News and Insights of 3D Printing and Manufacturing
The Renault RS 2027 F1 concept is Renault’s vision of what Formula 1 cars could look like in 10 years: ultra light, safe, powerful and — almost redundantly — crazy cool. I mean, just look at it.
Cost efficient 3D printer manufacturer Afinia 3D reported on the story of professional monster truck driver Rosalee Ramer and how 3D printers made it possible for her to pursue her dream. She started driving monster trucks professionally at age 14. Now, at age 19, she is pursuing her Mechanical Engineering degree at Georgia Tech, and hopes to use it to improve her monster truck’s capabilities. Rosalee Ramer is a lot of things: a daughter, friend, college student, and role model, who holds the title as the youngest professional female monster truck driver in the world.
After signing a strategic collaboration with leading 3D printer manufacturer Stratasys, at the beginning of the season, McLaren Racing is now expanding its use of 3D printing (both polyjet and FDM) to produce components for its 2017 Formula 1 MCL32 race car. The goal is accelerating design modifications and reducing weight to increase performance.
Additive manufacturing is changing how we build things and electric vehicles in how we go places. For these reasons they are often referred to as ‘disruptive technologies’ so combining them is sure to offer some interesting possibilities. This recently happened when Canada Makes, Precision ADM, and Electra Meccanica Vehicles (EMV) partnered on an additive manufactured battery box end cap for an electric automobile.
Officially unveiled at AMUG, the new Somos Taurus resin brings the combination of thermal and mechanical performance that until now has only been achieved using thermopolymer-based 3D printing techniques such as FDM and SLS. Somos Taurus is the latest addition to the high impact family of stereolithography (SLA) materials from Somos. Parts printed with this material are easy to clean and finish. The higher heat deflection temperature of this material increases the number of applications for the part producer and user.
For the past two years a conglomerate of trade associations, industry, government and academia have been collaborating on the world’s first operational 3D printed excavator. That project made a giant leap forward with the recent printing of a prototype that leveraged large-scale additive manufacturing technologies and further explores the feasibility of printing with metal alloys. The fully operational 3D printed excavator is on display at the IFPE show in Las Vega Nevada until March 11th.
BMW i Ventures has announced a strategic investment in Desktop Metal, an emerging startup with the mission to bring metal 3D printing within reach of all design and manufacturing teams. Desktop Metal is committed to accelerating the adoption of metal 3D printing in manufacturing through the creation of innovative technology that produces complex parts. They are doing this with a world-class team of experts in the fields of materials science, engineering and software, consisting of 75 engineers.
Team Penske, one of the top teams in US Motorsports, announced that it has formed a technical partnership with Stratasys. As part of a multi-year agreement that begins in 2017, Stratasys will provide equipment and support services to assist Team Penske in its engineering and manufacturing efforts across its NASCAR and INDYCAR racing platforms. Stratasys, as an Official 3D Printing Solutions Partner, will furnish Team Penske with state-of-the-art 3D printing solutions to create manufacturing tooling and car parts as well as rapidly generate engineering prototypes.
Stratasys will supply McLaren Racing with a suite of 3D printing and additive manufacturing solutions, as the Official Supplier of 3D Printing Solutions to the McLaren Honda Formula 1 team. Stratasys will work closely with the Formula 1 team as it ramps up its rapid manufacturing capacity at the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, UK.
Engineers at The University of Nottingham, in collaboration with Hieta Technologies, are developing lightweight automotive components using new additive manufacturing processes to boost vehicle fuel efficiency, while cutting noise and CO2 emissions.