Schlagwort: BigRep

Upgrade Your Ride with a 3D Printed Airless Bicycle Tire?

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To showcase their new flexible filament, 3D printer manufacturer BigRep fabricated a 3D printed airless bicycle tire and took it for a spin on the streets of Berlin.

Don’t Miss: BigRep Launches New Pro Flex Filament for 3D Printing

Summer’s here! It’s time to dust off your trusty bicycle and take it for a spin in the park. But wait, why is the rear tire looking so flat? Hmm, maybe you should take the roller blades instead…

Bicycle punctures are a royal pain, no doubt about it. And they’re also a fact of life for two wheeled transportation. But BigRep, a startup in Berlin that specializes in large format 3D printing, reckons they have a viable solution.

They’ve fabricated a 3D printed airless bicycle tire, and they’ve taken it for a ride on the city streets. The tire looks very similar to the prototypes devised by Michelin and others for the automotive industry. Only it’s been scaled down to fit the rims of a conventional city bike.

The tire is the work of designer Marco Mattia Cristofori, who you can also see taking it for a test ride in the video below:

What’s the Point of a 3D Printed Airless Bicycle Tire?

The beauty of a 3D printed airless bicycle tire is that it can be customized in terms of treads — whether for paths from pavement to mountain trails — and wheel size.

But can you expect to buy one in the not-too-distant future? According to BigRep, the prototype tire is primarily intended to showcase the potential of their new new Pro Flex filament. The material is based on TPU, and its flexible nature makes it perfect for an application like this.

Used in conjunction with a BigRep One, an industrial 3D printer with a square meter build volume, Pro Flex can be used for rapid prototyping of items as diverse as skateboard wheels, sporting shoe shells, and ski tips.

Moreover, this is but one of a handful of BigRep projects concerning things of a circular nature. The company has also created a 3D printed custom wheel rim for a car, and a group of engineers used a BigRep machine to print out a functional bicycle frame.

So it’s unlikely that BigRep will be going into the bicycle tire business anytime soon. But they’ve certainly blazed a trail for others to follow in their wake.

License: The text of „Upgrade Your Ride with a 3D Printed Airless Bicycle Tire?“ by All3DP is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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07/05/2018
BigRep and Etihad Airways Engineering to Partner Up

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Big Air meets Big Printing. BigRep and Etihad Airways Engineering announce plans to collaborate on developing next generation additive manufacturing solutions for the aerospace industry.

Since it was first launched three and half years ago, 3D printer manufacturer BigRep has quickly become a world leader in large format 3D printing technology. Today, they enter a new market by partnering with an industry leader in the aerospace industry.

BigRep and Etihad Airways Engineering have announced they are collaborating on a roadmap for the development of the next generation of Additive Manufacturing (AM) solutions for aerospace applications.

The companies seek to employ new approaches to realize the full potential of 3D printing for the production of cabin parts. The goal of the partnership is to accelerate the use of 3D printing in the aviation sector, with a focus on cabin interior parts for new aircraft, as well as for the retrofit market.

Etihad Airways Engineering will leverage its experience around the aircraft cabin lifecycle and its drive to develop novel cabin concepts that will be additively manufactured.

“Etihad Airways Engineering and BigRep share a vision to bring the 3D-printed cabin into production, together with our partners,” says Berhard Randerath, Vice President Engineering, Design & Innovation at Etihad Airways Engineering

“Our goal is to enable 3D-printing technologies for cabin parts – be it on new aircraft programmes or for retrofit installations – to serve our airline customers with innovative and smart solutions.”

Etihad Airways Engineering a Perfect Fit for BigRep

Berlin-based BigRep, which provides hardware, software, materials and services for large-scale 3D printing, sees this partnership with Etihad Airways Engineering as a logical step towards becoming the global leader in the digital manufacturing market.

“We believe that Etihad Airways Engineering, with its expertise, is the perfect fit to cooperatively shape the industrialisation of AM for the aviation industry, ” says Stephan Beyer, Interim CEO & CFO of BigRep GmbH.

“We believe that we offer the best additive manufacturing solutions today with our BigRep equipment, but to unfold the full potential of our technology for the aerospace sector, we have to jointly certify new aviation materials and establish specific AM design and engineering guidelines in parallel.”

Already, the partners have identified a need for a wider spectrum of polymer materials which can pass the aerospace certification process.

