It is not a secret that when summer is approaching, a large number of students come to our company. Graduation thesis writing period – a period of work not only for students but also for us. We are delighted that young people are looking at their work in an innovative way and incorporating 3D technologies into it. We are sharing one of these projects today.
Our company was approached by students of Vilnius College of Technology and Design AT16D group. They chose the topic of electric GoKart manufacturing for their final project. Such a GoKart is capable of fully competing with traditional professional gasoline karts in sports competitions. Asked why they chose this production method, students shared their story.
3D printing was chosen because of the need to produce the part as soon as possible. Previously there were attempts to cut the spoiler out of polystyrene foam, but the smoothness of the surface required a lot of priming and processing, which would take a lot of time and work. It is also very difficult to remove the form of polystyrene from the inside of the product, so this idea was rejected.
Then came the idea to cut the shape with hot wire. This result have a very smooth surface, but the spoiler is bow-shaped, and cutting it with a hot wire is particularly difficult and expensive.
Rejecting all ideas, it was decided to use 3D printing, which was the fastest, most accurate, and financially acceptable way to implement spoiler production. The robustness of the 3D printed spoiler surpassed expectations, and the plastic itself was very easy to work with and stained well.
For 3D printing we used FDM 600 x 600 x 600 mm large format 3D printer and PETG plastic. This plastic is durable, shock resistant and easy to work with. All of these features made spoiler production extremely easy and shortened production time to a minimum.
3D printing technology: FDM (Fused Deposition Modeling)
3D printing material: PETG
Size (mm): 1142 x 200 x 40; 285 x 147 x44