Monday 8 July 2013

Ford creates sheet metal prototypes in hours instead of weeks


Stamping sheet metal is an efficient form of manufacturing, capable of cranking hundreds or thousands of items an hour. The annoying thing is that making new stamping dies is a long, costly process. This is bad enough when it comes to retooling a factory, but creating prototypes for new products can leave designers waiting weeks. The Ford Research and Innovation Center in Dearborn, Michigan has taken a page from the 3D printing handbook and is developing a new way of forming sheet metal that allows designers to create prototypes in hours instead of weeks... Continue Reading Ford creates sheet metal prototypes in hours instead of weeks

Section: Automotive

Tags: 3D Printing, Ford, Prototype, Research

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2 comments:

Neil A Russell said...

Brilliant!
I can see panels becoming available for long out of print cars.
Takes a little of the sting out of Chrysler destroying all those AMC parts knowing that fenders, doors, and hoods could still be available

Unknown said...

Im a design, style and technological innovation trainer and Im definitely enthusiastic about rapid prototyping, but it can be complicated to describe these kinds of a new technique of produce without the need of using all the technical words and dropping all the enthusiasim! I use the ink-jet analogy, but in future I am totally leading students to this link!

Sheet Metal Prototyping