Munro and Associates has been breaking down one of the first Model Y's during quarantine. They recently released a video of the initial breakdown of the HVAC system of the Model Y. The main unit is composed of multiple large Injection molded pieces. But as it turns out there is also a 3D Printed component as part of the assembly.

The Reason for the 3D Printed part is unclear. Though it is likely to ensure production continues uninterupted. The HVAC housing is an exceptionally large molded part. The cost and time of of manufacturing are huge, even by injection molding standards. It would not be unsurprising if the mold for this part required 6-8 weeks to produce and cost as much as 250-500,000 dollars. That is a huge production delay, especially for the frenetic pace that Tesla Operates at.

The 3D Printed part was likely added in order to create an efficient manufacturing process until the next iteration of the mold was complete. Tesla is able to drill a hole precisely in the molded part and then fuse in the 3D Printed part. This is a quick and perfectly viable solution to keep production running until the port hole is integrated into the new HVAC mold design.

Since Tesla is only producing about 1000 Model Y's per week is is not difficult for the 3D printing to keep pace. Though it is clear that the part is printed at a very low resolution. And it is also likely that the 3D Printed part is cropped directly from the Version 2 mold design, because its design is not optimized for 3D Printing at all and fits in with the current molded piece like a chunk of a puzzle.

If Tesla were to outsource production of these types of parts to a service like Slant 3D they could be produced much more quickly and with much better properties than the part shown in the video. Slant 3D produces 10,000's of plastic parts every week for all types of markets and with engineering grade materials.

But it is great to see that FDM printed parts are proving thier viability in such great automobiles as the Tesla Model Y. We hope to see more 3D Printed parts in the future, as not as solutions to a design flaw, but as the ultimate end part.

At Slant 3D we are working to make it as simple and affordable to create a physical product as to create a website.

If you want to make a website or an app all you have to do is spend $25 per month to host it and then spend a weekend writing or coding. You now have a platform that can become worth billions of dollars. (Seriously this is all it took to start facebook)

Actual manufacturing is not like that. Inventors have to spend tens of thousands of dollars just to get started. That is because they literally have to build a factory and supply chain for each new product. And they have to do all of that with Scratch.

The reason websites are cheap and manufacturing is expensive is because websites are built on top of infrastructure that already exists. Manufacturing has to rebuild that infrastructure everytime. Facebook just had to be posted on the the internet, a fidget spinner had to be built, packed, and shipped each time one is ordered. 3D Printing provides that infrastructure

Large scale 3D Printing with 3D Printing farms allow inventors to create a new product and post it online, just like a website. Then when it is purchased it is made. There is no cost of injection molding, and no cost of warehousing. Using Slant 3D fulfillment there is not even the effort of shipping the product. This means that new ideas can be tried for free and if they are successful then the inventor can really make a career or company out of it.

We are demonstrating this with the BagClamp.

The BagClamp is a simple consumer product. Something you would pick up off a shelf at a Walmart for a couple of dollars. But unlike all of those products, which used tens of thousands of dollars to be made, the BagClamp is entirely digitally manufactured. And it cost only the time to create it.

The BagClamp was designed in 2 days at Slant 3D. It was conceived prototyped and prepped for production in 2 days. That is light-years faster than normal product design. But we did something very interesting. We didn't create it and then make 1000's hoping they would sell. We made 10, for a few dollars apiece, and are now testing it on Kickstarter with a small campaign. The kickstarter proves that the product is a good one. With nearly 2000 units presold on Kickstarter it is worth putting it into production. And that production is already paid for with preorders. So the product has been created and put into production almost for free, just like a website.

But what is really interesting is that we will be mass manufacturing the first 100,000 BagClamps within our 3D Printing facility in Boise, Idaho. And we will do it profitably. ​

There are few single products that have been mass manufactured with 3D Printing. Carbon 3D and Adidas have manufactured almost 100,000 sets of $400 dollar 3D Printed shoes. Etsy stores make custom cookie cutters for $25 dollars apiece. "3D Printed Products just don't cost $2 and are mass manufactured." But actually they are. 

