3D Print Vehicles
You wouldn’t download a car!!! Well, not yet anyway. I’m
sure everyone has seen that over the top anti-piracy scene on the start of most
DVDs which you can’t skip or fast forward through; even though you paid for the
DVD. They're kind of aiming at the wrong market there but anyhow, in the near
future it seems that we will be able to download a car, at least the CAD design
of a car to 3D print it.
3D printed cars
Honda have come out and said that they will be releasing the
plans to the general public for the 3D printing of five concepts; Fuya-Jo, FSR,
Kiwami, Puyo, and NSX [1].
These cars are exactly the kind of car that you would expect a manufacture to
give away for free; they lack pretty much any desirability, except for one: the
NSX. Sold between 1990 and 2005, this is the Holy Grail for a car enthusiast.
Dubbed the “Japanese Ferrari”, this was the poster car for many kids that grew
up through the 90s. The NSX has been redesigned and due for release in 2015. I
might have screamed like a little girl when I saw this and began looking for
the designs and a 3D printer. Unfortunately there is the small print that says
it’s only a little plastic paperweight that can be 3D printed. My common sense
kicked in when I realized that Honda was not going to give away for free the
designs for one of its most famous models.
Urbee
On the other hand, there is a company that is 3D printing a
functional car with an electric motor, although they are not releasing the
plans for the public. Founded by Jim Kor, this company is called Kor Ecologic. The
car in question is called the Urbee (URBan Electric vehicle with Ethanol as a backup).
They are planning to recreate the first cross US road trip
done from New York to San Francisco done by Horatio Jackson in 1903. Along with
his mechanic Sewall K.Crocker and Bud, a pit bull that they picked up along the
way, they completed the road trip in a Winton Touring Car that took 2 months 9
days and 800 US gallons of gasoline. That journey would cost around $4,000
today. The Urbee will complete the journey using 37.85 litres of fuel and they
are estimating the journey to take between 2 and 3 days to complete. The fuel
economy is simply amazing, returning 200 miles per gallon [4].
It achieves this by using an electric motor and a backup ethanol engine. To
fully re-enact the cross country drive, the drivers are Tyler Kor and Cody Kor
along with their Collie/Blue Heeler cross, Bud.
Right The amount of fuel expected to be used in recreation of the frist trans US road trip [6]
While the selling
point of the Urbee is the remarkable engine, it is the body that I am
interested in. Urbee is the first car body to be 3D printed [8]. The windows are
the only part of the car that is not being 3D printed. The 10 foot long car
took about 2,500 hours to print. Jim Kor can easily add thickness to any part to
the body; this adds strength to the panel while keeping the weight low. Using
this method of printing the weight of the car is only 544kg. In addition
to keeping the weight low, the car design is based on a water droplet with a 0.15
drag coefficient. There is the obvious question about how safe a 544kg
plastic car can be. Korlogic has said that the Urbee will have to pass the technical
test at Le Mans. The Urbee will technically be registered as a motorcycle
mainly because of its low weight and the fact that it has only 3 wheels. [8]
Kit Cars
As most people know, exotic cars, such as Ferraris or
Lamborghinis, are ridiculously expensive, usually costing hundreds of
thousands. Some car enthusiasts have taken to modding cheaper cars to look like
exotic cars, these are called kit cars. Sometimes the modders do a great job
and it is very hard to tell the difference, as in the case of the Toyota MR2
being modded to look like a Ferrari 335 Testarossa. Other times they look like
below, with the top picture being a modded car in Australia [10] and the bottom being the original roughly $700,000 Pagani Zonda [11]
As 3D printing evolves, becomes more affordable and quicker,
it would only be natural that modders would start to print off their own
designs. The cost saving alone would be huge. More often than not, custom parts
have to be ordered which are astronomically expensive and then the time to
produce them is incredibly long. With 3D printing the costs are pretty low and
while it might take a long time to print the part, it would take significantly shorter
time than by ordering it.
3D printed
motorcycles
We have seen the first 3D printed car, now let’s have a look
at the first 3D printed motorcycle, the Energica Ego. A fully 3D printed
motorcycle with an electric motor providing the power.
The only parts not to be printed are the front forks, the
engine frame and the battery pack; these will be built with casted aluminium [12]
On the Energica Ego’s website, the bike is said to produce 100kw but it doesn’t say whether that is produced at the crank or the rear wheel. If that is at the rear wheel, then it’ll be competing against 4 of the 1000cc superbike heavy weights; the Kawasaki ZX10R, the Honda CBR1000RR, the Suzuki GSX-R1000 and the Yamaha YZF-R1, pictured below. 0-60 is said to be under 3 seconds whereas the top speed is electronically limited to 150mph. The 1000cc petrol bikes have a top speed of 180mph. If the 100kw is at the rear wheel, it will be competing with the Ducati 899, another Italian superbike.
References
2. http://strumors.automobilemag.com/files/2012/01/Acura-NSX-Concept-front-three-quarters-623x389.jpg
8. http://www.wired.com/autopia/2013/02/3d-printed-car/
9. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWHaeInl_mQ
10. http://aussieexotics.com/photo/?pic=1371&th=218&po=941&nm=front-left.JPG&thnm=JTS-Supercar&pstr=AshSimmonds
11. http://www.williamhage.com/red_Zonda.jpg
12. http://www.3ders.org/articles/20131111-the-3d-printed-electric-motorcycle.html
13. http://www.energicasuperbike.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/energica-ego-4-980x612.jpg
14. http://stat.ameba.jp/user_images/20120523/15/ghostripon/0f/35/j/o0600040011989010145.jpg
9. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWHaeInl_mQ
10. http://aussieexotics.com/photo/?pic=1371&th=218&po=941&nm=front-left.JPG&thnm=JTS-Supercar&pstr=AshSimmonds
11. http://www.williamhage.com/red_Zonda.jpg
12. http://www.3ders.org/articles/20131111-the-3d-printed-electric-motorcycle.html
13. http://www.energicasuperbike.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/energica-ego-4-980x612.jpg
14. http://stat.ameba.jp/user_images/20120523/15/ghostripon/0f/35/j/o0600040011989010145.jpg
The Honda NSX....pure class.
ReplyDeleteNow thats not your regular DIY project :)
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