How Tesla Giga Nevada Delivers Large Parts in Under 24 Hours With Fuse X1

Tesla has three additive manufacturing teams spread across the US in Nevada, California, and Texas, and for these departments, speed is of the essence. Parts need to be delivered in under 24-hours, and the three-person additive manufacturing team at Tesla Giga in Nevada delivers 10,000 to 30,000 parts a week. Printers need to be fast, changeover times minimal, and uptime is key. 

In order to deliver selective laser sintered (SLS) 3D printed parts in under 24-hours, engineering technician Cody Jepsen can only run his traditional large-format SLS printers at half height, sectioning large parts so that a build will print in the allotted time. But that means additional time and labor preparing files for printing, and gluing together and sanding parts. 

That’s all changed with Fuse X1. Now, Jepsen can 3D print large parts — over two times as tall — in 24-hours without sectioning them, saving time and labor and delivering stronger, more resilient prototypes, as well as jigs, fixtures, and tooling for the production lines.

Tesla Giga has multiple traditional large-format SLS printers. While they have large build volumes, Jepsen says, “We try to keep our builds under 24 hours. We will take in as many orders as we can fit in that build volume and still have it finish in time for us to start another print tomorrow.” Due to these time constraints, Tesla Giga only prints on their traditional large-format printers at heights of ~230 mm, which means that they effectively only use half their build volume.

Enter Fuse X1. The Fuse X1 build volume is 330 x 330 x 565 mm, 7.5x that of Fuse 1+ 30W, while still delivering most builds in under 24 hours. With Fuse X1, Jepsen can deliver a 565 mm build height in 24 hours — more than double that of the traditional large-format SLS 3D printers. 

The 230 mm build height limitations on traditional large-format SLS 3D printers mean parts have to be sectioned and dovetails added, prolonging the preprint process. Once printed, the parts then need to be glued and sanded, adding further time and labor to the process. With Fuse X1, Jepsen can print these parts in their entirety, saving the time and labor of sectioning, adding dovetails, gluing, and sanding. The more than 2x larger effective build volume also enables fitting more in a single build, delivering a higher throughput and allowing Jepsen to keep both the backlog and delivery times shorter. Reducing the backlog means reducing the need to outsource parts, which is both slower and up to 4x more expensive than in-house production.

Due to the 24-hour cap in print times, Jepsen used to section large parts so that they were less than 230 mm tall, enabling him to print them in under 24 hours. While this saved on print time, it increased labor hours.

First, parts would need to be split in CAD, including time to create dovetail joints. Then, after printing, parts would need to be assembled, with each joint taking 5-10 minutes to glue and 15-20 minutes to sand. For the rework jig, this was an additional 20-25 minutes per jig. 

Since Fuse X1 can print the complete part in under 24-hours, Jepsen doesn’t need to section the jig. Plus, printing it in one piece also enables him to fit more jigs in a single build. After printing, the jig only needs to be depowdered and media blasted, which can be automated with Fuse Blast. 

The rework jig allows technicians to adjust parts in a controllable and repeatable manner to get them within spec. Originally, two were printed on each traditional large-format SLS 3D printer, taking 72 hours of build time plus 72 hours of cool time per printer. After this, the rework jig had to be glued and sanded. On Fuse X1, Jepsen can print five rework jigs in one build in 24 hours — without sectioning them. Printing them in one piece means improved impact strength and dimensional accuracy, for better durability and a reduced replacement rate.

Additionally, traditional large-format SLS 3D printers require parts to cool inside the machine to achieve the best print quality. External cooling solutions provide less insulation, causing builds to cool more quickly and increasing the risk of warping, especially for thin parts. Fuse X1 addresses this with modular Build Units that feature integrated insulation. Prints cool within the unit itself, maintaining optimal thermal conditions while allowing the printer to begin the next job before the previous build has finished cooling.

