3D-Printed Car Takes Its First Test Drive 132
An anonymous reader points out this advancement in 3D printing. This week, at the International Manufacturing Technology Show (IMTS) in Chicago, Arizona-based automobile manufacturer Local Motors stole the show. Over the six day span of the IMTS, the company managed to 3D print and assemble an entire automobile, called the "Strati," live in front of spectators. Although the Strati is not the first ever car to be 3D printed, the advancements made by Local Motors with help from Cincinnati Inc, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory, have produced a vehicle in days rather than months.
it's means it is (Score:5, Informative)
Nobody 3D printed an entire car here. Just a stupid body shell, it's obvious the actual car, you know, the chassis, motor, tires, the *real* stuff, was made in an old Luddite factory.
Idiots.
Re:it's means it is (Score:5, Insightful)
I figured as much; but don't knock that. Talk to anybody who has wrecked the plastic on their sport motorcycle. If you could print that stuff at a reasonable price, that wold be HUGE.
Comment removed (Score:5, Interesting)
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Level of Abstraction (Score:3)
However, if you have a relatively 'macro' level of abstraction and a "part" for you is the gearbox and another is the engine, then maybe you'll be able to say that this one has 40 parts.
In reality, though, the engine alone has more parts than that.
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Q.E.D.
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(No engine, motor. One part.)
Engine ( "a machine that changes energy [...] into mechanical motion") == motor ("a machine that produces motion or power for doing work") [Merriam-Webster].
So, if an engine is one part, a tire is one part too and then, maybe, it's made of 40 (aggregate) parts/objects."
Is it a game changer? Doubtful. Step in the right direction - possibly.
A printed house including (pre-fab'd) wiring and communications, that's a game changer IMO. A printed "enclosure" of a car (even with "seats") is just the same old news
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In fact, if I'd have come up with a way to put the non-printed parts in the car in place via conveyor belt or robot arm, or another way of actually assembling the car automatically, before making a show out of printing a shell, then I'd think it's cool.
These guys went for WOW-ing the sheeple and VCs instead.
Did I mention that I dislike (marketing) bullshit in a (quasi-) ser
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Fail. Nowhere does the author state the ''entire car'' was printed,
In fact TFA says "Over the six day span of the IMTS, the company managed to 3D print, and assemble an entire automobile"
... so in the context of this news item it states exactly that. If it were meant to be read as not the entire automobile then it doesn't come over as a news story - the 3D printed part could just be the badge on the front. So the reader is being urged to believe it is the entire car. That is being dishonest.
I don't know why they needed to be. If it had been told correctly it w
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Pfft. They have a ways to go before they catch up to Royalton Industries. They can do from initial carbon bond to finished car in 36!
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You can already 3D print ABS plastic.
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No one said you couldn't. But no one has previous printed such a large piece, so precise, and so fast. Its an engineering milestone, not the discovery of radioactivity.
If todays geeks were alive to see the first model t the'd be bitching about how much better other cars were, and how it was nothing new. The new-ness is how it was made and how cheaply it was made.
Re:it's means it is (Score:5, Insightful)
I think people are just getting a little tired of the 3D printing hype. Yes, it's a cool emerging technology, but the sensationalism of these headlines and articles are a little grating at this point.
Calling it a "3D printed car" is not exactly lying, but it borders on disengenuous, seeing that the guts of the car are, of course, still manufactured the traditional way. It's apparently the body and frame that were printed, from what I can tell. Seriously, would that have been so damn hard to mention in the summary or the article? Oh, but that sounds a lot less impressive, doesn't it...
It was stated in the article that the car had 40 parts. I'm pretty sure they meant there were 40 printed parts, because there's no way in fuck you can build a car in 40 parts, unless you're conveniently counting the engine and frame as a single "part". Or maybe they're just counting each pre-packaged assembly as a "part".
I don't think people would complain quite as much if there was any real semblance of critical reporting here - less hype and more tech.
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This is an interesting development because it shows that 3D printed parts are viable for use in a car. They have come a long way already from the early days of low quality and high fragility.
