Nylon 3D-printed Bicycle Featured on BBC
Nylon Bicycle on BBC
Take a look at this coverage of a Bristol-based engineering outfit that have released a nylon, 3D-printed bicycle to demonstrate the strength of 3D printed products to British manufacturing industry. The vid contains an excellent demonstration of selective laser sintering applied to a much classier model than you typically see supplied by the industry.
The discussion at end about the potential role for 3D printing to bring manufacturing back to the UK by closing the gap between innovation and end product is also worth a listen. And it mirrors conversations I’ve had with DIY 3D printing evangelists about the economic opportunities offered by local, small scale 3D-printed manufacture as a way to eliminate off-shore manufacture and boost local economies.
I’d also like to mention that I have received a number of support emails today asking when a MakerBot designed affordable selective laser sintering product will be available…..
| Tagged with | bicycle, Democratization of Manufacturing, manufacturing industry, offshore, selective laser sintering | 3 comments |
3 Comments so far
tre3
You heard him… Selective Laser Sintering, a “UK Technology.” (ehrm, UT Austin, 1980′s?)
Additionally – they are worth 62 Billion Euro, are a very large defense contractor, and want government support for it… Why? Because anyone with the capitol can buy the machine and start making parts for the same price they can. <– that's one of the benefits right – manufacturing costs do not scale. The first item is as cheap as the second as as cheap as the hundredth, etc.
EADS includes Airbus, Astrium, Eurocopter and Cassidain. All are arguably awesome divisions and do some incredible engineering… But when those guys complain that other people are taking a piece of the cake, we're far democratizing 3D printing.
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Worth noting (and to my above point) – there are at least a handful of American companies that offer 3D printing services AND have their printing farms in Mexico… It's the design of parts that requires skilled labor. The machine operator can be trained on the job.
hargabyte
here is a link of the video http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-12664422
Pocket Change | carrington2c
[...] to the currency systems. I thought MIT invented the replicated bicycle…but oh,, look – Makerbot has one. As my book, indicates….’bots’ manage the day-to-day affairs of [...]