GM 3D Prints 60,000 Parts to Keep Producing SUVs (cnet.com) 57
General Motors couldn't produce the component it needed for its 2022 SUV, the Chevrolet Tahoe, reports CNET. So the company's engineers "turned to a novel solution: 3D printing..."
GM made a major investment in the tech in 2020, dedicating 15,000 square feet of space to a facility dubbed the Additive Industralization Center, then filling it with HP Multi Jet Fusion 3D printers, among others.... A year later, GM's big investment paid off. Chevrolet engineers made a late change to the 2022 Tahoe's design, necessitating the creation of an additional part: A new, flexible "spoiler closeout seal" fills a gap at the rear of the big SUV. Developing the tooling to injection-mold the things would have taken too long, delaying the delivery of 30,000 vehicles.
Enter 3D printing. Engineers were able to quickly design and print the components using a flexible material that met GM's criteria. They even used a process called vapor polishing to give the parts a perfect shine... Since each Tahoe requires two seals, Chevrolet needed a whopping 60,000 of them. From design to completion took just five weeks. That's less than half the time going the injection-molding route would have taken, which got all those SUVs out the door on time.
CNET calls it "almost certainly the largest deployment of additive tech in a production car" — and "an interesting preview of what's to come."
Enter 3D printing. Engineers were able to quickly design and print the components using a flexible material that met GM's criteria. They even used a process called vapor polishing to give the parts a perfect shine... Since each Tahoe requires two seals, Chevrolet needed a whopping 60,000 of them. From design to completion took just five weeks. That's less than half the time going the injection-molding route would have taken, which got all those SUVs out the door on time.
CNET calls it "almost certainly the largest deployment of additive tech in a production car" — and "an interesting preview of what's to come."
Cost? (Score:2)
At what cost? Also, does GM design first for robotic assembly and manufacture or do they come up with a design and then figure out how best to manufacture it?
Re:Cost? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: Cost? (Score:2)
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This whole situation reads like a program management "oops we fucked up and this thing we bought can bail us out".
In that case the facility is probably going to be running 24/7
Re: Cost? (Score:2)
Re: Cost? (Score:2)
What's a jib? [google.com]
Re: Cost? (Score:2)
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Somehow they always end up with trucks pretending to be cars.
They only make muscle-y sports cars, in that they essentially have truck engines in them. But the modern Camaro is widely considered to be one of the best performance car values on the market...
Re: (Score:2)
So the modern Camaro got SUV-ized too then?
I'm not sure what that means. The Camaro will outperform much more expensive vehicles on an actual twisty track. I think that conclusively proves that it's not a truck. Whatever else you want to say about it is up to you. It's a GM product so it can't ultimately be that great in the long run, but the engine sure is sweet. And if you get one with a stick you don't have to fear the usual GM weak point, their corporate transmissions.
Re: Benefit. (Score:2)
What is it with a lot of car companies underspeccing the non engine part of the drivetrain? Is it really worth all the warranty repairs they must get?
Re: (Score:3)
I don't know what the problem is, except that transmissions are hard to get right. A lot of designs that look great on paper don't pan out, and a lot of transmissions which are great when they're new just don't age gracefully... and once you're out of the warranty period, they don't care. Sometimes the problems are solved by just adding more cooling, which I think is pretty sad.
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That's why the question was, do they have have software/tools in the design process so that they design for manufacture from the start instead of requiring handle assembly? Tesla did have to back off on their plans, but even who knows to what extent they prioritize robotic manufacture in the design process.
Recalls (Score:2)
Re:Recalls (Score:4, Funny)
The Tahoe seems to have a re all every month or two.
Looks like they've gotten to the "c" ... :-)
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Really? (Score:2)
I was under the impression that for quite some time now emission controls systems have been so good youd have to spend all day gassing yourself with a car exhaust to actually get carbon monoxide poisoning. Youd probably die quicker of simple suffocation as it displaced all the oxygen
Re: (Score:2)
"The typical catalytic converter found on most newer cars and trucks combines oxygen with carbon monoxide to form non-poisonous carbon dioxide (CO2) reducing the high concentrations in the exhaust manifold (typically 30,000 ppm or more) to low concentrations (typically below 1,000 ppm after the catalytic converter)."
https://www.abe.iastate.edu/ex... [iastate.edu]
"As CO levels increase and remain above 70 ppm, symptoms become more noticeable and can include headache, fatigue and nausea. At sustained CO concentrations abov
Re:so a billion dollar company ... (Score:5, Insightful)
Uh, 3d printing is still cool. And news of a valid, economical 3d printed solution in commercial use is news for nerds.
