How the Bicycle Industry Benefits from 3D Printing？
Image from neuhaus
The recent explosion of metal 3d printing has led to all sorts of components, vehicles, and applications that a few years ago seemed downright science fiction. With the level of versatility metal 3D printing presents, manufacturers have begun to not only incorporate this method in their products, but even turning the process towards entire products.
Here you’ll find a few examples of how 3D printing service is changing the lives of cyclists all over the world.
Bike
If there is one thing that bicycle 3D printing allows for, it’s unleashing creativity and design. Take the Superstrata bike as the perfect example of what can be achieved. The Superstrata is a bicycle made of carbon fiber and printed into the shape you see.
Now, carbon fiber bike 3d printing are nothing new, but the Superstrata isn’t completed using layers of sheets of carbon, but rather from one continuous carbon fiber feed/thread. This results in a fully customizable bike that can easily be modified to fit your body size. Not to mention light, strong, and only going to run you $2,800 (€2,310 at current exchange rates) for the basic Superstrata C.
Another company that has been running with bicycle 3D printing service is German based, Urwahn Bikes. Their approach is a bit different than Superstrata as Urwahn prints its frame in pieces then assembles it after. This team decided to take classical welds out of the game and are creating components via 3D printing and finally “welding” tubes and said components in place using Selective Laser Melting.
Components
Another way 3D printing is affecting the industry is through component manufacturing. Because programs like CAD and other 3D projection software are used to create components, the sky is literally the limit in terms of what can be done.
A custom bicycle design and fabrication shop could look for a way to create prototype models of custom bike lugs and dropouts.
Producing these parts in Titanium Ti-6Al-V4 (Ti64), Stainless Steel additively allowed building bikes designed specifically for the individual fit of each rider; meaning no two bicycles are the same.
Metal 3D Printing produces part geometries not possible through subtractive or cast methods. Lugs are completely hollow featuring complex internal geometries, internal cable routing, and custom mounts. For easy repair the lugs and dropouts can be un-bonded from their carbon fiber tubes if the tubes become damaged, not to mention they look amazing!
Accessories
Another sector of the bicycle industry that has been affected by 3D printing service is Accessories. When we say Accessories, we mean things like helmets, water bottle holders, and even chain guides.
One company fully exploring the benefits of this technology is KAV Sports. They are looking to build a fully customizable helmet using nothing more than 3D printing. Built with a honeycomb construction, each helmet is designed to be strong without any added weight, resulting in a helmet under 300 grams.
As for things like water bottle cages and chain guides, you won’t need to look for a manufacturer to get one. By doing a quick search on Google, you’ll find endless designs that you yourself can download and create, if you own a 3D printer that is.
When it comes to bicycle 3d printing, there’s great value in customisation. Not only does customisation help to add a unique touch to the design of a bike, but more importantly, it can also enhance the performance of the bike itself.
The design flexibility afforded by 3D printing service goes hand in hand with the ability to customise bike parts cost-effectively, thanks in part to toolless production.
The parts were manufactured in 4 days instead of 3 to 4 weeks traditionally required to create investment casting patterns and manually modify the parts. Furthermore, 3D printing service reduced manufacturing costs
Using metal 3D printing to produce parts directly not only saved time and money but, importantly, enabled designers to focus on the creative aspect of design without traditional manufacturing constraints.
Our IN3DTEC have rich experience in manufacturing bicycle parts with 3D technology. We helped more hundreds of bicyle companies to build bicycle frames and compenents. 3D printing technology promises to enable smaller organisations to compete with global corporations.
If you metal 3D Printing service or high-performance plastics 3d printing service, visit our >> 3D Printing online store to get an instant quote within seconds.
