The 3D printed tooling along BCN3D’s production line

We give you a behind-the-scenes of our inner workings of the BCN3D manufacturing lines in Gavá, Barcelona, presented by our FFF lead engineer Arnau Garcia. This local production helps us reign over our quality control and make sure every product we send out is up to standard. Have a look to see how 3D printed tooling makes up everything from testing structures to positioning fixtures. 

Here at BCN3D, we really do put our money where our mouth is when it comes to 3D printing, and use of love of this technology to produce our own printers. We thought it was about time we took you on a virtual tour of our local production facilities in sunny Gavá, Barcelona – and who better to take us around than our FFF lead engineer Arnau Garcia!

The reasoning behind our local production

Since 2014, we’ve held the key to our manufacturing line in our hands. By producing locally and putting our trust in our own technology, we maintain full control over our quality control and ensure each product we send out is up to our standard. This reliability factor guarantees our expertise goes into every printer. 

Additionally, this constant, close contact means that our engineers can go directly to generate ideas and ask questions. Through the innovation of our very own engineers, our 3D printed tooling is designed to adhere to our specific needs.

Another plus to this method of self-sufficiency is that we’re reducing our carbon footprint as we go. By taking out the middle man, we save on costs and the associated transportation complexities.

3D printed tooling makes our world go round 

Let’s check out some of the parts you can find along our production line. 

First up is a structure we use for testing, an essential step in our quality control process. We use this structure, the majority of which is 3D printed, to validate X displacement sensing on the X-axis – an invaluable piece for our autocalibration. The sensor between the hotend and x-axis detects the change in pressure and we can control it via a computer to move it around. 

We also use this piece for testing, this time for our BCN3D Smart Cabinet. We mimic the dehumidifying process within this product by heating up the air duct through the electrical circuit, checking the heat can be effectively decreased through monitoring an online software. The structure contains 3D printed parts which you can see here in both blue and black are used to attach elements to the plastic panels underneath, thus giving it good support. 

This is one of many positioning fixtures that slot into a variety of different places to help us ensure the consistency and high quality of our products. This one, in particular, is entirely 3D printed and used to check the squareness between the Z and Y axes of our printers. 

With this grand tour, we hope to have given you a glimpse as to how our local production gives us the tools to abide by our values of high-quality products, self-sufficiency, and sustainability. We hope we’ve spurred you on to incorporate 3D printing into your production line in ways you perhaps hadn’t thought of before, as we believe that 3D printing really can transform any manufacturing line!

And if you’re intrigued to see more up-close, why not book a demo for a one-on-one with one of our engineers?