3D printing technology has become science fact, and new engineering techniques are making printing larger, more complex objects – bicycle frames, for instance – a reality.
The Arc Bicycle is just such an example. It's the product of a engineering student design project by five students based at the Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) in the Netherlands. Their aim was to create a 'proof of concept', to demonstrate that a new method of 3D printing was capable of making a functional medium-sized complex object – and they succeeded.
The Arc consists of a 3D printed stainless steel frame, formed of a spidery web of struts and looking both organic and futuristic. The team behind it claim it weighs in at 'under 20kg' – so we'd leave those Alpine ascents alone for now – and when fitted with bars, forks, wheels and gears is fully functional. In fact, it survived a ride around the lumpy cobbled streets of Amsterdam.
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"We didn’t know how the material would behave, so we chose to make it extra strong and sacrifice a bit of weight." the design team said. "Our frame proves it’s possible to produce a bicycle frame in this way that was our goal.
"We tested the bicycle on the streets of Delft and it performed well. It offers quite a smooth ride. The wheelbase and the low centre of gravity of the bicycle make it easy to take fast turns. It has a fixed-gear configuration which was the most elegant solution for us as it's primarily a concept bicycle."
Drawn-out printing process
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