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Back in March, Jeff published this article about 3D printing for mountain bikes. [url:nlngs2iu]http://www.singletracks.com/blog/mtb-gear/is-3d-printing-the-future-for-mountain-bikes/[/url:nlngs2iu]. I had been think about this both before the article and after, since we have used metal based 3D printing of one sort or another to make prototype samples in our company for a while.
Today I ran across this article from Manufacturing Business Technology; titled Cyclists Take Industrial 3D Printing For A Spin [url:nlngs2iu]http://www.mbtmag.com/articles/2013/06/cyclists-take-industrial-3d-printing-spin?et_cid=3304188&et_rid=212101368&linkid=http%3a%2f%2fwww.mbtmag.com%2farticles%2f2013%2f06%2fcyclists-take-industrial-3d-printing-spin[/url:nlngs2iu]
It is about a mountain biker that thought of a new way to do something, designed it and is now selling parts that are manufactured using 3D printing techniques. In short he came up with a new hub design. They can continually tweak the product, because there is no hard tooling. My guess is that it is pretty expensive, but to me it is pretty impressive.
Anyway, what do you guys think?
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Very cool! Was only a matter of time…
Hopefully we’ll see innovative designs coming out of this and products trickle UP to the big guys who can actually manufacture this stuff at scale. The tinkerers just need to be sure to protect their intellectual property.
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Very cool product and manufacturing technique! I took a look at their website and the hub they are manufacturing now looks great, but pricey ($299 front, $699 rear). They are trying to raise money to make a more consumer viable option now.
"jeff" wroteVery cool! Was only a matter of time…
Hopefully we’ll see innovative designs coming out of this and products trickle UP to the big guys who can actually manufacture this stuff at scale. The tinkerers just need to be sure to protect their intellectual property.
According to the article, he ran a patent search and no one is doing what he is, and has patented his idea. Looks like he got there first!
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There is no reason that you can’t tweak a design even with "hard tooling". That being said,I have no experience with metal based 3-D printing,just manual and CNC machining. 😃
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