Reconstruction of antique cars using resin 3D printing

Zortrax, a Polish manufacturer of solutions in the field of 3D printing technology, provides the ecosystem of its devices and materials with a company from various industries. One of the beneficiaries of Zortrax solutions is ABCar Oldtimers, which uses additive technologies as a tool to renovate historic car models and create vehicle equipment items not available on the market.

Jewelry precision is often required to restore the original appearance during the performance of individual elements of equipment and body. Specialists use resin 3D printing technologies for this type of application, which ensures high precision of manufactured elements.

The renovation of cars, especially those from the Second World War, requires the use of small, often intricate elements. Owners of luxury cars could afford to personalize the interior, making the elements used unique, and their implementation very time-consuming and expensive.

Bartłomiej Błaszczak, director of design and engineering at ABcar Oldtimers, explains that Mercedes Benz cars used tachometers and speedometers with precisely made thin needles with a crescent moon. Currently, no one produces such elements. It is possible to order similar, cut with a diamond blade, but they are finished as standard, without crescents, which finish the design and give it a unique character. Thanks to the Zortrax Inkspire printer, the company could produce these elements in a few minutes, adjusting the thickness and length of the needle to the specific meter in which it was to be used. The needles that they get from the 3D printer are the final element of the created cars.

One of the cars that could not be created without precise printing technology
is being renovated by Polish automotive journalist, Patryk Mikicuk-Ferrari 599. The design assumption was that the cost of renewal using 3D printing technology would be only a fraction of the price of the new car, and yet its appearance and equipment could not lose quality.

The challenge was to recreate the system of LEDs mounted in the steering wheel. In the original vehicle, the LEDs were installed behind a dark, semi-transparent cover. When turned off, the steering wheel surface appears completely black. Only after they are started can the traffic light be clearly visible. Finding a material that would have such properties was very difficult. The simplest and fastest solution turned out to be the printing of a black resin cover, which, while maintaining the appropriate thickness of the printed layers, maintains the light transmission needed in this project.

Searching for small elements necessary for reconstruction can take many months, while 3D printing of replacements and their assembly is not only shorter work time but also much lower costs.