by Industrial Print Magazine Staff
As three-dimensional (3D)/additive manufacturing (AM) printing technologies continue to advance, new industries find innovative ways to adopt the technology. While we’re all aware of the manufacturing benefits afforded by AM tools in automotive and aerospace, the potential doesn’t end there.
Driving Innovation
Advancements in software tools driving 3D printed products push the technology to new limits. To help illustrate the growing potential of 3D, software developer CoreTechnologie created a 3D printed bike using selective laser sintering (SLS). This project proves that even complex, everyday objects can be produced quickly, easily, and cost effectively using 3D printing technologies.
The team at CoreTechnologie developed a lightweight and inexpensive bicycle made from 3D-printed aluminum components and standard carbon tubes. The fully functional, single-speed version of the bike weighs just 15.7 lbs—ready to ride. This design is in contrast to the conventional production of carbon frames. The simple workflow enables fast, uncomplicated, and automated production.
The software developers combined self-constructed, 3D printed connecting parts made of aluminum (AlMgSi10) and machine-made, extremely light carbon tubes from Carbonforce. The tubes were joined using high-strength, two-component adhesive from the aircraft industry.
The project was completed in just two months from idea to ready-to-ride prototype. According to the company, the CoreTechnologie team optimized the design based on an existing 22-inch frame geometry and perfected it in numerous 3D renderings.Through the team’s thoughtful design of the frame parts, the single-speed version of this 3D printed bike can also be upgraded with gears.
“Thanks to the degrees of freedom made possible by computer aided design (CAD) in conjunction with the 3D SLS printing process, a particularly light and simple design was achieved that, thanks to its excellent riding characteristics, represents a counter-trend to technically complex and heavy e-bikes,” notes a press release about the product by CoreTechnologie.
For this project, the software manufacturer used its 4D_Additive platform to optimize wall thicknesses, generate surface textures, and realize the smooth production of 3D printed parts on a selective laser melting (SLM) machine from service partner FKM.
Based in Germany, FKM is a full-service 3D printing service provider for powder bed AM. It produces high-quality metal parts and plastic parts. Partners benefit from SLM and SLS printing as well as finishing from a single source.
CoreTechnologie’s program, the 4D_Additive Manufacturing Software Suite, creates 3D models from CAD formats, which can be read and prepared for AM processes directly as an exact, intelligent, and light B-Rep geometry.
The 4D_Additive solution reads CAD data from 24 different formats like CATIA, NX, SOLIDWORKS, Creo, Inventor, STEP, and JT as exact B-Rep geometry including all product manufacturing information, attributes, and design history. In addition, triangulated formats such as stl, obj, and 3mf are read and processed with this software.
The CAD models optimized for 3D printing and nested on the build plates can be saved in all common formats such as amf, 3mf, and STL as well as in common slicing formats cli, sli, abf, svg, sls, usf, and g-code.
Testing 3D
In numerous test rides, the bike proved that it is robust, resilient, and can easily be moved along different paths. With the project and the resulting prototype, the team from CoreTechnologie demonstrates that with innovative 3D/AM software and hardware, the production of complex daily and consumer items is possible in a cost-effective, fast, and simple way, independent of fragile supply chains.
“In addition to the casual design and riding pleasure, CoreTechnologie’s super-light bike put an incredulous smile on the testers’ faces as soon as they picked it up,” offers Armin Brüning, CEO, CoreTechnologie.
Innovative companies like CoreTechnologie push the envelope when it comes to the possibilities of 3D and AM. IPM
Nov2023, Industrial Print Magazine