Eventually it's inevitable that you will be able to print a large part of a car. Printers will improve and use more materials, and companies will offer chassis with the motors and battery pack fitted ready for a custom body. Lawsuits will start to fly over copyright infringement. In fact, I saw on TV that one Japanese m
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If the headline was "Man lands on the moon", would you complain that he used a rocket ship instead of jumping?
The way this headline is written, it's as if they'd written "Armstrong jumps to moon", and neglected to mention in TFS that he was jumping from the ladder of the lander to the surface. TFS says "managed to 3D print, and assemble an entire automobile", and that's misleading to the point of lying.
It's a cool, impressive, incremental achievement, but they haven't landed on the moon here. And tech reporting, and tech in general, would be better served by accurate reporting of it.
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Looks like it only 40 parts (including engine, electronics, etc). The video of driving car is only 40 parts. Did you see they printed most of the car in one pass as a single part?
So you say a car engine is made out of only 40 parts? Looked like more parts to me last time I looked under the hood of my car.
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Don't tell that to Stratasys, 3D Systems or any of the other commercial 3D printer vendors
Stratasys sell printers that do 1000x800x500mm and 914x610x914mm
They can print in high impact ABS
VoxelJet have one that does 4x2x1m
Just because a Makerbot can't do it, doesn't mean commercial products can't.
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Can they print a car body as quickly as the company did in the article? Have they?
If not, then that's the point.
If they have, then well the story sucks as much as everyone says it does.
Step back from the myopic meaningless look at the details, and see how the small dots form the larger picture.
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I'm not your research assistant. Google it yourself.
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Damn, it Carl! Do you job or you won't get my recommendation for your post doc!
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I figured as much; but don't knock that. Talk to anybody who has wrecked the plastic on their sport motorcycle. If you could print that stuff at a reasonable price, that wold be HUGE.
Not just motorbikes. Today I noticed another scratch on my quarter panel (Perth, this is why we cant have nice things). If I knew I could replace the thing for less than $100 I wouldn't care so much (then again, the people who think it's OK to bang their door carelessly against my car might become even more reckless).
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If I find a new dent when returning to my car I usually just put a note on the windscreen of the car next to me with my contact details and a brief explanation that it appears they damaged my car. I ask that they contract me within a few days to get it fixed, or I can go through their insurance (you can look up any vehicles insurance details for free on the MID database in the UK). It's about 50/50 if they just offer some cash or deny it, and in the latter case I just let it go if the damage is minor. If th
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My dashcam can be triggered on motion. I don't use this feature, I just let it record all of my driving.
That should dramatically cut the power used by the camera when it isn't recording.
I'm about to get a 2nd one that will be rear facing (and then maybe left/right facing, I need to find a model that doesn't come with a screen, so it would be smaller).
I've already used the threat of the dash cam to get some guy and a cop off my ass (he said I hit his car with my door, but I hadn't even been on the parking l
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They have (Australian taxi's have them installed recording 360 degree views) but they aren't cheap. Even to get an ADR (Australian Design Rules) approved dashcam it's near enough to A$500. The problem is you need a lot of cameras to reliably get the entire side of your car and some cars paint is so soft, it wont even set off th
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Thanks for the tip, I'll look into that.
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Re: it's means it is (Score:2)
Local Motors and nothing associated with it are Luddite.
Re: it's means it is (Score:3)
Um, bad post. I meant that neither Local Motors nor anything associated with it are Luddite.
Now let me reboot this frikin N7. Stupid touch problems.
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Was it 3D printed?
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...neither Local Motors nor anything associated with it are Luddite...
Since you're in correction mode, you may be interested to know that your post should have read: "...neither Local Motors nor anything associated with it is Luddite". The words "neither" and "anything" are singular pronouns.
I'm a part-time grammar Nazi, and sometimes I can't restrain myself; please excuse my pedantic impulse.
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How about experiments in radical body concepts (Score:2)
What they could have done though is make the shell unique... like maybe trying out a dempled shall ala mythbusters
http://www.discovery.com/tv-sh... [discovery.com]
No 3d printing for such experimentation is aprobbaly a best use for the method.
