a company I deal with in woodworking "Thermwood" sent me this video, amazing. this car took 44hrs to print and Thermwood CNC machine took 24hrs to do the machining. pretty amazing
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That is pretty wild. Modern technology. 
Very cool. Can a 3D printed locomotive be too far behind?
Saw the feature about this two weeks ago. It is indeed pretty amazing. They plan to bring this vehicle to market for about 24K.
Somehow, I think the automakers build a car in less than 68 hours.
Rusty
Rusty;
They do but it will rust away in 10 years, this one will never rust.
The Bif Autos also have advantages.
This 3D car has a top speed of 40 MPH and a range of 100 to 140 miles.
Only usable as a in town commuter.
That's a lot of money for a car that requires you also have a second one to go on any out of town trips.
This is the big problem with electric cars in general.
Originally Posted by Rusty Traque:
Somehow, I think the automakers build a car in less than 68 hours.
Rusty
they may put it together faster but not without taking into account the time it takes to make all the components they use on the assembly line.
Originally Posted by JohnS:
Originally Posted by Rusty Traque:
Somehow, I think the automakers build a car in less than 68 hours.
Rusty
they may put it together faster but not without taking into account the time it takes to make all the components they use on the assembly line.
Well, production is all about... production. Getting the assembled unit out the door in the shortest amount of time. If building something ground up one unit at a time was practical, it would be done right now.
Now, perhaps the solution would be to print various assemblies each on their own printer line and build up a stock of parts, so something like this could be assembled faster and probably cheaper...
Gee, that sounds like a normal assembly line.
Rusty
the car has only 42 parts. it seems the are doing it now. every component has an amount of time to make and ship. add them all up and the time to put it all together and I think this will be faster, and will only get faster as the technology gets better. I don't think it is far off. how much does it cost to make the dies to make the chassis pan, fenders and all the other preformed components. all this takes is a drawing and some abs beads. how much do the machines that use these dies cost? time is money and money is time.
Let's put this in perspective.
The entire car is not being 3d printed. Only the unibody.
The drivetrain, electrical system, and suspension are still done the old fashioned way
The entire car is not being 3d printed. Only the unibody.
The drivetrain, electrical system, and suspension are still done the old fashioned way
And any production car will have to conform to regulations and safety standards.
But, it's pretty neat science project. Plus the winner won a whopping $5000 prize for his efforts.
Rusty
Plastic cars? Weren't Saturn automobiles made of plastic? How'd that work out for them?
Actually, It worked out for Saturn. You are inside a roll cage\sub frame. How many Saturns do you see with dents? Crack,yes, in a good hit.
In your example: Bolt off the rear quarter,
Depending on door frame. Bolt on new skins. In other words the whole car outerskin is replaceable by bolt including the roof.
I use to fix these cars.GM dumped them because they lasted to long. I had a pickup truck bounce off the side with no damage.
After having one of these puppies: I hated to buy a metal outerskin automobile.
I always hated GM. These cars were one of their best ideas.
Originally Posted by RickO:
Plastic cars? Weren't Saturn automobiles made of plastic? How'd that work out for them?
