3D Printing Technologies

In-House FDM Printing

3D printing has come a long way from the rough hobby printer parts a lot of people still picture. With the right design, material and print method, it's become a really useful way to make hard-to-find automotive parts that fit properly and hold up in real use.

At Parts by Geci we use a few different 3D printing methods depending on the part, where it lives on the car, and what it actually needs to do. A lot of our development and production work is done in-house using FDM printing, which gives us the flexibility to prototype, test and refine parts as we go.

Bambu Lab P1S Bambu Lab H2S

Built for Australian Conditions

Material choice matters just as much as the printing method. A part sitting in direct sun or under the bonnet has very different requirements to something mounted inside the cabin, so we choose materials based on the environment they'll be used in and what they need to handle.

Our material choices focus on heat resistance, UV stability and long-term durability in Australian conditions.

  • ASA - good UV and weather resistance, making it a solid option for exterior trim and parts exposed to direct sunlight
  • ABS - durable and heat-tolerant, well suited to many interior and functional automotive parts
  • Glass-filled nylon (PA-GF) - stiffer and more heat-resistant than standard nylon, useful for parts that need to hold their shape in more demanding environments

SLS & MJF Printing

Some products were never designed to be 3D printed such as when replicating OEM injection moulded parts.

Some parts need finer detail, a cleaner finish, or the material properties that come from a powder-bed nylon process. For those jobs, we also use SLS (Selective Laser Sintering) and MJF (Multi Jet Fusion). These methods produce parts with excellent detail, a clean finish and strength in all directions, which makes them a good fit for more intricate clips, trim pieces and other functional components.

Metal 3D Printing (SLM)

We also have experience with metal 3D printing, commonly referred to as SLM (Selective Laser Melting). This allows parts to be produced in materials such as stainless steel, aluminium and titanium where a polymer part simply isn't the right solution.

Get in Touch

Want to chat about 3D printing? Drop us a line via our Contact Us page or send us a DM on our socials!