Jan.25, 2014
The FAB Velo, created by Mark Richardson is a DIY Velomobile (trike with a faring) that can be made with common household tools, scrap materials and off-the-shelf components, coupled together with digital 3D printed parts.
Formally a senior designer at Ford Motor Company, Richardson focuses on understanding contemporary transportation design trends and seeks evidence to support the advancement of ecological and social imperatives for sustainable mobility systems. These interests motivated him to design upcycled products, such as this FAB Velo, through open-source hardware and production. The FAB Velo project proposes a modular, upcycled, and DIY velomobile design, with the aim of making personal transport more accessible, diverse and sustainable. The vehicle design can be personalised and made at home by anyone from waste materials.
"The project focused on two primary design explorations — the FAB velo velomobile (as a means of personal transport) and the temostruder 3D printer (as a means of its production) — and a third minor study explored the use of parts from the 3D printer to make an alternative product." explains Designboom.
The components included in the bike were taken from stuff you can easily find in many houses: discarded 2D printers, discarded whipper snippers, bikes, tents and a wheelchair etc. After assembly, it has two wheels up front, one in back, and even a shell made out of a tent. Thanks to 3D printing, the 'fab velo' couplings are made to fit the inner diameter of the tube perfectly and end-users can simply update the digital file and 3D print only the quantity needed.
Posted in 3D Printing Applications
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