Recently, BLT has assisted HeyGears in refitting a Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG sports car. The refitted car passed the trial run and was delivered to the customer for use.
After receiving the refit assignment, BLT and HeyGears firstly evaluated the parts of the car. The Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG sports car to be refitted had mass production in 2010 only and was withdrawn from the market in 2015. So when refitting the car, many modified parts, spare parts and accessories have ceased production, making the refit process remain at a standstill.
Fortunately, metal 3D printing technology can fill this gap. To meet the customer’s demands on the refitted car to the greatest extent, HeyGears planned to adopt metal 3D printing technology. Based on the lighter and stronger “2.0 version of OEM parts”, creative designs which met the unique demands of the customer were added to the car, advancing creativity and classic together. In the end, both sides determined to form metal 3D printing on the car’s left and right exhaust shrouds, gear handle, and paddle shift.
Metal 3D printed gear handle
To meet the end customer’s needs for exhaust shroud aerodynamics and consumer good grade appearance, HeyGears made a forward design for the exhaust shroud. The product is thin-walled (0.8 mm) and light-weighted (316 g), and is composed of a streamlined, special-shaped surface and a hollow structure. The dual turbine structure designed for the exhaust shroud by HeyGears is creative and light-weighted, which can effectively isolate the high-temperature tail gas and prevent the carbon fiber rear lip from deformation and carbonization due to high temperature.
Metal 3D printed exhaust shrouds
Combined with the process characteristics of additive manufacturing and the customer’s demands for the product performance, BLT optimized the product model. BLT designed a dedicated support structure and a process package to ensure the stable and reliable forming and simple post-processing of the product, solving the deformation problem of the thin-walled, special-shaped titanium alloy parts. The printed part had an overall dimensional tolerance within ±0.5 mm and a uniform surface, which met the customer’s demands for assembly and use and consumer good grade appearance.
When printing the exhaust shrouds of the refitted car, considering that the overall build dimension of the left and right exhaust shrouds was closer to a rectangle, BLT used BLT-S400 tri-laser machine launched on The 13th China International Aviation and Aerospace Expo. Compared to the dual-lasermachine, BLT-S400 tri-laser machine fits more to the rectangular build dimension, with a production efficiency 34% higher than that of the BLT-S400 dual-laser machine.
Metal 3D printed gear handle
The aluminum alloy gear handle and paddle shift were printed by BLT-S310. BLT-S310 is a classic model of BLT, which can be applied to many fields. The machine has passed Airbus certification, which is stable and reliable, and can produce high-quality parts.
The printed parts were delivered to HeyGears for follow-up work. This Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG sports car engraved with “Legend never dies” has been delivered to the car owner, continuing to write the legend of speed and classic.
