:: Skilled-trades technicians at the Warren 3-D Rapid Prototype Lab are finding new ways to produce test parts faster and at lower costs.
Three-dimensional rapid-prototyping technology has enabled technicians at General Motors to fabricate almost any part in a fraction of the time it once took.
Utilizing Selective Laser Sintering (SLS®) and Stereolithography (SLA®) 3D printers from 3D Systems, technicians at GM’s 3-D Rapid Prototype Lab can directly transfer digital designs for just about any part on a car or truck to one-off parts in hours without any dedicated tooling.
The rapid-prototyping machines produce parts to such precise tolerances that virtually no trimming or filling is required and the seams are almost invisible.
“Things that we do now within a day or two days, would take months to build by hand,” said Michael Marchwinski, a lab technician who began his career at GM Design 28 years ago as an apprentice wood model maker.
