Blog Written by Hutch Hutchison, Director, Technology & Engineering Matching, FuzeHub
In Additive Manufacturing: A new tool in the toolbox, Part 6, we viewed a new bicycle hub,
that was fabricated by a NY manufacturer, using his Selective Laser Sintering Machine. #-D printed bike parts are catching on! Renishaw, the British company that manufactures Additive Manufacturing machines, has collaborated with Empire Cycles in the UK, to produce one of the first, 3-D Printed titanium alloy bike frame. The frame is fabricated in sections from a titanium alloy, then bonded together to form the very light and strong frame. It is 30% lighter than its predecessor.
The frame also claims to have “internal strengthening”. Sound familiar? In the same article we featured the bicycle hub, we discussed how, with the beauty of layer-by layer printing of the CAD File, structures such as this could be formed:
with a titanium “skin” it would be as strong as a solid, but substantially lighter.
The bicycle frame manufacturing method lends itself to the mass customization feature availabe for low quantity production of such a complex part. Think of it – a bicycle made exactly to your profile- height, weight, strength. Yeah!
Read all about the titanium frame: Click Here
Enjoy!