3D Printing has only the cost of material and electricity. Based on that is should be the same cost as injection molding. It hasn't been because 3D Printing has always required a huge amount of human labor. ​

As the need for medical PPE has increased there has come to be a shortage of the materials used to make it. This is true even for 3D Printed medical items. The supply chains are not currently able to react quickly enough to deliver filament where necessary.

So at Slant 3D we have turned our 3D filament extrusion lines toward the problem and will begin producing affordable PLA for the use by 3D Printers, in our local Idaho and beyond, to make medical protective gear.

We have first released Transparent PLA to be used to print headbands and other devices.

14 Days ago Slant 3D started to dedicate a significant portion of our capacity to producing 3D printed PPE (Personal Protective Equiptment) to medical professionals across the USA who did not have access to it.

Since then we have been manufacturing at least 1000 face shields per day and delivering them all over the United States. If you have a need for such PPE please contact us.

This huge production capacity has been able to supply hospitals as traditional manufacturing ramps up over weeks. It required less than 1 day to reach the production level we hit. And it was possible to go even higher. With Print Farm Beta, our new printer facility, we will be able to produce 10,000's of face shields per week if the need arises again.

Under normal circumstances these large printer farms are used to manufacture parts without the cost of molds. Companies use that capability to start and scale new products with very little risk.

As the production requirements for Covid-19 decrease, our factory will quickly move back to the normal production of these plastic parts. Producing Thousands of pieces every day with 3D Printing.

This is an unprecedented situation. And as infections continue to grow in the United States there is an increasing shortage of vital medical equipment that can protect our healthcare workers.

We are doing all that we can to help in this crisis. Thus far we have dedicated nearly 100 3D Printers to produce Face shields and other PPE for the healthcare systems in our state of Idaho and other hospitals across the country. We are also actively working to help provide PPE face shields to New York as they battle coronavirus.

These shields have been derived from the design created and utilized in Europe by Prusa. Though our design is optimized to be more manufacturable. We are currently producing 1000 per day with the intent to scale up to 2000 per day.

These shields have been put into production as an emergency measure. We are simply trying to bridge the supply gap that many hospitals are experinencing. Please contact us if you have a need for other PPE as well.

At Slant 3D we have been busy the past week aggregating 3D Printed designs and putting them into production to help as much as we can with the spreading coronavirus situation. We have optimized face shields, accessories and are working on masks.

But we would like to provide some files for ventilator parts that may become necessary should the supply become short in your local area. We have also prepared them for production ourselves. Currently our facility is making about 1000 face shields per day. But we are working to spin up more production if the need arises.

These valves were practically the first necessity in Italy to be 3D printed. This new design is optimized for additive manufacturing and is fully open source. We are prepared to produce about 250-500 of these parts per day, if necessary. But they are designed to be disposable. Please reach out if you have a need for these parts.

This design was made by Hargurdeep Singh. The design is well adapted for FDM 3D Printing and is intended to split a ventilator among multiple patients. We have not verified this design. It is meant to be used as last resort. If you have a need for this part please reach out to us.

Another creation from Italy this valve was made by Isinnova to convert normal full-face snorkeling masks into ventilators. The file is simple to print, but may require heating to be fitted to equipment. This can be done with a hair dryer or hot water. We have also prepared this part for production should the need arise.

Just the Headband and the transparent shield. That is all that is needed to create a fully functional face shield. This will allow the parts to be produced and assembled more quickly and at a larger scale.

If you would like to secure the mask through more than "spring action" then velcro can easily be adhered to the 3D Printed straps to cinch it down firmly.

This updated design is compatible with the Prusa FaceShield parts as well.

If you would like to 3D Print and assemble this face mask yourself for your local community feel free. Please be sure to exercise precautions such as a mask and glove to ensure that you do not contaminate healthcare personnel.

This post includes a means of ordering 3D Printed face shield parts as well as the 3D Printing files for several Face Shield designs. We do want to note that these devices are considered to be a last resort option only to be use if there are no other options.

Prusa came out with one of the first designs for a 3D printed face shield. It is a good design. But the hexagons and large surface area require longer printer times and make the part more prone to failure during printing.

3D Printing files for the prusa face shield can be downloaded at the link below.

Budmen industries created a simple face shield early in the outbreak. Is is a simple design that can be printed quickly. But it has little flexibility and does not support the plastic window sheet very well.

