Case Study: Delage revives a century-old Grand Prix engine block with ExOne 3D sand printing

Delage rebuilds a century-old Grand Prix engine with ExOne’s 14-part 3D-printed sand molds

The customer Delage, a historic French car manufacturer, faced an irreparable failure of the engine block in its priceless 1914 Grand Prix car, the Type S. With no original drawings, spare parts, or other engines for reference, the only solution was to produce an entirely new casting. Vendor ExOne provided its 3D sand printing technology to enable the reverse engineering and recreation of this complex component.

ExOne's solution involved 3D scanning the damaged engine to create a CAD model, which was then used to design and print a complete sand mold package on its VX1000 3D printing system. This process reduced the mold assembly from over 42 parts to just 14, ensuring high precision and detail. The subsequent casting was successful, resulting in a perfect, machinable engine block that has given the historic Delage Type S a new lease on life for the next century.

Delage