How long until we have our own cars, the [3D] printing?

Posted on 28-02-2013 at 15:48 by sir_smokalot – 19 Comments”

The wonderful world of 3D printers is not standing still. It started with miniatures, whether or not on the nano-scale, but in the meantime, you can even all classic Aston Martins from the printer turn. The car industry should have concerns?

That last seems to us not yet directly addressed, but 3D printers give designers and engineers a powerful additional instrument in your hands. One of them, Jim Kor, jaste designed his own tricycle by the printer, the result, the ‘Urbee 2’ you can see above. Takes a long time, but then you have something.

In the production process, use is made of a reinforced plastic that a body produces that to say that as strong as steel. Possibly, but steel crack just in case of a collision. On the other hand, carbon fiber does that too, and in particular, BMW is expected in the future, much of this material.

With a Cw-value of 0.15 is the Urbee, a feat of aerodynamic engineering where you ‘you’ say. In comparison: Mercedes-Benz sits with a Cw-value of (at least) to 0.22 for CLA already very low.

The 3D-printing requires currently lot of time, and is (co -) therefore, costly, but every new technology drops over time in price. Read more about the Urbee 2, and the ins and outs of the technology and materials used in this article.

With thanks to Simpson for the tip!

Photo credit: Sara Payne, Wired