Metal and polyamide: a convenient coexistence

Guardian is a manufacturer of automotive windshields that, since joining Grupo Solitium, has shifted from producing these parts in aluminum to manufacturing them using additive polyamide technology.

This company uses robotic machines with clamping jaws, whose production, largely handcrafted, is unitary and depends on the model and year of the car. This is a slow and costly task.

“For a jaw like the one this company uses, it takes approximately a week of work between measurement, machining, adjustments, and production,” explains Miguel Mora, a 3D engineer at the Solitium Innovation Center, Grupo Solitium’s technology center, where the possibilities of additive manufacturing are tested and 3D engineering services are provided to companies implementing additive production processes. This time is longer in the case of resin, “since the process is more complex,” Mora warns.

Saving Time and Labor

Investing in 3D Printing in the industry isn’t just a response to a need forced by the paradigm shift we’re experiencing, which is pushing all sectors, without exception, to adopt the technology as a cornerstone of their DNA. There are also practical and production-related reasons that must be evaluated to launch at the forefront of certain technologies.

Guardian discovered that, in their case, work time could be significantly reduced, resulting in cost savings and improved production.

“We are able to measure the components, model them, and print them in approximately 6 hours,” says Mora, who also points out that “adding the adjustment and correction times, it can be considered that the clamp goes into production practically overnight.”

And all thanks to 3D printing, which works with polyamides instead of aluminum, which reduces the thermal conductivity and weight of the produced part, and enables a significant reduction in costs for the company, as aluminum is five times more expensive than polyamide.

Reorganizing internal talent

The savings in costs and production time are combined with improved working conditions for the operator, “who can develop their careers by freeing up work hours to dedicate themselves to making other types of tooling, maintaining the production line, undertaking new R&D&I projects in which they play a key role, and much more,” explains the Solitium Group engineer.