3D-printed Ti

[mvrider]

Now this is cool... these dropouts are hollow. The video is worth watching.
http://www.bikerumor.com/2012/08/16/charge-bikes-uses-3d-printed-titanium-bike-parts-shows-us-the-future/#more-47529

http://brimages.bikeboardmedia.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/charge-bikes-freezer-titanium-printed-dropouts2-600x400.jpg

[tannhauser]

3-D printed stuff is indeed "cool" but has any reputable builder used a component printed from this methodology?

[cat6]

Daughters of Mara was a rockband based in Los Angeles, California. The group included the singer Shawn Zuzek, the former The Mars Volta drummer Dave Elitch, the lead guitarist from Submersed Eric Friedman and the current bassist in Marilyn Manson Andy Gerold. Daughters Of Mara's first album, I Am Destroyer, was produced by Garth Richardson (Mudvayne, Rage Against The Machine) and was released on Virgin Records. The group disbanded in 2008. The album was remastered and re-released in 2012.

[Louis]

3-D printed stuff is indeed "cool" but has any reputable builder used a component printed from this methodology?

I agree. To say nothing of the material properties like fatigue strength.

[54ny77]

one of the links connects to this story, in german.

if that's a 3d printed crank, yowza!

http://www.light-bikes.de/website/new/2012/02/14/selbstbau-komponenten-in-perfektion

http://www.light-bikes.de/website/new/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/kurbel_1.jpg

[avalonracing]

That is very cool, it's worth watching the video. This could be the future of a lot a stuff... if it doesn't turn back to dust after a couple of years.

[spacemen3]

That is very cool stuff. I'm pretty sure that the heat-treatment the parts go through after compositing should make the parts plenty strong. It's nice to see pretty metal cranks being made again.

[Kontact]

I looked into lugs made this way a few years ago. You can do it, but the price is astronomical.

[atanz]

wow thats awesome. we 3d print all kinds of things out of ABS and the prices have dropped drastically in the last 2 years.

[MattTuck]

That is awesome. Thanks for posting!

Glad someone else is being a guinea pig for it, but it does make a very cool looking rear triangle. I love when people are pushing the envelope. I like that (I think it is a) skeleton pen that they show. Pretty amazing stuff that they can do with that technology.

[nicrump]

gosh. just print the frame then.

[572cv]

The process is such that the product should be as sound as the material used, for as long as that material will survive. Right now, the processes I know about are either using metal (Ti) or plastic. The Ti is deposited as particles in a layer and then fused with a laser. So, it is essentially a targeted welding process. But if the product- a dropout e.g.- has hollow sections, then the stresses become complex and need analysis and stress cycling, say, to determine whether the design is durable. That can get really complex, and I would want to know the results of that before I climbed onto a bike with those parts.

[Cinci Jim]

This seems a lot like sintering? Maybe the manufacturing process is different, but is the metallurgy behind it basically the same?

[mvrider]

Yup! Hence the term: Selective Laser Sintering.

I've never used this process myself, but I have studied sintering of metal powders to produce durable products. The 1/4" hex bits we use on power drivers are typically sintered in this manner. My experience is that sintered metal parts are porous, and often resin impregnation is used to fill the voids and toughen the object. I don't know if the SLS parts are impregnated as well.