Aixtreme Racing’s Use of 3D Printing for Electric Race Car Components

The Challenge Before 3D Printing

Before integrating 3D printing into their workflow, Aixtreme Racing primarily relied on composite structures, as well as aluminium and steel milling, to manufacture their parts. While effective, these traditional methods had notable drawbacks.

Challenges included:

• Long lead times for prototype and test parts
• High production cost per part
• Dependence on machine availability and workshop capacity
• High material waste, especially for parts that didn’t require metal strength
• Limited agility when iterative changes were needed

The transition to an electric vehicle also introduced new demands, such as the need for flame-retardant, electrically insulating components, something difficult to achieve cost-effectively with conventional methods.

Why Raise3D?

To meet these new challenges, Aixtreme Racing turned to 3D printing for its rapid, flexible, and material-efficient production capabilities.

Key reasons for adopting 3D printing:

• Faster development of custom, lightweight components
• Greater independence from external suppliers and workshop scheduling
• Reduced material waste compared to milling processes
• Improved ability to prototype and test complex geometries quickly

The team chose Raise3D specifically because their faculty advisor already used an older Raise3D Pro2, and the print quality, reliability, and seamless workflow impressed the team. So, it’s worth noting that Raise3D printed parts had already been mounted on previous vehicles, though not as extensively as planned for the upcoming e-car.

Printer of Choice:

The Raise3D Pro3 was selected for its generous build volume, more than sufficient for the team’s relatively compact parts, and the option to upgrade to a Hyper Speed Extruder if faster print times are needed in the future.

Materials and Applications

Aixtreme Racing primarily uses Polymaker’s PC-FR filament for their high-voltage tractive system enclosures, which demand flame-retardant, electrically non-conductive properties in compliance with Formula Student regulations.

Additionally, the team has been experimenting with a UL94 V-0 rated TPU 95A, offering promising results for flexible components like vibration-dampening parts and seals.small molds, and prototypes such us the Red Stack Enclosure below.

“A major advantage of both materials is that they are electrically non-conductive, making them fully compliant with Formula Student regulations for high-voltage system insulation.”

– Luis Do Carmo, Head of Powertrain & LV-Electronics

Advantages over traditional materials:

• Reduced material waste compared to aluminium and steel
• More cost-effective for complex or low-volume parts
• Reliable performance and mechanical strength

Thanks to Raise3D’s Open Material Program, the team could access pre-configured material templates for PC-FR, minimizing setup time and ensuring consistent print quality.

Besides producing high-voltage and low-voltage enclosures for PCBs and cell fixations, Aixtreme Racing also uses PETG, PLA, and PC materials to print tools, test fittings, small molds, and prototypes such us the Red Stack Enclosure below.

Results and Benefits

Since adopting Raise3D solutions, Aixtreme Racing has experienced several key benefits:

• Consistent, reliable print quality — even on complex geometries
• Seamless integration between the RaiseCloud platform and ideaMaker slicer, enabling easy job management and efficient scheduling
• Accessible workflows that allow team members without deep 3D printing experience to quickly get up to speed
• Time and material savings over traditional milling and composite manufacturing
• Increased independence and productivity, as print jobs can be prepared and executed without relying on external workshops

“We really appreciate the consistency of the prints and the seamless integration between the Raise3D cloud platform and the ideaMaker slicer. So far, all our prints have worked out very well — even without deep prior knowledge in 3D printing.”

– Luis Do Carmo, Head of Powertrain & LV-Electronics

Software

The team relies heavily on ideaMaker for slicing and RaiseCloud for managing print jobs remotely.

Features they particularly value include:

• Pre-configured material profiles for reliable, out-of-the-box performance
• Centralized job management via RaiseCloud, allowing multiple team members to manage prints independently
• Efficient printer queue management, with minimal downtime between jobs

Conclusion

“We are very happy with our Raise3D printer. Our printed parts are great, quickly processed, and easy to slice. The workflow integration is smooth, and the print quality consistently meets our needs.”

– Luis Do Carmo, Head of Powertrain & LV-Electronics

We would like to sincerely thank the Aixtreme Racing team and the University of Applied Sciences Aachen for taking the time to share their experience with us. It’s a pleasure to see how passionate, talented engineers are using 3D printing to push the boundaries of innovation in Formula Student.