MitchJi
10 MW
Hi,
This will enable awesome Ebike frames and related parts, and it's affordable at $5k-$9k:
[youtube]Y5wjjDBdgeE[/youtube]
This will enable awesome Ebike frames and related parts, and it's affordable at $5k-$9k:
[youtube]Y5wjjDBdgeE[/youtube]
https://markforged.com/youtube said:Meet the Mark One: the world's first Carbon Fiber 3D printer
Designed to overcome the strength limitations of traditional 3D printed materials, the revolutionary Mark One 3D printer is the world's first 3D printer designed to print continuous carbon fiber. Now you can print parts, tooling, and fixtures with a higher strength-to-weight ratio than 6061-T6 Aluminum.
http://www.roadandtrack.com/racing/race-technology/go-printcutPrint real parts at your desk.
The magic is in the printhead. Our special blend of thermoplastics immediately hardens during printing. No nasty chemicals. No vacuum bagging. No post curing. This is one 3D printer you’d be happy to sit next to.
One part. Thousands of Continuous Carbon Fibers.
The incredible strength of carbon fiber comes from the long, continuous strands that carry load down the entire part. This is why space shuttles, rockets, and Formula 1 cars are constructed from continuous strand carbon. And it’s how we print. Don’t settle for plastic with a dash of chopped carbon fill. Longer is stronger.
A true multi-material machine.
When you don’t need one of the world’s strongest materials, the Mark One 3D prints a range of other materials to help professionals design and iterate quickly. Make tough parts with our Nylon Filament. Or load our tried and true, low-cost PLA filament for those quick form and fit prints. And if you need the best cost-to-strength solution, crank out a print using our exclusive Fiberglass Filament that uses the same patented Continuous Filament Fabrication™.
An aspect ratio made for engineers.
Parts often have a long axis. That’s why CNC machines are designed with a long axis, and why we followed suit.
Print more in less space.
We’ve constructed a large, industry-leading build size into a compact desktop package so you can create full scale parts in just about
any workspace.
Mark One Pre-order
$4,999
Pre-order a Mark One and be one of the first to 3D Print Continuous Carbon Fiber.
Mark One Developer Kit Pre-order
$8,799
Move to the front of the line, get twice the material, and start printing Kevlar®.
The Developer Kit includes:
Mark One 3D Printer. Earliest ship date*.
MarkForged software. Premium software support.
Kevlar® filament, 300 cm3 (18.3 in3)
Carbon fiber filament, 200 cm3 (12.2 in3)
Fiberglass filament, 300 cm3 (18.3 in3)
Nylon filament, 2000 cm3 (122 in3)
PLA filament, 2000 cm3 (122 in3)
5 x CFF Quick-change nozzle
5 x FFF Quick-change nozzle
2 additional print beds
If 3D-printed carbon fiber is the future, it's already here
3D printing is transforming manufacturing. Can it work for cars?
By Michael Frank June 30, 2014 / Photos by Jeong Suh/Bryan Christie Design
From a production standpoint, 3D printing, also known as additive manufacturing and rapid prototyping, has myriad advantages over pieces created by computer-numerical-control (CNC) machine work. The latter requires tremendous time and brain power to design the milling process. Most notably, material cost plummets when you're not cutting shapes from excess material, as you do with any CNC setup. But plastic, the customary media for modern rapid prototyping, lacks the necessary strength-to-weight ratio for most automotive components. So the fiction-to-fact turning point for car parts is the advent of 3D-printable carbon fiber.
Right now, that's actually possible with the brand-new MarkForged Mark One printer, which can print parts from continuous carbon fibers. Previously, only short fibers could be used in 3D printing, which limits strength and stiffness. The Mark One means the 3D-printing process can now create finished parts, not just prototypes, that match the strength and durability of those molded or machined from high-performance composites.
The man behind MarkForged, MIT-educated aerospace engineer Greg Mark, comes from the racing world. His first company, Aeromotions, built carbon-fiber wings for motorsport the old way: laying up material by hand, with huge delays between engineering and manufacturing. And given that every wing was built specifically for each model, the material waste and long delivery time line ensured that even expensive wings barely turned a profit.
"Everything from suspension components to wheels printed on demand: It sounds amazing."
But once you can print carbon fiber, the cost model shifts. Manufacturing time evaporates, and iterating and troubleshooting become almost immediate. Schedule a track test, capture data, then build new ground-effects components or bodywork right at the track—just hit "print" and come back four hours later.
That potential has drawn the interest of several Formula 1 teams. "Imagine how quickly they could experiment with different downforce models between races," Mark notes, without naming the interested parties. That nimbleness could also benefit automakers. "You could build an entire car frame in just a week or print suspension components to update a vehicle during its life cycle," Mark says.
Working parts are trickier, but the potential is huge because printed carbon allows for precise construction with a far higher carbon-to-resin ratio. And mass-production applications won't have to make identical parts: With a set of fixed body dimensions and mounting points, manufacturers could build custom interiors while still using factory assembly, by printing bespoke parts right at the line.
For now, buying a replacement fender is still cheaper than printing your own. But three years ago, Mark didn't know he could 3D-print carbon fiber. Who knows what will be possible in 2017.