Ford Partners with Silicon Valley Firm on 3D-Printed Parts

Ford Motor Co. has begun using 3D-printed parts made by California’s Carbon Inc. on three production vehicles.

The parts include an HVAC lever arm for the Focus small car, brackets for the electric parking brake (pictured) on the upcoming 650-hp Mustang GT500 and auxiliary plug adapters for the China-market F-150 Raptor performance pickup. The partners showcased the parts, which are made from Carbon’s proprietary epoxy material, at this week’s Detroit auto show.

Ford has been working with Carbon since 2014, about the time the Silicon Valley-based company was formed. The supplier’s proprietary photochemical process builds parts in layers by projecting light through an oxygen-permeable window into a reservoir of UV-curable resin.

Carbon says the parts meet automotive performance standards for interior weathering, heat exposures, UV stability flammability and fogging. They also are fluid and chemical resistant.

Ford is working with several companies to develop applications for 3D-printed parts. Last year, the carmaker began pilot tests on a variety of parts formed by Stratays Ltd.’s Infinite Build printer.

At Ford’s new Advanced Manufacturing Center in Redford, Mich., the company has 23 3D printing machines and is working with 10 3D manufacturing companies. One application under development has the potential to save more than $2 million, according to the carmaker.