3D Printing Coolant Management System Parts

Impellor assembled by Laws Plus

​Originally injected molded in nylon, with dual/over molded features to encase magnets in the end of its blades, the coolant flow impellor is complex and critical to the operation of the machine and measuring the flow of coolant throughout the system. 

Impellor installation by Laws Plus

The part supplier could only replace the entire sensor housing, not the impellor individually. The sensor housing was quoted at tens of thousands to replace and the machine would be down for at least one week, while the part was sourced from Italy, resulting in thousands of dollars in lost income. Laws Plus was able to reverse engineer the original impellor, 3D print a test fit sample in 20 minutes, 3D print the final part in chemical resistant Onyx (PA12-CF) on the Markforged FX20 in 1 hour and have the machine up and running with only 4 hours of total down time and a cost of 1:1333 of buying the OEM part.

​The Markforged printers allow us to pre-program pauses into the prints, so the printer automatically paused right before it closed the void for the ceramic bushing the impellor shaft rotates on, meaning we could insert the bushing from the broken propellor and then resume printing over the top and lock an off the shelf part into the print, traditionally only possible with injection/over molding.