When it comes to 3D printing, future possibilities abound. Considering the hardware, software and various material types that facilitate the entire printing process, it seems that any sector or industry or demographic could easily take advantage. Not excluded from this: bicycling.
Take my bike, for example. An old Schwinn from sometime between the late 1970s-early 1980s, its frame and wheels are made of heavy metal that takes a toll when having to be carried up the stairs in 80-plus-percent humidity.
But with knowledge gained on best 3D printing practices in the last few years alone, and the foresight to determine how best to chart a future course for printing innovations, anyone – not just designers or engineers – can build items that are lightweight and efficient.
"Software and the cloud are helping the 3D printing revolution in a lot of ways," said Grant Thomas-Lepore, Director of Software Products at Cambridge-based GrabCAD. "Most of the conversation gears around the hardware but I think that software and also cloud have played a pretty important role in helping 3d printing be where we are today."
By considering software, cloud technology and various material types in a context of accessibility and design challenges, even the smallest yet still crucial elements of a bicycle can be improved upon substantially.
For example, designing a bike frame used to mean having to create pedals, gears, brakes and various other components. Through accessible content online or in the cloud, one can pour all of their focus and energy into finding the best frame solution while simply downloading the other components on the side.
In terms of design challenges, Thomas-Lepore mentioned one collaboration between GrabCAD and General Electric in which participants were instructed to design a jet engine bracket reduced in weight by 30 percent. The winning submission was able to leverage a laser melting process for titanium alloy that reduced the weight by 84 percent.
Applying this concept to people who ride bikes as hefty as my own is sure to save them from drowning in perspiration.
Perhaps few places is this better exemplified than Australian designer and lecturer James Novak's 3D printed lattice-style bike frame.
It took Novak about 150 hours to manually build out his design using CAD but the most laborious chore was actually understanding the limitations of a 3D printer and how he could make the strongest and lightest possible bike frame.
“What I really wanted to achieve was something that takes full advantage of the benefits of 3D printers, especially the ability to create one-off, customizable pieces that may be lighter-weight and stronger than archetypal frames through the use of complex lattice structures," said Novak in August last year. "More than anything, I’d like my work to be an example of what we should be 3D Printing."
Not only are designers, engineers re-imagining the structure of certain items, but items of various size and scope as well. Somerville-based Formlabs, for example, has willed a desktop-sized 3D printer into existence. Its origin is traced to Kickstarter, where the company raised $2.9 million and began with just 20 people.
After exponential growth, said Ian Ferguson, Formlabs's lead engineer, "We're enabling more and more people to use this 3D printer."
Similarly, Voxel8, under the tutelage of Harvard professor Jennifer Lewis, is perfecting how to use multi-nozzle printing instead of the traditional singular nozzle. This allows Voxel8 to be dexterous with the kind of geometric shapes it prints.
"Conventional electronics are planar, rigid, and brittle making them difficult to seamlessly integrate into 3D objects," said Daniel Oliver, co-founder. "Must push forward on all fronts to get to the next level."
