printed 3d car

[µT6]

"Cars are big and heavy, and that means they use a lot of energy while traveling. It’s easy to understand why these behemoths have traditionally been so weighty, though: It takes countless parts to make a modern car, and it’s mostly made out of steel for structural stability. That’s all changing, however, now that large-scale 3D-printing is becoming a reality. These new cars can use less parts and lighter materials to offer the same functionality and safety with less complexity and energy required. With the Urbee 2, Kor Ecologic is making a small two-passenger vehicle with a 3D-printed exterior. It’s highly efficient, light, and extremely safe in spite of being made of plastic."

http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/149557-the-first-3d-printed-plastic-car-is-as-strong-as-steel-and-half-the-weight

[jimwilk]

Very interesting. Thank you for sharing that.

Jim

[dixonpete]

> Modeling (FDM) method, thin layers of plastic are sprayed one after the other for about 2,500 hours until an entire car exterior is created.

That's like a year, right? Gotta speed the process up a bit to go commercial.

[kjpetrie]

Which planet are you on? Our years on Earth are 8,760 hours or 8,784 hours long.

[µT6]

"That's like a year, right? Gotta speed the process up a bit to go commercial."

it is a prototype, just proving that it can be done, doesn't need to be faster yet

"Which planet are you on? Our years on Earth are 8,760 hours or 8,784 hours long."

rofl!  2500 hours is 3 moths and 2 weeks more or less

[jaydot]

cool. when it can drive itself, i'll be interested in getting one.

[The Chief]

3D printers are gonna be the next industrial revolution.  I saw an article about one that prints in titanium (being used in the aerospace industry), meaning that what it produces is tough enough for just about any use - firearms, knives, cars, you name it.

How far are we from the StarTrek replicator?

[gandy]

They are also working on a 3D printing machine that uses concrete to build homes and other structures.

Why Design Now?: Contour Crafting

[µT6]

"How far are we from the StarTrek replicator?"

far, to make food from a base material/element, you need to move alot of atoms/molecules and arrange it in a way you can digest it

i would say that 50 years being optimistic, realistic, 150 years

[dcwbis]

And moving this technology forward:

The next big thing: 4D printing
"The device that’s used is a Stratasys 3D printer designed to produce multi-layered materials. Each part will be comprised of a regular rigid plastic layer, along with an outer layer made of “smart” materials. When submerged in water, the “smart” material absorbs and expands, causing the parts to move and form a pre-specified object."

http://www.smartplanet.com/blog/bulletin/the-next-big-thing-4d-printing/13898?tag=nl.e660&s_cid=e660&ttag=e660

[dixonpete]

I thought the issue with a light car was F=ma. The lighter your vehicle is the more likely you'll be used as a ping pong ball in any particular collision.

[The Chief]

I thought the issue with a light car was F=ma. The lighter your vehicle is the more likely you'll be used as a ping pong ball in any particular collision.

Same problem the military has with tanks - the lighter it is, the less armor it has, the less armor it has, the more likely you are to die.

[kjpetrie]

I thought the issue with a light car was F=ma. The lighter your vehicle is the more likely you'll be used as a ping pong ball in any particular collision.

Yes, but the effect of two heavy cars in a collision would be the same as two light cars. So that would only be a temporary problem until the older cars went out of use.

The purpose of a car is not to be in collisions, but to transport its occupants at minimal cost.

[pags]

I thought the issue with a light car was F=ma. The lighter your vehicle is the more likely you'll be used as a ping pong ball in any particular collision.

Well, not entirely...

In a big, "old", rigid steel cars (of yore...), the energy of the force of a collision was transferred to anything the could convert that energy...often it was passengers and other cargo that started moving around in the cabin, as kinetic energy...this would result is serious injury.
As technology (and manufacture...and regulation) improved, vehicles were made with "crumple-zones"...non cirtical (from a cabin perspective) portions of the vehicle that were intended to deform during a collision, converting the energy of a collision into potential energy (stored in the deformed, or "crumpled" portion of the vehicle).  Along with that were added portions to reinforce the cabin, as well as improved restraint systems, to protect the occupants from being injured by parts of the vehicle itself, improving survival and reducing the chance of severe injury in a collision.  These same principles can be applied regardless of the overall mass of the vehicle.

Of course, accident avoidance provides the best chance of not sustaining any injuries...

[kjpetrie]

And of course, the normal application of F=ma to a car is fuel consumption (e=mAt=mv²).