Developing the Assembly Jig of Push-Belt CVT by SLA 3D Printing Technology

Abstract

For 3D printing technology, the stereolithography (SLA) 3D printing has become largerly popular for its ability to produce high quality and low cost in a range of advanced materials as strength to weight ratio, fine feature and smooth surface finish. In this study, the SLA printing technology for developing the assembly jig of push-belt CVT is done for reducing the weight and the number of items based on the numerical and experimental methods. The results show that the plastic materials in SLA printing technology can replace other materials in traditional manufacturing such as CNC machining, injection molding and stamping. The parts are developed by SLA printing have reduced the weight significantly within 40%, 65.4% and 63.4% for the protective ring, protective plate and plate switch. Not only that, the number of items in plate switch is reduced from 7 items when machining to only 3 items when 3D printing. Also, the new developed models have the high strength satisfying the technical requirement. It is clear that SLA 3D printing in the future not only can replace the traditional machining technologies but also shows the outstanding advantages such as reductions of weight, manufacturing time and the number of items in machinery.