The resulting components—such as the air intake manifold,
door inners, fascia substrate, interior air vents, and exterior
light housings—are robust enough to be used on test
vehicles running around the track. They allow for more data
to be collected early on in the development process. Errors
can therefore be avoided before they cause high costs.
For example, in the past, hundreds of thousands of dollars
would have been invested in hard tooling for the manufacture
of a V8 air-intake manifold prototype. Following every design
change, it would have cost thousands of dollars to alter the
tool, a process that would take several weeks each time. If
the changes were substantial, a completely new tool might
be needed. With selective laser sintering, the production
of tools becomes obsolete. As a consequence, automobile manufacturers
save time and costs.
The aesthetics can be evaluated before progressing to hard
tooling.
An interesting component that is regularly added around
other parts is not a prototype at all, but a complex plastic
assembly aid. It assists operators to position objects such
as the window lift mechanisms during build. Once fitted, the
assembly aid remains on the vehicle throughout the build process.
This eliminates the need to invest in expensive plastic injection
mold tooling.