3D Printing files for the 3D printed Budmen Faceshield can be found below.

They should only be used as a last resort. That is what we would like to say to health professionals that might not be fully aware of what the technology is capable off. With this post we would like to outline the risks of using 3D printed respirator masks, both for the general public, the 3D printing community, and the medical community that might not fully understand what is being pushed by a panicked, but anxious to help, 3D printing community.

If you are using crowd-sourced masks. That is, masks that are made by local individuals with garage 3D Printers. Then you essentially have hundreds of individuals handling your masks in their homes. Those people may not be tested for Covid-19. so they could be infecting the masks that they are supplying. This means that they could potentially be directly infecting you staff if you utilize these masks. Amateur manufacturing means amateur facilities and handling.

Due to the layer lines in DIY 3D printed parts these masks can't be reliably sanitized. Therefore even though they will be relatively expensive to manufacture (2-5 dollars each). They would have to be disposable, if they can reliably be used in the first place.

The vast majority of masks printed are being printed from the baseline design in rigid materials. They do not compensate for male or female. This means that they do not fit most faces. In fact most of these masks fit little better than the oxygen mask in an airplane.

The only option to make them fit is to heat them up in boiling water or in a microwave and then press the softened plastic onto the face of the individual using the mask.

The problem is that these masks are not reusable. They cannot be sterilized. So a worker has to potentially scald their face each time they put on a disposable mask. And the seal is still not viable. Because the mask would lose its seal as soon as the healthcare worker moves their jaw.

The poor fit essentially makes the mask useless except as a splatter guard.

Again, due to the rigid materials, and DIY designs. Most of these masks do not seal around the face. Admittedly many paper masks don't perfectly seal either. But they also do not force air to move through the few crevasses that exist. And again the only way to get a reasonable fit (other than a plastic part in front of your mouth) is to heat the plastic and form it to your face.

Due to this problem healthcare professionals would almost be as protected if they simply tied a dishtowel in front of their face. Maybe better protected. (Read the full study about these materials effectiveness)

At Slant 3D we have tested every publicly available 3D Printed face mask. The one that prints the fastest is complete in 2 hours. That means that a single printer could produce 12 a day. There are only about 1.5-2 million 3D printers worldwide. That means that only 24 million masks could be manufactured per day if every printer was working on it 24/7.

China has the capability to manufacture 116 million N95 masks per day right now. And then it takes 2-5 days to ship those out. The US is expected to only need 3.5 billion masks to address coronavirus for a year. That is basically 1 month of production.

3D printing is not necessary and is not viable to address the supply shortages. Supply shortages that do not yet exist. They are only projected based on worst case scenarios. Please everyone calm down and allow the supply chains a few days to catch up.

It is truly great to see the 3D Printing community stepping up to help with local manufacturing. But respirators are not the item to manufacture. There is not yet a need, and when there is, 3D printing is not a viable solution. Please believe us we do mass manufacturing with 3D Printing for a living. Time would be much better spent on face shields, potentially ventilator parts, and general everyday aides.

To the medical community. If you have a drastic need for facemasks please use your knowledge to make a call. At this point there is no magical antibacterial 3D printing material that makes 3D printed masks much better than a torn tshirt tied across your mouth.Use your own judgement. It is possible that 3D Printed masks can help to limit the spread from covid-positive patients. But again, tshirt.

Please feel free to reach out to us here at Slant 3D if you have any questions or need to have some other part manufactured. We are standing by and reserving capacity when viable solutions become apparent.

Coronavirus appears to be spread most quickly through direct contact with infected areas (as well as through microdroplets from sneezes and coughs). So we have created, and put into production several objects that can be used by the average person in their home or office, to help reduce the amount of contact with everyday surfaces such as door handles and Light switches. 

Door handles are the most common surface that is shared among individuals. Materialize came out with an accessory that could be used on round handles. We have created one for normal square handles.

If you are not able or interested in preparing all the door handles in your facility to be opened without a hand, then the Handle Grabber may be a better option. This keychain accessory allows you to easily open doors and manipulate light switches without having to come into contact with them.,

These files are all designed to be 3D Printed. The files for each are below.