The thesis discusses the ability to reproduce the existing plastic car parts using a three-dimensional (3D) scanner and 3D printing. Firstly, the three plastic car parts are presented, which were used for the needs of the bachelor’s thesis. All the parts were taken from the interior of a Volkswagen 1300 (Volkswagen AG; Germany), the year 1967 and a Volkswagen 1200J (Volkswagen AG; Germany), the year 1975. With the cars of this age (oldtimers), a problem of genuine replacement parts usually appears. The main focus was to check the feasibility of a process that enables precise reproduction of car parts and to determine the most suitable way of reproduction for each part. For that reason, car parts with different shapes and physical properties were chosen.
The main goal of the diploma thesis was to determine the most appropriate procedures for the reproduction of the original plastic car parts, which can be used later as replacement parts if needed. Here, the shape of the parts, mechanical properties and also general accuracy were taken into account. Lastly, the fastest and the most optimal way from 3D scanning to 3D print was determined.
The thesis has shown the following results: 3D scanned parts can be 3D printed directly if the part is almost or completely without dents. However, in most cases, the parts must be additionally processed after 3D scanning in a program for 3D modeling, such as the Blender (Blender Foundation; Netherlands). For the parts with hard plastic, the polylactic acid (PLA; Ultimaker; Netherlands) turned out as the appropriate. PLA was made from renewable sources and it is easy to use with many different types of 3D print. For partially elastic or flexible parts, thermoplastic polyurethane 95A (TPU 95A; Ultimaker; Netherlands) is a more suitable material. It has the qualities of both rubber and plastic.
In the end, a timing test for 3D print using different support materials and the layer thickness was conducted. It was established that for printing the largest part (approximate dimensions: 2 x 3 x 8 cm) the difference between the shortest and the longest option was almost ten-fold. (1 hour 31 minutes / 10 hours 14 minutes).
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