3D Printing Car-Sized Molds

While a current trend among 3D printer manufacturers is the development of affordable systems that are small enough to fit on desktops, voxeljet technology (voxeljet.de) has other ideas. The German-based company has developed the VX4000, a 3D printer capable of additively building parts up to 4,000 x 2,000 x 1,000 mm (157.8 x 78.8 x 39.4 in) in size. That’s eight times the build size of conventional 3D printers—regular full-sized 3D printers.

“We can generate molds the size of a sports car,” says voxeljet technology CEO Dr. Ingo Ederer. “This presents users with undreamt-of possibilities. The enormous build space enables the rapid production of large individual molds, but is also flexible enough to allow the cost-effective production of small batches.” By “batches,” Ederer is referring to printing multiple smaller parts at once.

The VX4000 doesn’t sacrifice speed for size. It builds parts from a variety of particle materials at 6.5 mm/hr, a rate three times faster than voxeljet’s line of standard 3D printers. It accomplishes this using a wide print head, which is capable of printing a 120-mm thick layer in just two passes. The system’s footprint is 20 x 4 x 7 m and it is rigidly engineered for continuous, around-the-clock operation.