheaper than conventional manufacturing.

From a manufacturing standpoint if it’s a rubber-metal bonded assembly, you will not be able to find a 3d printer to print on metal in any way that wouldn’t de-bond very quickly. Rubber-metal bonding is partially a chemical process, and can be very difficult depending on the compound. Secondly, if you wanted to make both the metal and rubber parts through 3D-printing that means two different machines, and metal 3D printing is not cheap (especially if you’re making simple shapes like you’d find in a bushing or motor mount).

Finally, the economies of scale are against you here. Rubber molding may have a higher initial investment (tooling, molds, etc) but afterwards, you can probably make parts for pennies. With regards to the metal parts, the same concept applies, once you’ve set up your machine you can churn out the same parts for next to nothing.

Nine times out of ten, you can cut costs with 3D printing by making parts that can’t be made with conventional manufacturing processes. So in this scenario if you have a complex assembly that requires multiple parts to make, if you can replace that with a single 3D printed part, that’s where the value lies. The only issue then is that you sort of limit yourself to having only one way to manufacture that part. What 3D printing is excellent for, however, is prototyping, and even functional concept demonstration.

Hope this helps.