Jepsen’s department prints a lot of packaging engineering projects for shipping parts from one factory to another. One example is the window dunnage rack, which holds multiple windows on a single pallet during shipment. Manufacturing the window dunnage rack on traditional, large-format SLS 3D printers in 24 hours would involve splitting each into two pieces and then printing four full parts in a single build. With Fuse X1, Jepsen can print eight window dunnage racks in one build that prints in 24 hours, doubling the throughput of traditional, large-format SLS 3D printers while eliminating the labor required to glue together part sections.

Turnaround time for the window dunnage racks is important, so the ability to fit all the required racks in a single Fuse X1 build means the order can be completed in a day, versus the two days it would take on traditional large-format SLS 3D printers.

The traditional large-format SLS 3D printers involve 45-minutes to an hour of manual cleaning, from scrubbing powder to removing and cleaning laser windows and air baffles. Then, the machine needs to be manually started: axes homed, powder added, and a preheat cycle started. Additionally, file setup for these machines is exacting — due to the thermal management, large parts have to be carefully placed. 

 Jepsen is the only one at the site who is able to run traditional large-format SLS 3D printers. “If I’m not here,” he says, “those machines don’t run.” By contrast, Jepsen can train technicians on Fuse X1 within a day.

It takes less than 15 minutes to change over a Fuse X1 — simply roll the build chamber out, vacuum up excess powder, and put in the new build chamber. Print setup is easy and intuitive with PreForm print preparation software. The variable thermal management of traditional, large-format SLS 3D printers constrains part placement and packing density. Fuse X1 has Adaptive Thermal Control, which collects and processes thermal data to drive 13 independent thermal zones that deliver, maintain, and sinter powder at an incredibly precise and stable temperature. This unlocks packing freedom, making it easy to set up parts in PreForm as orientation within the build matters less, as well as pack more parts into a single build.

Tesla’s team uses a non-marring shim to hold glass without marring or marking it. It’s a stopgap part that will be needed for six months. Jepsen had initially looked into injection molding the non-marring shim, but found that the cost per part of SLS 3D printing them was competitive. Prior to Fuse X1, Jepsen printed 10,000 to 20,000 non-marring shims a month in dedicated builds, as with traditional large-format SLS 3D printers, packing small parts around one large part would impact the dimensional accuracy of the parts due to the inferior thermal control. However, with the high packing densities enabled by the Adaptive Thermal Control of Fuse X1, Jepsen says, “With the X1, we are able to pack these in around other parts and utilize what would have otherwise been empty space, further driving down our cost per part.”   

Printing the non-marring shim on traditional large-format SLS 3D printers was more costly due to the dedicated builds required, meaning it would have made sense to move to injection molding two to three months into the project. But Jepsen says, “Now with the reduced part cost on the Fuse X1, that changes that math completely and we may not move to an injection mold at all.” 

Formlabs 3D printers have been workhorses in the Tesla Giga Nevada additive manufacturing department since Form 2. Now, they also run Form 4 and Form 4L SLA 3D printers and Fuse 1+ 30W SLS printers to deliver parts in materials from heat-resistant Rigid 10K Resin to ESD Resin for electronic components, to the Tough Family of Resins for parts that need to survive the production line. Of course, speed is always of the essence. 

Given the 10,000 to 30,000 parts a week Jepsen’s department produces, printer uptime is vital. Being able to maintain and repair equipment in-house ultimately saves a lot of downtime. For traditional large-format SLS 3D printers, issues often mean waiting for a service technician. But with Formlabs printers, Jepsen can get replacement parts shipped the same day.

Jepsen says that the intention was always to expand the additive manufacturing department, but that as printers get faster, expansion becomes less necessary. 

In addition to the increases in throughput that reliable, fast printers provide, the small, 12.5 ft² (1.3 m²) footprint of Fuse X1 also means that more printers can fit in the same amount of space, making an expansion less necessary. Jepsen says that as printers get faster, he’s been able to address greater demands across the company without requiring more floor space. 

Across printer technologies, Tesla Giga’s Additive Manufacturing department is delivering a high volume of parts in under 24-hours, leveraging the latest technology to scale their production.

Explore Formlabs 3D printers and Fuse X1 to learn more about reliable, high-throughput 3D printers, or contact sales to request a quote.