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3D-Printed Car Takes Its First Test Drive
An anonymous reader points out this advancement in 3D printing. This week, at the International Manufacturing Technology Show (IMTS) in Chicago, Arizona-based automobile manufacturer Local Motors stole the show. Over the six day span of the IMTS, the company managed to 3D print and assemble an entire automobile, called the "Strati," live in front of spectators. Although the Strati is not the first ever car to be 3D printed, the advancements made by Local Motors with help from Cincinnati Inc, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory, have produced a vehicle in days rather than months.
I figured as much; but don't knock that. Talk to anybody who has wrecked the plastic on their sport motorcycle. If you could print that stuff at a reasonable price, that wold be HUGE.
For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?
What sort of engine can you print with a 3d printer?
I believe some real benefits of this would be the ability to customize cars and add after market parts. It would make, at least the body work, on a damaged car possibly much cheaper and faster. Another benefit would be replacing parts on cars that are no longer being produced.
On the effects side this could greatly impact parts suppliers with the reduction of workers since only designers would be needed long term. It would also really change factories if a large percentage of the parts could be printed on site. Obviously some things like engines and electronics are far off, but body panels, plastic parts, etc could be done which would reduce the need for transportation of parts to the assembly site and reduce the complexity of the logistics chain for the factory.
Overall if/when it works it will be a good incremental improvement to the entire supply chain of a modern automobile. I just think this article was a bit forward leaning in the title, but showing that many parts of a modern car could be made this way is a great leap forward, if it works on an industrial scale.
As usual 3D printing is being used as an excuse for free publicity. Most of the parts could have been injection moulded with far greater quality & accuracy in far less time, assuming plastic was the best material to make them with in the first place.
I think people are just getting a little tired of the 3D printing hype. Yes, it's a cool emerging technology, but the sensationalism of these headlines and articles are a little grating at this point.
Calling it a "3D printed car" is not exactly lying, but it borders on disengenuous, seeing that the guts of the car are, of course, still manufactured the traditional way. It's apparently the body and frame that were printed, from what I can tell. Seriously, would that have been so damn hard to mention in the summary or the article? Oh, but that sounds a lot less impressive, doesn't it...
It was stated in the article that the car had 40 parts. I'm pretty sure they meant there were 40 printed parts, because there's no way in fuck you can build a car in 40 parts, unless you're conveniently counting the engine and frame as a single "part". Or maybe they're just counting each pre-packaged assembly as a "part".
I don't think people would complain quite as much if there was any real semblance of critical reporting here - less hype and more tech.
Irony: Agile development has too much intertia to be abandoned now.