Daimler Trucks North America LLC, a Daimler Company, is the largest heavy-duty truck manufacturer in North America and a leading producer of medium-duty trucks and specialized commercial vehicles. Products include such well-known brands as Freightliner Trucks, Thomas Built Buses, and Detroit Diesel Engines.

Daimler uses its MultiJet 3D printer (MJP) to print truck components and go/no-go gauges for quality assurance on a weekly basis for use during mock-up phase of pre-production to verify critical clearances in the assembled vehicles. The tough VisiJet MX part material is routinely drilled and tapped and withstands the rough handling conditions characteristic of vehicle manufacturing. For example, vehicle pipe routing is difficult to visualize and design in CAD to ensure precise clearances.

To address this challenge, Daimler prints the pipes on its ProJet MJP machine and fully assembles them on the engine at the Daimler mock-up facility. This allows every route and associated brackets to be checked, and if needed modified prior to manufacturing. This is not the only critical item in which Daimler uses 3D printing. In addition to the engineering prototype applications, Daimler utilizes the high-precision of the MultiJet printer to produce go/no-go assembly gauges. The team also 3D prints components that have long lead times in traditional manufacturing to allow production assembly training saving valuable time to market.

Reasons for choosing ProJet MJP 3D printing:

Large part size capability
 Accuracy & precision of parts
 Quality of prints
 Tough, stable part material
 Easy to use

“We really appreciate our ProJet's ease of use, large platform, and high accuracy," says Tom Gomoll, MDC Supervisor, Portland, OR. "Our 3D printer has allowed us to condense our pre-production assembly verification process and assembly training, shaving weeks off our mock-up phase of pre-production. The print materials offer the ideal combination of part quality, toughness, stability, and precision to stand up to our rigorous requirements.”