OT: 3D Printed metal car...the future of the auto?

[William]

Pretty cool technology and design possibility...the shape of things to come?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPv7PwS50OE





William

[Davist]

Yes. Can't find the link, but Boeing recently ran AI to design a "nosecone" or something for a plane. They ran 2500 designs and showed something like the top 30 "to the humans". None were possible with conventional machining, turned out that "additive manufacturing" (3d printing's new name) was the only possible way to manufacture them. Much stronger/lighter/cheaper than before. Can't wait to see what my bike looks like after they've let some of that power loose on it!

[cmbicycles]

... Can't wait to see what my bike looks like after they've let some of that power loose on it!

Will look like this...
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170704/23c8d0b2eac1dc931bccf5222e1b1dd6.jpg

Yuck, no thanks! ;)

[ultraman6970]

There's printed bikes already, not racing ones but experiments with 3D printed bikes and they look awesome IMO.

My only problem is that 3D printing is still a slow process and in the case of car design 3D printing is made just to built the parts and then make the molds of those parts for mass production.

Awesome technology, in cycling I would use it just to print custom shoes even made of hard plastic and insoles (sombody is doing this already, or was a project) but again, super expensive...

Imagine make discontinued bike parts to fix for example brifters, campy obviously, shimano people can continue buying new stuff :P

[dustyrider]

Robot Bike (https://robotbike.co/technology/?v=7516fd43adaa). #4

[William]

Yes. Can't find the link, but Boeing recently ran AI to design a "nosecone" or something for a plane. They ran 2500 designs and showed something like the top 30 "to the humans". None were possible with conventional machining, turned out that "additive manufacturing" (3d printing's new name) was the only possible way to manufacture them. Much stronger/lighter/cheaper than before. Can't wait to see what my bike looks like after they've let some of that power loose on it!

Also interesting was the frame design on the Kawasaki H2 they showed. Going form over 100 parts in the production frame to just five that are 20% lighter from a printed design.

If what he says plays out this could save massive amounts of time and hundreds of millions of dollars going from design to production.







William

[ultraman6970]

As i said the problem is to use 3d for massive production... too slow (still)... but get molds from a 3d printed part is the way to go, a lot of money saved in R&D...

[unterhausen]

It's pretty amazing how far we've gotten since all the basic additive manufacturing patents expired. Kinda blows a hole in the argument that patents fuel innovation.

I don't think bicycles will be 3d printed successfully (i.e. better) anytime soon. Promotional exercises, sure. Frame parts are being successfully printed now though.

It's still going to be a really expensive way to make a car for a long time

[Mark McM]

How do the material properties of 3D printed parts compare to parts made with other processes, such as molding or forging? And what about costs and production time compared to other processes?

3D printed parts may be great for reducing prototyping time, and for making shapes that can't be made any other way, but I suspect that it won't replace the majority of mass production methods.

[54ny77]

as a car, jay was biting his tongue. clearly, he didn't like it.

but as a manufacturing technology, seems like he got it and saw the value proposition for car manufacturers.

[bicycletricycle]

3D printing might make sense for low volume high cost parts in the near future. Konegseg uses some printed parts in their cars for example. It will take a lot longer for it to replace hi volume manufacturing methods. It might eventually, but they are taking a long time to increase the print speed.

I think they will also find a home in supporting the parts catalogue soon. Instead of wharehouses full of parts for the inside of your car door or dashboard they will just print what you need. More cost per component but will save a lot in logistics.

[unterhausen]

How do the material properties of 3D printed parts compare to parts made with other processes, such as molding or forging? And what about costs and production time compared to other processes?
I've heard to expect about 2/3 the material properties (that matter) with 3d over machined parts. Working on setting up a fatigue test right now, but funding is an issue.