Product Design and Manufacturing in Top Gear
3D Printing Solutions for Automotive and Transportation
- Accelerate time to market throughout the value chain.
- Unlock next-level agility in prototyping, tooling, and assembly.
- Cut costs by up to 90% compared to outsourcing.
End-Use, Aftermarket, and Custom Parts
- A large library of proprietary, high-performance materials to produce parts that are up to the challenge of extreme environments.
- Stop waiting and overpaying for tooling. Gain flexibility and take on more non-traditional jobs by 3D printing parts directly in house.
- Replicate or improve on existing designs for aftermarket, custom, and antique vehicles.
Watch the video: How Police and Special Vehicles Are Produced With SLS 3D Printing
Rapid Prototyping From Concept to Pre-Production
- Bring additive manufacturing capabilities in-house to save time, cut costs, and keep sensitive IP inside your organization.
- Communicate your ideas to clients and suppliers with high-quality prototypes.
- Test and validate components before moving to mass production.
Watch the video: How Ford Developed the New Explorer Using Formlabs SLA and SLS 3D Printers
Rapid Tooling and Manufacturing Aids for Any Size Supplier
- Reduce overhead and increase efficiency with custom jigs and fixtures.
- Respond to client demands for more customized products and low-volume orders with rapid tooling.
- Maximize equipment uptime by printing replacement parts on demand.
Watch the video: How Brose Leverages SLA and SLS Technology to Bolster Automotive Production
Save Money and Time
Your printer pays for itself in a matter of weeks or months, accelerating the pace of work along the way.
| In-House 3D Printing | Outsourcing | |
| Time | 30 hours | 7-10 days |
| Cost | $50 | $300 |
Curious to see how much you can save? Try our interactive ROI tool to calculate cost per part and lead time when 3D printing on Formlabs 3D printers.
FOG LAMP, 29.5 x 15.3 x 15.2 cm, 11.6 x 6.0 x 5.9 in
See Also
See all
Rowing 9,000 Miles Across the Pacific With 3D Printed Parts: The Journey of the Maclean Brothers
How Police and Special Vehicles Are Produced With SLS 3D Printing
How Brose Leverages SLA and SLS Technology to Bolster Automotive Production
How Ford Developed the New Explorer Using Formlabs SLA and SLS 3D Printers
Auto Alliance Thailand Reduces Production Time by 97% With the Formlabs SLS 3D Printing
How Tesla Giga Nevada Delivers Large Parts in Under 24 Hours With Fuse X1
How Form 4L and High Temp Resin Helped Race Up Team Padova Print a Cooling System and Drive to the Finish
How SLS Solves Problems at Bendix Commercial Vehicle Systems LLC
Leading the Charge into Reindustrialization With SLS at 67 Designs
Customizing Yachts With Form 4L and Tough 1500 Resin
"3D printing has gone from almost a novelty to becoming an absolutely inseparable part of what we do."
Shay Moradi, VP of Innovation & Experiential Technology, Vital Auto
"When we’re doing the cost justification or an ROI for any of the Formlabs printers, we can justify the payoff in months instead of a two-year time frame. That gives our leadership confidence that 3D printing is a worthwhile investment."
Eric Tryson, Mechanical Design Team Manager, Dorman Products
"With technical resins, such as High Temp Resin and Rigid 10K Resin, we can manufacture tools and prototypes, such as inserts for injection molds or composite thermoforming tools."
Nerea Romero, Innovation Manager, IGESTEK
A Full Suite of 3D Printing Solutions
MAXIMUM VERSATILITY
Form 4
Produce functional, high-quality prototypes and end-use parts in record time.
- Small to mid-size prototypes
- Molds and dies
- Connectors and brackets
- QA and go/no-go gauges
THINK BIG
Form 4L
Take control of large-scale part production, increase your throughput, and bring your biggest ideas to life.
- Mid-size to large prototypes
- Molds and dies
- Assembly jigs
- Toolholding and fixtures
HIGHEST PERFORMANCE
Fuse 1+ 30W
Bring production-ready nylon 3D printing onto your benchtop with an affordable, compact selective laser sintering (SLS) platform.
- Functional prototypes
- End-use parts: enclosures, connectors, manifolds
- Long-lasting, durable jigs and fixtures
High-Performance Materials for Engineering and Manufacturing
Formlabs has an extensive library of proprietary 3D printing materials suitable for even the most demanding applications.
Nylon 11 CF Powder
Get the best of nylon and carbon fiber all-in-one with this tough but lightweight material perfect for high-performance, end-use applications that require superior stiffness and strength. Choose Nylon 11 CF Powder to produce lightweight parts that remain structurally and thermally stable and can sustain repeated impact.
- Replacement and spare alternatives to metal parts
- High-impact equipment
- Tooling, jigs, fixtures
- Functional composite prototypes
Formlabs is Open
Maximize your 3D printer’s potential with Formlabs Developer Platform. Unlock the possibility of printing with any 405 nm photopolymer resin or 1064 nm powder on Formlabs 3D printers, customize your print settings, or build software integrations.
FAQ
Formlabs printers support a wide range of automotive applications, including rapid prototyping, end-use and aftermarket parts, custom jigs and fixtures, rapid tooling, and manufacturing aids.
In-house 3D printing can cut production costs by up to 90% compared to outsourcing and reduce lead times from 1-2 weeks to less than 24 hours.
The Form 4 is ideal for small to mid-size prototypes and molds, the Form 4L handles large-scale parts, and the Fuse 1+ 30W delivers production-ready nylon parts including end-use parts and durable tooling.
Formlabs offers materials such as Rigid 10K Resin for extremely stiff and heat-resistant components, Nylon 12 Powder for high-performance prototyping and small-batch manufacturing, and Tough 2000 Resin as a replacement for ABS and high-impact parts.
Yes, using high-performance materials, Formlabs printers can produce durable end-use parts capable of withstanding a variety of conditions in automotive environments, including parts for police vehicles, motorsport applications, and custom control systems.
Bringing additive manufacturing in-house allows automotive teams to iterate designs faster, validate components before mass production, and keep sensitive IP within the organization rather than sharing it with outside vendors.
Yes, Formlabs printers can produce custom jigs, fixtures, mold inserts, and replacement tooling parts on demand, helping suppliers reduce overhead, minimize downtime, and respond quickly to low-volume or customized orders.
A Formlabs printer setup can pay for itself within a few weeks or months when compared to the ongoing costs of outsourcing prototypes to a service provider.
Upgrade Your Prototyping and Production with Additive Manufacturing Today
Explore our 3D printers to find the right solution for your business or contact a Formlabs Solution Specialist for a 1-1 consultation.
