At the Geneva Motor Show earlier this year, the new Lagonda concept from Aston Martin created quite a stir. For the first time in almost four decades a new Lagonda a Luxury Utility Vehicle (LUV) was unveiled at this prestigious show.
The concept car that was exhibited during the show brought together the luxury and exceptional design and detailing that one would expect of the Lagonda brand. Many of the interior parts of the new Lagonda model required a metal finish and the company approached 3DDC Limited, based near Milton Keynes in the UK, to assist with this particular requirement.
Aston Martin Lagonda designed and built the specified interior parts using different rapid prototyping (RP) processes stereolithography (SLA), fused deoposition modelling (FDM) and Polyjet as well as machined tooling block as appropriate to the individual pieces. The search for a high quality metal coating for these parts led the company to 3DDC and the Metalise it
process. All of the RP processes that were used for the Lagonda concept are conducive to the Metalise it
process, which has been specially developed to plate onto RP substrates to achieve decorative and structural finishes.
After initial consultation, 3DDC was able to supply the Lagonda team with some test samples of the required parts with different coatings applied using the Metalise it
process and finished to a very high standard. From these test parts a high gloss nickel coating was selected, with some of the parts brushed to look like stainless steel. The nickel colour is a warmer colour than the chrome option and was a particularly good match with the other interior finishes that were already in place on the show car.
The final RP parts were supplied to 3DDC by the Lagonda designers after being tested for form and fit on the actual show car. 3DDC was able to complete additional finishing of the RP parts to achieve the best possible results with the Metalise it
process to meet the exacting requirements necessary for the Lagonda.
The parts were delivered back to Aston Martin Lagonda and assembled on the show car. In total, the project took three weeks and involved working to extremely tight deadlines.
About 3DDC / Metalise it
3DDC is the first European company to set up a metal coating facility specifically for products that have been produced using rapid prototyping (RP) and rapid manufacturing (RM) technologies. The Metalise it
process was developed by AT-3D SQUARED and can now, through the experts at 3DDC, provide customers with the highest quality of plated RP parts available on the market today. The company specialises in metal coating parts for one-off projects or small lot production runs.
