Farsoon/RPS
Automotive components supplier Rapid Parts Solutions (RPS) has installed two Farsoon Flight HT403P 3D printing systems to expand its manufacturing capabilities.
The Tier 1 supplier has adopted Farsoon’s Flight technology to support its efforts in delivering high performance and accurate parts on-demand and at faster speeds. Through the service it offers to the automotive industry, RPS supplies a range of parts from rapidly fabricated prototyping to series production parts.
In manufacturing those parts, RPS has leaned on CNC, casting, injection moulding, Stereolithography and Digital Light Processing technologies but will now also be able to leverage a powder bed fusion process. Farsoon launched Flight technology at TCT Asia in 2019, where it demonstrated the productivity of its fibre laser, improved energy distribution and smaller laser spot size.
With two Flight HT403P systems up and running, RPS has been working to fulfil series customisation orders from car manufacturers and is said to have been able to deliver ‘much higher production yield and accelerated lead time’ resulting in lower cost per part versus conventional manufacturing. Each printed part also has more details and a smooth surface finish, with minimal post-processing required.
One such part RPS has additively manufactured with Flight technology is a blower motor that powers the fane in a HVAC system to stabilise airflow and defroster efficiency. Typically, this part would be produced with a 5-axis CNC machining or sand-casting process, which is considered time-consuming, labour intensive and costly when compared to on-demand parts numbers. With Flight, part production is able to be completed within two days, compared to ten days through traditional methods, while cost is reduced at an average of 90%. The printed parts also meet the high strength requirements and pass relevant impact and durability tests.
“We are excited to have Farsoon as our partner in powder bed fusion technology; the simplicity of the machine operation and competitive price of the Farsoon materials helps us achieve true economy production,” commented Mr. Deng, Head of RPS Additive Manufacturing Business Unit. “With the increasing on-demand orders, we have received since the two Flight 403P installations, we are now planning to add more systems to further expansion of our plastic laser sintering production capabilities.”
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