The first airplanes were built in bicycle shops using tools and equipment for making bikes, it's only fitting that this aircraft shop builds a bike using equipment made for rapid prototyping of experimental aircraft parts.
Wow, 3D printing is grossly overrated. Why would an intelligent engineer attempt to build a bicycle to demonstrate a 3D printers capability. They even used words like "conventional bike". Haha, these guys are nothing but 3D drafters, with no working knowledge of metalurgy and the benfits of using metals. The advantage in 3d printing would have been better portrayed if they designed and printed a plastic chain guard for a real bike within 3 hours and be able to ride the bike the same day. Its all about the ability to manufacture or produce something in a short amount of time. These guys tried too hard, went in the wrong direction with 3D printing, and clueless people are first to "ohhh, ahhh" at the discusion of 3d printing. Would you ride that bike? Neither would I..., the headset was loose, the gearing slipped constantly, and the geometry was that of an akward kids folding bike. I ride and maintain a fixed gear bicycle. I know every part of a bicycle. No plastic bicycle will ever compare. We need to up the ability to form plastic parts like bearings with extreme hardness and precision. The bearings that are placed in modern bicycles are often no more than 25 millionths of an inch different in diameter. Thats how steel bearings and races can perform so smoothly and uniformly. That information would have been easily found within a day if these guys did proper research after brainstorming that theyd make a bike. 3D printing is largley a fad in the maker culture.
I think it's more about pushing the limits of materials and usability of 3D printing in real-scale models; The general contribution to technology and development is not about making a bike, because it could have easily been anything else. What we have to learn from these experiments is that this kind of technology offers the chance to produce highly complex programmed shapes (like fractals) or other types that can be only achieved through printing and not conventional building because of their complicated mathematical and physical shape. Shapes where their morphogenetic flow and information exist "within" and have some sort of mathematical procedure, like the patterns in sunflowers or a romanesco broccoli are much better produced with this kind of technology (or even impossible with other technology). It is obvious that it looks stupid to print bikes without any innovation and it's also inefficient. At this point the only innovation is the printed material and its structure so the test is not the stupid; because if you try to understand the material you start with building classical shapes that are easy to understand and to test. So I hope the guys are not just playing around.
As the technology currently sits, yes, it's less practical to print a bike than to build one, but the advantages are several: while the printer itself is expensive, the parts that come out of it are phenomenally inexpensive; printed items can be customized; and you can make almost literally anything with a 3D printer. The bicycle may as well have been "flip through the dictionary and tell me when to stop". I recently got a FDM-type printer, and I actually have plans to use parts made in it in combination with more traditionally-manufactured hardware. That's where I think the technology is really going to shine right now.
they do make carbon fiber race bikes for the tour de france and high end cyclist events, carbon fiber is a plastic they also use it in race cars and jet fighters.... just saying
amazing, im only 22 but while watching this i feel like im going through some inventionception loop in my mind where im imagining what it must have been like for people to get introduced to the internet decades ago and feel the potential and how old that feels to me and then imagining some 20 year old 40 years down the road imagining me experiencing this imagining them experiencing that etcetc lol
WOW, very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very cool stuff! With these printers getting better and better your imagination is the limit! I hear now we are actually starting to print entire organs with 3D cell printers. Really glad I am growing up in this time period.
Printing a bicycle and riding it. This technology is fascinating! It's only the year 2012 and I have an estimated 60 years left on this Earth. Time will tell what else innovators can come up with.
I was thinking of all the new inventors there will be out there from this. All those ideas we have rolling around in our heads, we could actually make our own parts and create. This is just awesome, I would buy one, if affordable.
I was once thinking about an all wooden bike or wheel and I came to the conclusion that spherical bearings were pretty involved and would have weak points because of grain. Cylinder style bearings between 2 surfaces would work and you could align it so its not weak.
you don't need to build everything out of wood. the bearings can be metal while the frame can be wood. you can buy the bearings at any bike shop. the problem however is that wood does not flex so it could crack and break if you hit a bump in speed.
I work closely with a Formula One team, who use 3D printing to quickly manufacture slightly varying components for the front and rear wings on the cars. These are produced and tested on their wind-tunnel model to made small improvements to wind-resistance of the cars... and the parts are immensely strong.
Brilliant its great to be watching this stuff at the beginning in a few years time we shall take it all for granted, makes the mind boggle as to what will be available, well done gentlemen you are true Pioneers in building our future. best wishes, Andy
What if you print a 3D printer half the size of the original, than the small one prints another one half the size. How small can you get the printers after a bunch of printing?