So car fabbing pre Sept 2014 (Score:2)
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Yeah, "3D-Printed Car Takes It Is First Test Drive."
See also:
http://youtu.be/8Gv0H-vPoDc?t=... [youtu.be]
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In addition, what would have been the time and effort if that exact shell was not printed but molded or milled? 3D printing has a few useful applications, where you can't mill or mold the shape efficiently, but that car's shell could have been easily molded in a fraction of the time (including making the molds). One of the reasons why 3D printing has not picked up in manufacturing is because it is inefficient BS most of the time. (Prototyping on the other hand is a different story.)
It's First Test Drive (Score:4, Informative)
It's First Test Drive
Sigh.
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Le sigh.
NIce! (Score:2)
With any luck, we'll be printing autos overnight before my youngest is eligible for male teenage insurance premiums.
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How long does an "infancy" last? 3D printing has been around since the '80s.
Really? (Score:1)
Including the mechanics - engine and gearbox etc.? Can't tell from the article
Does it drive? (Score:3, Interesting)
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"Is it street legal" is probably one of the last questions I would ask.
No, scratch that. I don't care if it's street legal. I just want to know if it's got two cup holders and decent sound system. And as a long-time Burnout Paradise player, I want to know how much boost it has and how well it drifts around turns.
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"Is it street legal" is probably one of the last questions I would ask.
No, scratch that. I don't care if it's street legal. I just want to know if it's got two cup holders and decent sound system. And as a long-time Burnout Paradise player, I want to know how much boost it has and how well it drifts around turns.
Per TFA (or at least an FA, I've read about this from sources), it has a top speed of 40 mph. Unless they put it on intentionally skinny tires, a la the Subaru BR-Z, you're probably not going to be doing a whole lot of drifting.
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Cheaters (Score:5, Interesting)
They made the car extra small to print it quicker.
Can someone tell me why the roll bar is significantly below the heads of both people sitting inside? What's the point? So you're slightly less dead when the car rolls over?
They forgot the front roll bar too, around the windscreen. It's just a piece of glass or plastic.
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They made the car extra small to print it quicker.
Can someone tell me why the roll bar is significantly below the heads of both people sitting inside? What's the point? So you're slightly less dead when the car rolls over?
They forgot the front roll bar too, around the windscreen. It's just a piece of glass or plastic.
Kind of like how the ricers put rear spoilers on front wheel drive cars?
If you want to get on the idiocy of motorvehicles, I can go on about how the sound of a Harley engine makes my skin crawl and people who purposefully keep their Hogs running like shit to sound "cool" or "badass" should be crucified on a camshaft after being flogged by chains and offered as pathetic sacrifices to the internal combustion engine gods.
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A rear spoiler on a front wheel drive car can help.
Most cars experience lift at the rear, due to the vacuum created as the body shape moves downwards at the rear.
It doesn't matter if you're in a front, rear or all wheel drive car, if the back wheel lose traction, it's bad news.
But you don't need to worry about that if you're driving on the high way, since you're not going fast enough to lift the rear off the road, or making sharp, high speed turns. So the ricer spoilers do nothing but increase drag, lower t
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A rear spoiler on a front wheel drive car can help.
It's a wing, not a spoiler. And no, I don't care what Wikipedia says, I prefer to rely on the expertise of old guys who have been flying or racing cars, respectively, for the better part of a century.
In fairness, considering that the purpose of an aeronautical spoiler is to "reduce lift," I can see why the terms get confused.
Crap like this is why English is such a hard language to learn. /rant
Obviously... (Score:1)
To keep the organs intact. No doubt the car has a 3d printer built in to put the pink dot on your driver's license as well.
Take that 3d printing yuppie consumer scum! You're organ donors for your mass producing corporate overlords! :-D
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I doubt it has any safety features at all.
Entire car? (Score:3)
When you buy an "entire car", they don't sell you an empty shell.
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Is that affiliated with Stan's Previously Owned Cars?
Grammar! (Score:2)
You mean "its" and not "it's" first test drive, don't you?
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The inappropriate apostrophe is one of the last freedoms we have. If you try to take it away, you'll have to wrest it from my cold, dead finger's.
