3D Printed Bike

Anyone have a Printer I can borrow, and some "Ink".. What do they call the plastic used for 3d Printers?? Resin?

 

PLA, typically. And from what I've seen of it, you won't see me going 120MPH on it.

 

More accurately, a motorcycle where all the plastic parts were 3D printed.
Doing that is not new, a 3D printed Shelby Mustang was done years ago. All the plastic was 3D printed. They, however, were honest and did not lie and say the whole thing was 3D printed. Like the bike above, the engine, lights, electronics, wiring, drivetrain, brakes, bearings, ect...…. were not 3D printed.

 

You can print metal objects? That is a new one! I am aware of high temperature metal deposition, as is used in cylinder walls and my flame spray rig.
Plastic bearings, especially 3D printed ones are a waste of time in an application like this.
Now, if they built a demonstration item, rather than something that any rational person would consider a real useable motorcycle, that is believable. Keep it under 10MPH and only drive it 10 or 25 feet, well whoop de doo. That has been done by a lot of people, as I said, and entire car frame and body has been made that way.
If you want to see a plastic motorcycle, even one with an electric motor, just go to any large toy store. They also have 100% plastic trikes.
My issue is that the promotion leads people to believe things that are not true. They are lying by omission.

 

OK if selective melting of material is 'printing', then casting is 'printing'.
The processes that work with metal don't operate in any way whatsoever as 3D printing does.
My flame spray rig (20's technology) operates more like a 3d Printer does than selective melt systems as it actually places the material rather than having it already sitting in a fixture. Selective melt is NOT 'printing' . A person could claim casting was 'printing', it wouldn't make it so.
Calling a torch heating metal powder sitting in a tray a 3D printer is an insult to the intelligence of the reader.

 

That Metal Flame Spray rig sounds like a Great tool. Did you use that on your Ranchero build?

 

Yes I did.
It had a vinyl top, and the front roof corners on both sides were rusted through. I sandblasted the metal bare, made copper backing and remade the sheet metal by spraying on liquified steel/nickel. It goes on like paint. You use two torches, one to get the base metal up to temp and another than melts the powder and sprays it on.
The rig only costs $500 and has a lot of uses, including repairing seal scoring on axles or hubs, or cracks in cast iron.

 

Ribald, is this the process you're talking about? Looks pretty cool.

 

I'm restoring a car right now that had a vinyl top, has the usual acne from rust and needs help.
That sounds like the ticket..

 

Pretty cool technology..

 

Yes. That one has more bells and whistles than my rig has, but it works exactly the same way.

 

That is a wiz-bang rig compared to mine, and as I had larger holes I had to make copper backing for the metal to form on (the weld won't stick to copper), but that is how I fixed my Ranchero. That one is a plasma unit, so it can be used on flat panels, a standard flame spray rig requires the metal be red hot and that will warp a flat panel. Around high crown areas though, it is the cat's meow.
My high school metal shop teacher had one of them, his dad was a retired professional welder, it was made in the 40's. I had always wanted one, and when I saw the condition of the roof, I knew it was the way to go and broke down and bought it.