This is really the future, we were amazed as kids by being able to print out stuff on simple paper. In the future, you see some toys you want you download a plan and print it out :D Makes me feel a bit old haha.
Will it be able to print other materials? Like rubber and metals? I wonder how far are we from being able to print functioning machines and microchips.
I saw that. The printed part was very light and porous, and they put it in some chamber with the brass. The printed parts absorbed the brass like a sponge absorbing water, and voila, there's your fancy brass door handles. But that's not the only way to do it.
Depends on what type of material you are using. If its a thermoplastic, like polypropilene (PP), you can melt it and reuse again. In FDM fused deposition Molding, that is very possible, but they are using SLA and i think that epoxy is not recyclable. Cheers
But how expensive are the materials used for printing? thats the question,and how much effort to print out things that need to be of a certain material, like copper wires, or fiber optic cables?
Cool technology! Nice to see the Manufacturing method in its' early stages. I imagine in 20 years it will be cranking out essentially anything imagined. This looks like the early stages of conjuring things that appear in a specific area, sort of like transporting. They are already doing organics with the 3D stem cell creations... Interesting times indeed.
People saying that it is not practical or too expensive: If you compare the printouts with easy, common structures (which is for example needed in the bike), then yes. But where is shines are non-mass-produced objects and geometries. Check out the printed model plane on newScientist (where they used an internal structure which is too expensive to produce, if you don't grow it inside of the object). Plus: No one prevents you from printing stuff like internal circuitry inside the object.
I think that this technology is really going to take off fast. The ability to make anything you want is very appealing, and the reason why it hasn't went mainstream is because of cost and expertise. As soon as they make a cheap 3d printer with user friendly software it will take off.
actually you can the reprap is a 3d printer that can reproduce the majority of its parts electronics and motors need to be purchased obviously and some steel bars are needed for support but the original idea was an open source printer project that one could build with a kit and then reproduce the kit and build another one for a friend. The project was to make 3d printing more mainstream
Actually, no. There's the one that uses a laser to sinter the fine metallic bits together in the printer itself. Then there's one that uses an adhesive the glue the particles together, then your printed object is heated in a special oven, and the metallic particles are sintered together in there. Just last night I saw one which uses three streams of helium to carry the particles, and uses a laser to melt them before they impact the target, so that the target is being hit by a fine metallic mist.
I've found a company in San Francisco. They are selling a printer for just 1,200 bucks! That's amazing. I think they are called Type A Machines or something like that. This technology is closer than we think! Cheers.
Considering the cost of the nylon powder, I'd say this bike cost quite a bit more than the ones you could get from Walmart. Shapeways (Who has to mark up the cost for the service as well) charges roughly $1.80 per cubic centimeter. This would cost several thousand dollars through their service. It's a great demonstration of the material and the process, but it's not yet an economical way of producing anything besides prototypes.
According to some definitions, we are already in the Third Industrial Revolution. The first one was the steam machines, the second one was the internal combustion and the third one are the computers, 3D printers, cellphones, etc.
there are a few websites you can use to get it printed and they will mail it internationally, though it is very expensive if you were going to do it i would open the model and hollow it (remember to leave a gap for some of the excess to run out) otherwise they will charge you even more
The first computers cost millions, drew so much power an entire city's lights dimmed every time the thing was turned on, and was less powerful than a cell phone. The price will come down.
If it couldn't handle the tyre's air pressure, how could it handle the wight of the man on top of it? How do we know how resistant are all the parts? What if I pull a wheelie, or a stoppie, or run down a hill... How do I know if it'll survive the stresses?
Yes! I actually saw a 3D printer that was assembled with parts printed from a 3D printer. That brings up the question like the chicken and the egg; which came first, the 3D printer or the parts printed on the 3D printer?
There's got to be a start somewhere, those iPhones, computer and other electronic gadgets we are using these days don't just suddenly materialise out of thin air! There have been trials and experiments before we got here. I think this is rather impressive, I can't wait to see what else will happen in the future with help of science.
Let's build a 3d printer with a 3d printer
+Kirigaya Kazuto That's the whole point of the RepRap project
Why was he just randomly walking around the back of an airport?
Because yolo
it can print out mechanisms with moving parts ready to use and no assembly required, its pretty amazing.
They have those, for real! It's helped the cost of personal 3D printers decrease dramatically over the last few years.
can i print a girlfriend?
