May 28, 2015 | By Simon
Since desktop 3D printers have gone ‘mainstream’, a running joke that has popped up repeatedly has been the “You wouldn’t download a car” video frame from a famous anti-piracy ad that up until a few years ago was shown before films.
Of course, for anybody who has kept up with current events in the additive manufacturing world knows, “yes”, you would download a car and 3D print it if you could!
While we’ve been seeing full-sized and functioning 3D printed cars - most notably the Strati from US-based Local Motors - few designs have focused on creating car body assemblies similar to existing car bodies made by traditional manufacturing techniques.
Now, a newly-launched 3D printer manufacturer has created one of the most iconic cars of all time - a 1:8 scale model of Bugatti Veyron - in a multiple-part assembly using parts that were printed using their new 3D printer design.
The company, 3D Printers SP. z o. o., is a Polish company that is demonstrating the capabilities of their new Hbot 3D Printer by creating the complicated Bugatti car model - which measures in at an impressive 57 cm long.
The idea to create the 3D printed Bugatti Veyron came after the company did an extensive search of existing 3D models that were available to 3D print. While there were many available car models, most were surface mesh models that were created for the purpose of creating renders rather than 3D prints. The company chose to print a Bugatti Veyron of all cars because they thought that it would be the most “spectacular model to print”.
"Our choice was Bugatti Veyron which occurred to be a very spectacular model to print." Arkadiusz Śpiewak, CEO of 3D Printers Sp. z o.o. company, tells us. "Every single part of Bugatti was printed using material in different color so that model didn't have to be painted after printing. The only thing needed to be done was assembly of printed parts. The models of this kind are valuable example of the way that FDM 3D printing technology may help many automotive companies in presenting their concept cars."
To design the car, the design engineers started from scratch but used a surface mesh model of an existing Bugatti as a point of reference. Starting with the chassis as the base for the rest of the model, the design team built up the body while adding finer details such as door handles and side mirrors towards the end of their process. Of all of the final parts, the biggest single element is 250 mm long while the smallest measures in at just 9 mm.
The finished, 57 cm-long final assembly is 1:8 the scale of an original Bugatti Veyron and was printed using six different colors of PLA - all of which were the company’s own HBOT 3D Filaments. The project took a total of two weeks to create and the team printed all of the parts on three of the company’s HBOT 3D printers to help speed up the process. According to the team, the modeling time was approximately 80-100 hours while the printing and assembly process took an estimated 300 hours. The model is 100% 3D printed using FDM technology and contains 60 parts.
Of course, projects like this aren’t made by people who quietly make one project and never create again. The company is currently looking at some new projects to create using their Hbot 3D printer - including full-scale 3D printed models of motorcycles and some collaborations with professional artists and designers.
"The model is going to be evaluated and internal parts like seats, steering wheel etc. will be modeled to show the whole functional model." Arkadiusz tells us. "You will be able to see the interior by opening the windows and the roof. There is also a plan to prepare the wheels model that will allow to use the regular stock bearings."
Either way, the Bugatti Veyron is a great start for the new company and their Hbot FDM 3D printer, which features a build area of 300 x 300 x 300 mm and is already well-known in the Polish and Japanese markets. The company is currently selling the Hbot on their online store starting at €3,074.69.
Find out more on the Hbot - including an option to order free samples of 3D prints that were done on the machine - by heading over to the company’s online store. For those who want to download and 3D print their own Bugatti Veyron, find out more by heading over to the project’s Thingiverse page.
Posted in 3D Printing Applications
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