Construction

The project components are mostly manufactured through 3D printing. Parts that will be under higher amounts of stress are being printed with 100% infill or completely solid. This allows for ease of manufacturing for complex geometry. The holes are designed to be threaded or have fasteners slide through them with little interference. This will make the connections strong where they need to be and allow movement where movement is needed. Multiple prints are completed at the same time to quicken the manufacturing process.

On the right, Figure 1 is the upper and lower control arm being sliced in order to be printed side by side.

Figure 1. Control Arms

Figure 2. Drawing Tree

To the left, Figure 3 is a started print that takes approximately 6 hours. The part being printed is the rear shock tower.

Figure 3. Rear Shock Tower Print

To the right, Figure 4 is an assembly for the rear suspension and drivetrain. This assembly consists of the upper half of the rear axle housing, two trailing arms, two trailing arm brackets, and pins in each hole to hold them in place but still allow for rotation.

Figure 4. Rear Suspension Assembly

To the left, Figure 5, is the upper and lower control arms with the steering knuckles attached. They were manually threaded for 3mm threaded rod and secured with fasteners on each side.

Figure 5. Upper and Lower Control Arms

To the right, Figure 6, is the front suspension housing. This is a 3D printed part that will hold the upper and lower control arms and be attached to the chassis. The red portion is the front shock tower that is press fit into the hold and fastened to the housing.

Figure 6. Front Suspension Housing

The video on the left is the printing process of the steering arm. This was a nearly 2 hour print but was a success on the first print.

Figure 7. Video of Steering Arm

The video on the right is the manually threading process with 3mm threaded rod to attach the steering knuckle to the upper control arm. The hole was tight so it required to be threaded to feed through and hold the part in place.