ABA Surveying - Large Equipment Enclosure
The Challenge:
ABA Surveying required a durable plastic casing for their 3rd Generation Mobile Mapping System, which utilises Lidar point cloud data for geospatial surveying.
The casing needed to meet the following criteria:
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Match the appearance and functionality of the final production part.
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Be glossy, with a RAL 1021 Colza Yellow finish.
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Resist outdoor weather conditions, including water and UV light.
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Exhibit no visible layer lines, especially along curved edges.
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Be rigid enough to withstand wind forces during use when mounted on a vehicle.
MJF 3D Printing:
Multi Jet Fusion (MJF) 3D printing was chosen as the ideal solution due to its ability to produce parts with strong isotropic properties using engineering-grade Nylon-12 plastic. Unlike Fused Deposition Modelling (FDM), MJF produces minimal layer lines, reducing the time required for surface preparation prior to painting.
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Given the dimensions of the casing, it was necessary to split the design into multiple parts. Lap joints were incorporated within our CAD software to facilitate assembly after printing.
Post-Processing:
Similar to Selective Laser Sintering (SLS), MJF parts are formed within unfused powder. Post-processing begins with the removal of this powder through bead blasting. While this process is usually automated with a Dyemansion Powershot, the size of these parts necessitated manual blasting to ensure all surfaces were completely free of powder.
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Hand Finishing:
We began by reassembling the parts that had been split during the CAD preparation. The inclusion of lap joints in the MJF 3D printed casing greatly simplified this process.
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We began by reassembling the parts that had been split during the CAD preparation. The inclusion of lap joints in the MJF 3D printed casing greatly simplified this process.
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