3d printers may not be replicators, but they're as close as I'm getting in my lifetime, I suspect.
Re: so a billion dollar company ... (Score:3)
Injection plastic molding was hot tech when my grandfather started his company
plastic parts company in the 1920s. But the tool and die work for the molds is time consuming an expensive. I think it's great that 3D printing is finding its groove.
Phrasing (Score:3)
They printed one part, sixty thousand times.
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These old companies have no idea how to modernize. I'm sure they already had 30 thousands HP Multi Jet Fusion 3D printers and only had to print the part twice on each printer.
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*sigh*
Fine, I'll print one.
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Unfortunately, they didn't specify where the breakroom had to be.
Need a break? Bathrooms are great for that!
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Hopefully they printed enough extra to stock replacements for the next 10 years.
I'd hate to need that spare part just to find they custom printed it during manufacturing using materials that they no longer have in stock with finishing techniques that were unique to that part, and to fix my "spoiler closeout seal" someone has to run to Home Depot and find some weather seal that can be shoehorned in as a stop-gap (pun intended) measure.
--
New sig on back order.
Re: (Score:2)
or, you know, you have a family of 6 that you need to drive to the airport
Re: Government Motors (Score:2)
Back in the good old days, just about every family stationwagon was big enough to lay a full-sized 4x8 piece of sheetrock or plywood in the back with the rear seats down and the tailgate open a little bit, or not at all.
These days, a Chevy Suburban is about the only passenger vehicle you can buy that lets you run to the Home Depot and bring almost anything back yourself. Other than a dedicated purpose work van or big work truck.
Cityfolk who live in rentals don't need this capability. Nor do Merc or BMW driv
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When I see SUV commercials on TV, I can't help laughing for at least 2 reasons. First, trying to imagine the people who freak out if the paint gets a smudge EVER driving their vehicle over rocks and through streams as depicted. Second, knowing how fragile they can be in real life, I wonder how many they total trying to get enough footage for the commercial.
The fact is auto makers get more exceptions to pollution and fuel economy requirements if they sell more trucks, so they have Madison Avenue tell people
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When I need something that is too big to fit in my car, I put my $1200 5x8 trailer on & use that.
In a pinch, I can lash something on the roof. My previous vehicle was a pickup & I really don't miss it.
A suburban gets 15/20 mpg. My car is 23/27 mpg. My commute is 15 miles. The suburban uses 2 gal/day. I use 1.3 gal. The commute uses N gallons/day * 5 days/wk * 50 weeks.. Over the year I use 175 gallons less. If I'm paying $4/gallon, my trailer is paid for by the gas savings just in my commute
Re: Government Motors (Score:1)
Harder to park a trailer in many places where you can park your car. You can take it to the pro pickup no questions asked, but if you work a day job and stop at Home Depot after work and then put in a few hours of work on the house it won't work as well.
It's a solution, but not as versatile or wide ranging as a big car.
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What family of 6 can actually afford that monster?
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I wonder if this is the only 3d technology in use? (Score:2)
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I practice Subtractive Gardening (Score:2)
I don't plant anything. I just pull up or cut down the plants I don't want.
Wonderful (Score:2)
This is off topic but pumping out all those SUVs on time is nothing to cheer about. The 3D manufacturing aspect is cool I admit.
SUVs second largest contributor to global emissions [theguardian.com]
How did they measure that? (Score:2)
Did they just add up the emissions of new SUV's sold?
Or did they correct for the vehicles they replaced, which in some cases may have worse gas mileage owing to improvements in fuel economy, even for large vehicles"
That's nothing (Score:2)
Tesla needed retention brackets for cooling systems so they took their credit card to Home Depot and got them in no time
Re: Holy recall batman (Score:2)
Its just a seal cause GM cant make a body gap less than the thickness of a woman's hand
It will fail it will leak no one will die
"Half the time" (Score:2)
Vapor polishing (Score:3)
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Cool video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
Where does one buy Weldon 4?
You no longer walk in a straight line? (Score:2)
You removed the fog by using a solvent, but did this change the optical curve on the lenses?
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this will be a good test (Score:2)
to see if 3d printed parts can hold up as well over time as traditionally- produced parts.
SUVs (Score:2)
> GM 3D Prints 60,000 Parts to Keep Producing SUVs
Every technology can be used for good or evil.
For example, 3D printing can be used for good, such as printing artificial heart valves or wind turbine components.
Or for evil, such as printing parts for guns or SUVs.
The world doesn't need no more fucking SUVs