This (Mostly) 3D-Printed Car Is About To Take Its First Drive - Motherboard

This (Mostly) 3D-Printed Car Is About to
Take Its First Drive

Written by
September 12, 2014 // 02:30 PM EST
VICTORIA TURK (/AUTHOR/VICTORIATURK)
A US auto company just 3D-printed a car over a couple of days, and will take it for its rst drive
tomorrow morning. Local Motors printed out their Strati car (http://uk.ign.com/articles/2014/09
/11/worlds-rst-3d-printed-car-built-live-at-imts) at the International Manufacturing Technology
Show in Chicago this week, and theyre adamant itll be the rst of many. The company's vision:
worldwide micro-factories that can print you a road-safe car on demand, so you can upgrade your
vehicle as often as your mobile phone.
The Strati design took just 44 hours to print, which Local Motors CEO Jay Rogers told me on the
This (Mostly) 3D-Printed Car Is About to Take Its First Drive | Mot... http://motherboard.vice.com/read/this-mostly-3d-printed-car-is-abo...
1 of 9 9/13/2014 2:57 AM
phone is already down from 130 hours a few weeks ago. The company, which previously received
attention for its Creative Commons-licensed Rally Fighter design (http://localmotors.com
/rallyghter/), claims its the rst 3D-printed car. While that title might be up for debatevarious
bits of cars have been printed beforeits got some pretty cool features.
The whole main body of the Strati, including chassis, fenders, bonnet, dashboard, and so on, is
3D-printed out of an ABS-based lament reinforced with carbon-bre. Obviously, the motor,
battery, suspension and suchlike are not printedwere not quite there yet. But unlike earlier
3D-printed cars, such as the Urbee unveiled back in 2010 (http://www.dailymail.co.uk
/sciencetech/article-2041106/Urbee-The-worlds-printed-car-rolling-3D-printing-presses-.html), it
doesnt have a metal chassis underneath.
Speaking from the technology show, Rogers told me that the point was to radically reduce the
number of parts in the car.
The supply chain (http://motherboard.vice.com/blog/how-counterfeit-plastic-led-to-aston-martin-
recalling-17590-cars) that we have in the world keeps us from changing cars quickly, because if
you have to order 25,000 parts, your suppliers are very dicult to organise, he said.
That, he suggested, is why manufacturers have tried to extend the life of each model while also
developing as many models on the same platforms as possible. But by printing the chassis tub in
one piece, the company can massively cut down on the complexity of the car.
(/EN_US?TRK_SOURCE=HEADER-LOGO)
2 of 9 9/13/2014 2:57 AM
The whole building process of the car is pretty intriguing, and Rogers admitted that the main
reason theyre referring to it just as 3D printing is because people still go crazy for the term. It
actually uses a few dierent digital manufacturing processes, as the car is printed, cut, and
assembled by machine.
A rst machinethe 3D printerextrudes the material onto a heated bed, much like a regular
desktop printer but oversized much less accurate. We dont look for the surface nish of anything
close to your standard printers, said Rogers, and explained that the bead they lay down is a
half-inch wide, which gives a very stripy nish. A milling machine driven by the same computer
program then mills the rough surface down so its smooth.
3 of 9 9/13/2014 2:57 AM
--
Rogers was enthusiastic that the car will be road-safe, and said hes looking to get it approved as a
low-speed electric vehicle. The one going for the test drive on Saturday can reach 40 mph.
But the cost is perhaps the most attractive element. We think its going to be incredibly disruptive
on the cost side, said Rogers. At $4.80 a pound for the materials, the raw product costs around
$4,800 per chassis before all the extra bits. Were hopeful that the car can be priced between
$18,000 and $30,000, said Rogers. For an early disruptive car, those numbers are in Toyota
range.
Read: Finally, 3D Printers Are Making Things That Are Actually Useful (http://motherboard.vice.com
/read/nally-3d-printers-are-making-things-that-are-actually-useful)
Whats most interesting about Local Motors longer-term vision is that it shows how 3D printing
could revolutionise a broader system of supply and demand. The company aims to open 50 micro
factories internationally in the next ve years (they currently have three (https://localmotors.com
/microfactory/), all in the US).
Thats pretty much the dream of 3D printing: Go into a shop, order what you want, and have it
made instantly, on site, with no wasted materials. Though Id wait for the crash safety tests before
you drive it out of the lot.
4 of 9 9/13/2014 2:57 AM
TOPICS: 3D Printing (/tag/3D+Printing), cars (/tag/cars), factories (/tag/factories), manufacturing
(/tag/manufacturing), design (/tag/design), machines (/tag/machines), Local Motors
(/tag/Local+Motors), Strati (/tag/Strati)
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