What sort of engine (Score:4, Insightful)
What sort of engine can you print with a 3d printer?
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NASA successfully printed and tested some high-stress components for their rockets, so I'd assume one might be able to make a reasonably powerful engine if one had access to the same grade of technology.
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No, that "printing" that NASA did was melting metal powder with a laser to make injector for a rocket engine. Nothing like the melting plastic which was done here, and I can't believe person who wrote that article claimed they printed a car.
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Sintering, plastic welding, same difference. Played with both, given proper forming materials you can 3D print and CNC mill a finalized piece. It's how I make PCB and housing for my LED panels.
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Very different things, melting some plastic and making a silly claim of "making a car" is utter bullshit. Sintering jet engine or rocket engine parts in a different league altogether.
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Probably not a high performance or engine.
Pretty hard to 3D print metal that's as strong as forged steel.
You could probably 3D print a block or head, but not a piston, conrod or crankshaft.
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IIRC they were laser sintering [extremetech.com] some exhaust nozzles. So yes, it is a technology that can be added to our bag of Homo Industrialis tricks. No, it's not going to replace much in the manufacturing sector anytime soon.
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Yes! (Score:4, Funny)
I would pirate a car!
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Of course, the printer costs much more than a car, and is the size of a garage.
Grammar (Score:2, Informative)
3D-Printed Car Takes It's First Test Drive
should be
3D-Printed Car Takes Its First Test Drive
"It's" is a contraction for "It is". "Its" is a possessive pronoun. Please correct your mistake.
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It's a Word Crime [youtube.com]
Benefits/Effects (Score:4, Insightful)
I believe some real benefits of this would be the ability to customize cars and add after market parts. It would make, at least the body work, on a damaged car possibly much cheaper and faster. Another benefit would be replacing parts on cars that are no longer being produced.
On the effects side this could greatly impact parts suppliers with the reduction of workers since only designers would be needed long term. It would also really change factories if a large percentage of the parts could be printed on site. Obviously some things like engines and electronics are far off, but body panels, plastic parts, etc could be done which would reduce the need for transportation of parts to the assembly site and reduce the complexity of the logistics chain for the factory.
Overall if/when it works it will be a good incremental improvement to the entire supply chain of a modern automobile. I just think this article was a bit forward leaning in the title, but showing that many parts of a modern car could be made this way is a great leap forward, if it works on an industrial scale.
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And to think I got banned from Fark for daring to suggest that!
Tough as steel? (Score:1)
The vehicle which weighed about half of what a typical automobile would weigh, was as strong as steel.
I'm sorry, but I don't believe that. Run it into a transport truck or a dump truck, and guess who will win.
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Is it the same one who would win if you ran a "typical automobile" into a transport truck or a dump truck?
I wish tech writers were more honest (Score:5, Informative)
Yes, it's a cool demo..congratulations to a bunch of cool engineers
No, it's not a 3D printed car
At best, it's a crudely 3D printed body shell over traditionally made parts
There is no 3D printing tech available now that can print a ball bearing..or gears..or springs..or a motor
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That "motor" is just another spring!
And it looks abysmal too (Score:4, Insightful)
As usual 3D printing is being used as an excuse for free publicity. Most of the parts could have been injection moulded with far greater quality & accuracy in far less time, assuming plastic was the best material to make them with in the first place.
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3D printing is great for prototyping and very short production runs, not for mass production.
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With greater quality and accuracy, yes, but not far less time. 40 large mold sets would take quite some time to produce and be massively more expensive. Once the molds are made, they would be faster, but the break even point in time would probably be a couple to a dozen cars, the break even point on cost would probably be in the thousands.
Most cars would be sold in the thousands and besides, nobody would buy a car if the finish was as bad as this. They only achieved the speed at all by rushing the printing, extruding from a wide nozzle. If they were to use high precision nozzles to achieve makerbot quality finish it'd take 100x the time and it still wouldn't look great. It's just not practical except for the crudest of prototypes.
Burn epoxy? (Score:2)
Sorry -- I'm not really into 3D printing.
What a let down. (Score:2)
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