Be afraid woman and treat us good now or very soon you will be replace with a 3D one.lol
The first airplanes were built in bicycle shops using tools and equipment for making bikes, it's only fitting that this aircraft shop builds a bike using equipment made for rapid prototyping of experimental aircraft parts.
This printer has extremely high potential. You could build almost everything out of pieces
Wow, 3D printing is grossly overrated. Why would an intelligent engineer attempt to build a bicycle to demonstrate a 3D printers capability. They even used words like "conventional bike". Haha, these guys are nothing but 3D drafters, with no working knowledge of metalurgy and the benfits of using metals. The advantage in 3d printing would have been better portrayed if they designed and printed a plastic chain guard for a real bike within 3 hours and be able to ride the bike the same day. Its all about the ability to manufacture or produce something in a short amount of time. These guys tried too hard, went in the wrong direction with 3D printing, and clueless people are first to "ohhh, ahhh" at the discusion of 3d printing. Would you ride that bike? Neither would I..., the headset was loose, the gearing slipped constantly, and the geometry was that of an akward kids folding bike. I ride and maintain a fixed gear bicycle. I know every part of a bicycle. No plastic bicycle will ever compare. We need to up the ability to form plastic parts like bearings with extreme hardness and precision. The bearings that are placed in modern bicycles are often no more than 25 millionths of an inch different in diameter. Thats how steel bearings and races can perform so smoothly and uniformly. That information would have been easily found within a day if these guys did proper research after brainstorming that theyd make a bike. 3D printing is largley a fad in the maker culture.
It's depressing to see such ignorance portrayed as cutting edge. But I'm all for them learning. I would love a printed chain guard too!
I think it's more about pushing the limits of materials and usability of 3D printing in real-scale models; The general contribution to technology and development is not about making a bike, because it could have easily been anything else. What we have to learn from these experiments is that this kind of technology offers the chance to produce highly complex programmed shapes (like fractals) or other types that can be only achieved through printing and not conventional building because of their complicated mathematical and physical shape. Shapes where their morphogenetic flow and information exist "within" and have some sort of mathematical procedure, like the patterns in sunflowers or a romanesco broccoli are much better produced with this kind of technology (or even impossible with other technology). It is obvious that it looks stupid to print bikes without any innovation and it's also inefficient. At this point the only innovation is the printed material and its structure so the test is not the stupid; because if you try to understand the material you start with building classical shapes that are easy to understand and to test. So I hope the guys are not just playing around.
As the technology currently sits, yes, it's less practical to print a bike than to build one, but the advantages are several: while the printer itself is expensive, the parts that come out of it are phenomenally inexpensive; printed items can be customized; and you can make almost literally anything with a 3D printer. The bicycle may as well have been "flip through the dictionary and tell me when to stop".
I recently got a FDM-type printer, and I actually have plans to use parts made in it in combination with more traditionally-manufactured hardware. That's where I think the technology is really going to shine right now.
they do make carbon fiber race bikes for the tour de france and high end cyclist events, carbon fiber is a plastic they also use it in race cars and jet fighters.... just saying
I'm crying because I've never seen this before. It's incredible!
amazing, im only 22 but while watching this i feel like im going through some inventionception loop in my mind where im imagining what it must have been like for people to get introduced to the internet decades ago and feel the potential and how old that feels to me and then imagining some 20 year old 40 years down the road imagining me experiencing this imagining them experiencing that etcetc lol
Was expecting more of an awesome bicycle but u know that technology Is great in the right hands
WOW, very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very cool stuff!
With these printers getting better and better your imagination is the limit!
I hear now we are actually starting to print entire organs with 3D cell printers. Really glad I am growing up in this time period.
His helmet made me wonder, why not use 3d printers to create helmets with micro air bubble throughout to decrease that chances of concussions?
Cool video! Shared it with my bicycle friend!!
Printing a bicycle and riding it. This technology is fascinating! It's only the year 2012 and I have an estimated 60 years left on this Earth. Time will tell what else innovators can come up with.
That is essentially the entire idea behind the RepRap project, where you can print the parts needed for a duplicate printer.
there are small printers that sell for about 500 called a solidoodle, it can print things in an 6x6x6 inch box. actually pretty cool
I was thinking of all the new inventors there will be out there from this. All those ideas we have rolling around in our heads, we could actually make our own parts and create. This is just awesome, I would buy one, if affordable.
Give them more time with R&D,this bike will be awesome. My suggestion- offer gearing options in the future! Can't wait to see how this develops!
