A small business with big ideas – DRAKES is a veteran-owned and operated parts manufacturing and development shop that ignited from a passion to create innovative designs, parts, and products in the automotive community.
“I researched all the available printers to find which one would best suit my needs over a year ago. I needed a large build capacity, with a heated chamber, and high accuracy. … had amazing results from day 1. Since then I have brought the machine back to the states with me and it has been the cornerstone of my business, DRAKES.”
– Shane Drake
When manufacturing any type of replacement part or add-on to an existing vehicle; fit, tolerances, and precision are all major elements that need to play along with the visual elements desired in an automotive interior. By integrating Raise3D additive manufacturing, DRAKES has elevated its manufacturing process to directly print final pieces in a faster and more accurate process than traditional fabrication.
“I started creating products and designs nearly a decade ago in the VW and Audi market, with great success. After spending 4 years in Japan, I am bringing my ideas to the JDM market as well. Please check out my current products in the SHOP, along with the “COMING SOON” section to see what is in the works. DRAKES is always willing to work with customers to develop or tweak products to your needs. If I don’t have it, but you can dream it, than we can create it.”
DRAKES
Custom Automotive Interior
Shane Drake / Owner
When creating a new piece for a vehicle, Shane Drake begins by recreating the interior of the vehicle digitally. Using an Einscan Pro scanner, the digitized structure is what allows him to create models with a precision fit. That structure is brought into CAD software to digitally create the organic curves and shapes of the panels that will be needed for the final piece. From there, a physical model can be made. DRAKES uses simplify3d to prepare their prints, then creates the final model on the Raise3D N2 Plus.
Traditionally, these types of custom parts would require fabrication with resin or fiberglass. This process requires a lot of labor and handwork and typically results in parts that are not symmetrical or easy to reproduce.
By adopting 3D printing, DRAKES can go directly from the digital design to a completed part that can be installed, tested, and finalized. By printing from a CAD file, this process offers high-accuracy repeatability for final parts and allows a single user to manufacture multiple parts a day.
Furthermore, DRAKES enjoys wide range of filament capability from Raise3D printers for various material properties. For example, DRAKES widely apply ABS filament in interior parts for certain strength and toughness. If weather resistance is required, DRAKES then adapts ASA which provide additional UV resistance alongwith mechanical property as similar as ABS.
“The N2 is able to produce parts I cannot achieve on any of my other printers.”
Follow DRAKES on Instagram @Draklore
And visit the parts shop at www.draklore.com
