SEATTLE, Wash.—3DX Industries, Inc. has completed 3D metal printing of intake manifold flanges for Jessco Racing Ltd., of Bellingham, Washington. 3DX has been working with Jessco to manufacture the high performance parts for use on Jessco’s custom land speed record motorcycle.
The motorcycle is being designed by Jessco to attempt to set the world record for the fastest motorcycle in the 3000cc class. The bike will need to exceed speeds of 250 mph to be successful. The date for this world record event is expected to be late summer of 2017.
“We had tremendous difficulty finding a process to manufacture the flanges for this specific application due to the intricate design and rigorous demands that will be on the bike and the engine,” said Mike Eaton, president of Jessco Racing, in a press release. “The fit needed to be perfect and required some difficult angles dealing with tight tolerances to be incorporated into the design. Conventional manufacturing techniques were not giving us what we needed. The 3D metal printed prototype manufactured by 3DX was a perfect fit, and we could not be happier with the result.”
3DX uses an additive manufacturing process, otherwise known as three-dimensional printing, which materializes an object—or mold for an object—layer by layer out of powdered material, a binding agent, and a digital file. The process is also referred to as Binder Jet Technology.
Binder Jet is a powder bed process, where a binder is used to selectively ”print” the desired part shape by adhesively joining the metal particles. After the jetting process, the green part is sintered in a furnace to burn off the binder, and then an infiltrant, typically bronze, is melted and drawn into the part to fill in the remaining spaces within the sintered metal powder skeleton to create a dense component. The resulting parts combine properties from both the metal powder and the infiltrant.
“It is an exciting project to be involved with and truly shows the capabilities of metal additive manufacturing,” said Roger Janssen, president and CEO of 3DX Industries, in the press release. “We will continue to work with Jessco on developing additional 3D Metal printed parts that may be required for their design.”
3DX Industries (3dxindustries.com) is focused on the additive metal manufacturing segment within the manufacturing industry. The company reports that it is capable of manufacturing a wide variety of products using its 3D metal printing system, 3D composite printing, and more traditional methods of precision manufacturing. 3DX offers additive and subtractive manufacturing options, as well as product design, engineering, and assembly services to its customers.
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