I was once thinking about an all wooden bike or wheel and I came to the conclusion that spherical bearings were pretty involved and would have weak points because of grain. Cylinder style bearings between 2 surfaces would work and you could align it so its not weak.
you don't need to build everything out of wood. the bearings can be metal while the frame can be wood. you can buy the bearings at any bike shop.
the problem however is that wood does not flex so it could crack and break if you hit a bump in speed.
I work closely with a Formula One team, who use 3D printing to quickly manufacture slightly varying components for the front and rear wings on the cars. These are produced and tested on their wind-tunnel model to made small improvements to wind-resistance of the cars... and the parts are immensely strong.
Brilliant its great to be watching this stuff at the beginning in a few years time we shall take it all for granted, makes the mind boggle as to what will be available, well done gentlemen you are true Pioneers in building our future. best wishes, Andy
What if you print a 3D printer half the size of the original, than the small one prints another one half the size. How small can you get the printers after a bunch of printing?
I didn't see any chain or gears. Did they use a belt for transmission? Did they print a chain or belt or buy it like the tires?
Agreed - and the geometry is weird too which is why he's having such a problem going straight. Still I'd try, if I had access to printers like that.
how biodegradable are the products? are they recyclable?
This is really the future, we were amazed as kids by being able to print out stuff on simple paper.
In the future, you see some toys you want you download a plan and print it out :D Makes me feel a bit old haha.
Yes, I saw a story recently where they took new mp3s and printed a playable vinyl record with it.
How a lovely design!
As a proof of concept this is pretty cool. This will open the doors for some even more interesting designs for more mundane items.
I read some where that in a few years this will be able to print functional circuts... Is this true?
Couldn't you squirt some sort of conductive plastic paste to make the wires?
is the rubber for the tires built in the printer?
Ill stick to carbon fiber and metal thanks. My question is with all these 3D printers to they only print plastics? not in any other material ?
3D printers using a powder source material are the best I've seen so far.
Will it be able to print other materials? Like rubber and metals?
I wonder how far are we from being able to print functioning machines and microchips.
I saw that. The printed part was very light and porous, and they put it in some chamber with the brass. The printed parts absorbed the brass like a sponge absorbing water, and voila, there's your fancy brass door handles.
But that's not the only way to do it.
Depends on what type of material you are using. If its a thermoplastic, like polypropilene (PP), you can melt it and reuse again. In FDM fused deposition Molding, that is very possible, but they are using SLA and i think that epoxy is not recyclable.
Cheers
This is brilliant but I can't help wondering can you print metal or steel objects?
How far do you think the 3D printing can go?
i can imagine an app store for this.....different toys available....prototype models available for you to print at home...amazing....:D
this is the start of something that could lead to greatness , just wish i could afford such a thing in the home
i was thinking about that, about like how they would restrict certain items from being printed
Yes, for example a reprap can be made by printing the pieces out
But how expensive are the materials used for printing? thats the question,and how much effort to print out things that need to be of a certain material, like copper wires, or fiber optic cables?
Cool technology! Nice to see the Manufacturing method in its' early stages. I imagine in 20 years it will be cranking out essentially anything imagined. This looks like the early stages of conjuring things that appear in a specific area, sort of like transporting. They are already doing organics with the 3D stem cell creations... Interesting times indeed.
how did you find a high quality printer for just 300 dollars? which one is it? im thinking of getting my own one as well.. plz reply! thx
Does anyone know which software they're using for creating the 3d model?
"You wouldn't download a car."
But I'd download a bike.
People saying that it is not practical or too expensive:
If you compare the printouts with easy, common structures (which is for example needed in the bike), then yes.
But where is shines are non-mass-produced objects and geometries. Check out the printed model plane on newScientist (where they used an internal structure which is too expensive to produce, if you don't grow it inside of the object).
Plus: No one prevents you from printing stuff like internal circuitry inside the object.
I think that this technology is really going to take off fast. The ability to make anything you want is very appealing, and the reason why it hasn't went mainstream is because of cost and expertise. As soon as they make a cheap 3d printer with user friendly software it will take off.
