Can you do it and if so, how much?
Imagine designing a car panel using autocad our similar. You then design the molds needed to lay up the fibre glass. Could you then print the moldusing a 3D printer?

The biggest issue I see is the size but not sure if there is a solution

i’ve been testing some ‘printed’ parts, you can do pretty much what you’re thinking of.

accuracy/precision of the parts is bit crap though.

we’d have to get used to seeing slighty wonky car body panels.

From my very limited understanding of 3d printers the size issue would be a considerable one.

They print the object by layering up very very thin layers bonded to the previous ones. Trying to print such fine layers over a large area like a car panel would need a massive printer and some kind of stabising element to the print head to try and prevent distortion.

We just had a quote £ 450 for something the size of a plug in transformer, I haven’t seen any printers that sort of size but there’s no reason you couldn’t do it in sections, most of the cost appears to be in material type and resolution, tbh we are thinking of buying one due to cost!.

Wouldnt it be easier to machine something like dense styrofoam if its just for a mould?

Thinking about it, it should be able to cnc a plastic block that size and would probably be cheaper!
Edit:what he ^^^said!

I have a ultimaker 3d printer which will print upto 200mm x 200mm x 200mm, which is about as big as you can go for a home type 3d printers, after that your into things like Objet machines which are costly as they are more for industry use.

I have used http://i.materialise.com for making a batch of parts, just upload your stl file and it will spit out a price to make the part. Also there is http://www.shapeways.com/ and in the UK http://www.3dprint-uk.co.uk/index.html

The biggest 3D printed part I have seen was a nearly 1 metre long wing section printed with some sort of nylon. It was only about 25 cm wide or so ad the machine was very expensive. The wing section also had a definite ridged feel to it, so would be rubbish for a car panel.

Seriously, the best option would be to make a mould and do it the usual way with carbon fibre.

STATO – Member
Wouldnt it be easier to machine something like dense styrofoam if its just for a mould?

Just what I was going to say. Just get the mold cut out by a CNC router.

Large example here, someones project but there are companies doing this too obviously.
[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nITLI_WcnuM[/video]

CNC machines are 3D printers really…

I’ve got a CNC machine and I’m pretty sure it can’t print! 🙂

CNC machines are 3D printers really…

Wrong way around – 3D printers are a type of CNC machine, but all CNC machines are not 3D printers. 3D printers / Rapid prototypers are talked of as additive engineering devises whilst CNC millers/routers are reductive engineering devices.

As said already a mould for composite layup would be better milled/routed out of machining block plastic or modelling board or the like.

i went to a demo day at exeter universities advanced manufacturing centre. They are working with BAe to develop a 3D printer capable of printing an aircraft wing.

In a word? No.

There’s no single technology out there than can do what you’re suggesting. Not in a single operation anyway.

In theory, you could print the molds on an EOS P800 polymer machine, but I doubt that they’d have the structural strength to survive the pressing of the door plate.

jam bo – Member
i went to a demo day at exeter universities advanced manufacturing centre. They are working with BAe to develop a 3D printer capable of printing an aircraft wing.

That’s the CALM facility and it’s not BAE it’s EADS.

I reckon that something will come along for larger parts in due course – probably based on the old school “lost wax” casting techigues.

marcus7 – Member
We just had a quote £ 450 for something the size of a plug in transformer, I haven’t seen any printers that sort of size but there’s no reason you couldn’t do it in sections, most of the cost appears to be in material type and resolution, tbh we are thinking of buying one due to cost!.

I might be able to do something for you.

The place i was working at had a company called materialize located on the sitr they have the mammoth sla machines which were printing
entire car dashboards

we also got tooling printed then invar coated for panels
it was also a technique we used for prototype tools of composite frames

the cheap way of tooling block and machining is the traditional way the human eye picks up deviation in big shiny things like car panels

printing carbon fibre in thermoplastic does technically exist at the moment but still would require a mould for its a surface

I reckon that something will come along for larger parts in due course – probably based on the old school “lost wax” casting techigues.

Build waxes on a Thermojet (3D wax printer) then get them cast as per investment / lost wax process. Straight to metal parts with no tooling required, quick but size is limited to the work volume of the thermojet and how many waxes you’re prepared to assemble before casting. Still a good process for 1-offs and developmental parts.

compositepro – Member
The place i was working at had a company called materialize located on the sitr they have the mammoth sla machines which were printing
entire car dashboards

The “Mammoth” as they refer to it, is (AFAIK) the largest (in length) 3D SLA machine with a bed size of 2m. Material properties are pretty poor though as with most SLA.