It was the thing of past when people were amazed about the process of 3D printing but then, things start happening in real. Recently, US based mechanical engineer, Eric Harrell, has introduced a 3D-printed Toyota engine. He has created it using a 3D printer that make objects very similar to the original ones. He has specifically printed Toyota 22R-E engine with four cylinders.
A complete engine is developed by jointing 80 separate 3D printed parts. Eric has spent 60 hours to design the engine and assemble, however, 72 hours for printing these parts are separate. Total of more than 130 hours, he spent on developing a working 3D model of Toyota 22R-E engine.
Now he built a working 5-speed Toyota gearbox using the same method of printing. Eric Harrell said that the success of his 3D printed engine has encouraged him to make the transmission. He said that huge number of people have shown their interest in the engine model. This model has involved the complex printing process and long hours.
All the components involved in the transmission were 3D-printed by using a desktop printer. However some parts that require precision, were added afterwards. Transmission took more than 48 hours to be printed. Assembly time again dependent on the person who assembled the transmission.
If you are looking to build one of these engines or transmission, it would be a great idea to pair actual engine with the process to model the real parts. Eric says “The transmission works exactly like most manual transmissions found in any car or truck, however I can barely explain how it works. It’s fairly hard to grasp unless you assemble one or see an animation of one opened up.”