Reminds me of the man who is literally being bored to death on the Armando Ianucci shows.
well if part of the wheel broke with such little force how can it be used as a bike such as e.g. going of curbs
jaw droppingly seriously fantastic!
actually you can the reprap is a 3d printer that can reproduce the majority of its parts electronics and motors need to be purchased obviously and some steel bars are needed for support but the original idea was an open source printer project that one could build with a kit and then reproduce the kit and build another one for a friend. The project was to make 3d printing more mainstream
RepRap is exactly that. Opensource 3d printer that can print copies of itself.
is there a process of turning the parts back into usable powder
Actually, no. There's the one that uses a laser to sinter the fine metallic bits together in the printer itself.
Then there's one that uses an adhesive the glue the particles together, then your printed object is heated in a special oven, and the metallic particles are sintered together in there.
Just last night I saw one which uses three streams of helium to carry the particles, and uses a laser to melt them before they impact the target, so that the target is being hit by a fine metallic mist.
the guy in the thumbnail pic. cheer up guy!! you're on youtube a million views!!!
Can it take a image of a car motor and everything, scale it down so it could be miniature cars?
the main issue here is material. Right now, that issue (remember video was posted in 03-2011), can easily be resolved with more upgraded printers.
I've found a company in San Francisco. They are selling a printer for just 1,200 bucks! That's amazing. I think they are called Type A Machines or something like that. This technology is closer than we think! Cheers.
Were the tyres also printed?
Considering the cost of the nylon powder, I'd say this bike cost quite a bit more than the ones you could get from Walmart. Shapeways (Who has to mark up the cost for the service as well) charges roughly $1.80 per cubic centimeter. This would cost several thousand dollars through their service. It's a great demonstration of the material and the process, but it's not yet an economical way of producing anything besides prototypes.
When do we get 4D printers?
they can print metal as well and probably glass if someone tried
what did they make the tire out of?
im surprised it didn't break when he got on it the material must be more durable than i initially though
Actually there's some printers that can print really flexible plastic like the materials of actual bicycle tires
According to some definitions, we are already in the Third Industrial Revolution. The first one was the steam machines, the second one was the internal combustion and the third one are the computers, 3D printers, cellphones, etc.
Do you know the price of doing so? And do you even know it is made out of ABS plastic?
I like that someone thinks outside of the foreign media.
Nearly. Look at "RepRap". You can print some parts of a new printer, but you need the motors and some technical things to buy.
hahaha oh man, as a history student, its always funny for me to see things like this. People NEVER change.
there are a few websites you can use to get it printed and they will mail it internationally, though it is very expensive if you were going to do it i would open the model and hollow it (remember to leave a gap for some of the excess to run out) otherwise they will charge you even more
was highly expecting this to crumble to dust when he sat on it!
What if we used the 3D printers to print 3D printers?
My GOD, sir!! You are indeed correct!! I must own this...
The first computers cost millions, drew so much power an entire city's lights dimmed every time the thing was turned on, and was less powerful than a cell phone.
The price will come down.
What is called the material they make it of?
The price is between $600-4,000 on amazon right now
Ok its all cool but how much does it cost for the printiung material? It looks like lots of material is wasted i dont know thats why I ask.
"Bicycle" I lol'd
What does this have to do with the Aerospace industry?
Do they ride different types of bikes in Britain?
If it couldn't handle the tyre's air pressure, how could it handle the wight of the man on top of it? How do we know how resistant are all the parts? What if I pull a wheelie, or a stoppie, or run down a hill... How do I know if it'll survive the stresses?
In short: how resistant is this thing?
Guilherme Mauricio Dassault System design software will be able to show how 3D model resist to stress. Wait and see.
great vision there...talk about cutting down on fuel and shipping costs!
That crazy scientist in Richie Rich doesnt seem so crazy anymore
I hear you Brent. My friends worked with nylon in college and we learned the hard way. The technology is great, but this is not a good advert for it.
The algorithm recommended me this 12 year old video. I was wondering why they're talking about 3d printing like it's a new thing.
he will go down in history for riding that!
What was the cost to make it?
Id like to see Top Gear UK try this challenge and fail miserably lmao :)
It'd be cool to be able to buy something online and have it print out right there
this is pretty cool, just need to print me a nice king sized bed to sleep on !
That's amazing!!
Next project for the drawing board?
Something with wings or that floats maybe?
Yes! I actually saw a 3D printer that was assembled with parts printed from a 3D printer. That brings up the question like the chicken and the egg; which came first, the 3D printer or the parts printed on the 3D printer?
There's got to be a start somewhere, those iPhones, computer and other electronic gadgets we are using these days don't just suddenly materialise out of thin air! There have been trials and experiments before we got here. I think this is rather impressive, I can't wait to see what else will happen in the future with help of science.