3D Printed Protoype Turbo Manifolds: Eye Candy Monday!

[spdbydesign]

Had to share a sneak peak at our 3D Printed Twin-Turbo Manifolds, which we are test fitting this week before finalizing the mold development for the castings.

Enjoy the eye candy!

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[Rintegration]

Looks good Chris

 

[terryj]

Who is going to be doing the production castings?

 

[spdbydesign]

Who is going to be doing the production castings?

We don't discuss our supplier partners, sorry buddy.

Keeping these companies private is in our best interest from a competitive standpoint.

 

[terryj]

We don't discuss our supplier partners, sorry buddy.

Keeping these companies private is in our best interest from a competitive standpoint.

So they will be done overseas. Thanks!

 

[spdbydesign]

So they will be done overseas. Thanks!

As I stated above, I'm not going to give away any competitive information that could tip off our competitors.

Whom we work with is none of your business, nor our competitors, and no amount of prodding will change my position regarding this.

 

[Evo_Rob]

I don't see how it's relevant unless it ended up being a crap job.

 

[mmc]

As I stated above, I'm not going to give away any competitive information that could tip off our competitors.

Whom we work with is none of your business, nor our competitors, and no amount of prodding will change my position regarding this.

Not entirely true Chris. Some buyers would like to buy as much American content as possible. You saying "Made in China" is not going to tip your competitors off to something they don't already know.

 

[spdbydesign]

Zero components for this kit are Made in China.

Again, sorry guys, not going there.

 

[turbo50]

why not tubular,

 

[BMR Tech]

Looks great Chris!

 

[spdbydesign]

why not tubular,

1.) Repeat-ability in fitment. Once we know the casting is perfect, we can insure that fitment is identical every single time. Building these by hand, on a jig, means room for human error.

2.) Volume. Fathouse (Jeremy Howell) is a single individual who has limited production capability. This is a high volume market and if you don't want a 4-6 weeks wait, or more, we needed a way to mass produce these in volume with guaranteed fitment. This insures we can ship most kits SAME DAY you order, if placed by 3 PM CST. (Our Cut-off for Fedex pickup each day.)

3.) Durability. A quality casting will outlast the length of the car, which is why most, if not all to my knowledge, OEM manufacturers cast turbo manifolds. (I can't think of any off the top of my head that are hand built.)

 

[spdbydesign]

Negatives are cost. This is a 6-figure investment in just the manifolds.

The molds alone are roughly $50,000....plus we have the cost of 3D Laser Scanning, 3D printing the manifolds, CAD file creation, and then the physical production run of the manifolds themselves. (Plus the costs of every change/ tweak you make that adds up.)

With castings, you amortize your up front costs (molds, etc) over number of units manufactured. So it only makes since to cast if you have the ability to manufacture several hundreds sets of manifolds in each production run. You're talking hundreds of thousands of dollars in production costs.

The odds of a smaller tuner company/shop being able to afford this sort of costs in just (1) component in the turbo kit (of which there are many parts)...is slim. There is zero way I could have afforded this 5 years ago as a start-up company.

Which is why, IMO, nobody else has done it yet in this market.

It simply boils down to money, which is why castings are typically left to large OEM companies and well funded/established aftermarket tuner brands.

It's simply very expensive to bring these to market, no way to sugar coat that.

 

[ben@fatfab]

We looked at making these in house, the cost and time frame both were going to be an issue for such a large market. We wanted to stay competitive while still offering a high quality product that will be readily available. Casting also offers greater strength.

The casting option works out great for everyone involved and the quality will be top notch. We wont accept anything less in something we are involved with and neither will Chris. If something doesnt meet our standards it will be revised.

We do custom turbo kits every week, if a customer wants 100% made in the USA in something custom we would be happy to discuss that option as well but for a mass marketed kit that a customer can purchase and install this is the best route.

 

[BDMACH1]

Any idea how far out are we on these?!? I really wanted this system when it was introduced to the public, but the wait is killing me. I since have a brand new Whipple sitting here waiting to go on. I would consider selling the Whipple if i knew I could have this in my hands soon.


Bob

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