Currently, one of the biggest factors preventing the use of additive manufacturing for aircraft cabin interiors is the absence of high-performance materials that are EASA and FAA-certified. Both parties have agreed to jointly develop and test new material grades in accordance with EASA and FAA criteria.

Source: Press Release

License: The text of „BigRep and Etihad Airways Engineering to Partner Up“ by All3DP is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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12/04/2018
BigRep Launches New Pro Flex Filament for 3D Printing

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The new Pro Flex filament is a world first for the large-scale FDM industry, according to 3D printer manufacturer BigRep.

BigRep is a large-scale FDM 3D printer manufacturer based in Berlin, and today they announce a new “innovation” in filaments that many users of standard desktop printers may find rather quaint. It’s called Pro Flex, and it’s a flexible material with engineering grade properties for variety of applications.

So yes, tinkerers with modestly sized fused deposition modeling machines will have probably experimented with flexible materials for a while now. But BigRap is confident that this is a world first for the large-scale FDM industry. Given the generous square meter build volume of a BigRep ONE, fabricating something like a bouncy castle with Pro Flex is a distinct possibility.

But of course, the new TPU-based material Pro Flex is meant for more serious applications, providing manufacturers and customers with a flexible engineering material that has been developed and tested to work in tandem with a standard BigRep ONE and a 1 mm extruder.

“Printing elastomers is clearly one of the biggest challenges in the FDM AM industry, so we are proud to have found an industrial-grade solution,” says BigRep Chief Technology Officer Moshe Aknin.

“In terms of applications with Pro Flex, we see high potential for 3D printing in fields like footwear, custom vibration dampers, and seals, due to its high chemical resistance.”

Potential Applications for BigRep Pro Flex Filament

In terms of physical properties, Pro Flex has high temperature resistance and low temperature impact resistance. BigRap claims their new material is durable, has excellent damping behavior and dynamic properties, and will enable companies to explore a broader range of manufacturing opportunities.

For the automotive industry, for example, it can be used for prototyping for gear knobs, door handles, cable sheathing and more. The sporting goods industry is another industry that could benefit, where Pro FLEX can be used for prototyping skateboard wheels, sporting shoe shells, ski tips and ends.

In developing their thermoplastic elastomer, which is a Shore 98 A on the Shore Hardness scale, BigRep studied how elastomers behave in their printers’ extruders. They adapted their material evaluation procedure accordingly.

A note of caution, however. BigRep advises that customers must be experienced in handling extrusion of flexible materials. This is because achieve consistent results can be more challenging than standard filaments.

To this end, BigRep plans to provide a guidance document to all Pro Flex customers. And as part of the BigRep 360-degree service, customer service technicians are also on hand to assist where necessary.

The new Pro Flex filament is available to buy now from the BigRep online store; a 2 kg spool will retail for 98.90 euros plus VAT.

Source: Press Release

License: The text of „BigRep Launches New Pro Flex Filament for 3D Printing“ by All3DP is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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04/04/2018
Danish Engineering Students Use BigRep ONE 3D Printer to Create Functional Bicycle Design

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Mechanical engineering students from the Aalborg University Esbjerg have used a BigRep ONE to 3D print a functional bike frame in one piece. PhD doctorate Peter Riddersholm Lauridsen shares an inside look at this project, and explains how 3D printing enables students to hone their engineering skills.

In universities across the world, 3D printing is becoming an integral tool for students in the field of engineering and design. As many projects have shown, this technology has lead to the actualization of some big ideas, and that innovation is only amplified when a gigantic 3D printer like the BigRep ONE rolls onto campus.

The German manufacturer BigRep is known for its mammoth industrial-grade FDM 3D printers, its flagship being the BigRep ONE. This machine offers a 1005 x 1005 x 1005 mm build volume, dual-extrusion capabilities, auto-leveling, and the list of features goes on… Needless to say, the production scale leads to nearly limitless creative possibilities. We even collaborated with BigRep on a gigantic 3D printed fidget spinner back when they were all the rage.

Read more: Inside BigRep: Bringing in Big Bucks, Building Smaller Printers

Mechanical engineering students from the Aalborg University Esbjerg in Denmark are currently using the BigRep ONE for their own unique project. Led by PhD doctorate Peter Riddersholm Lauridsen, the goal is to 3D print a functional bicycle frame in a single piece.

Mechanical Engineers Hone Skills with 3D Printing Bicycle Frame Project

We talked to Lauridsen about why his team opted to create a 3D printed bicycle frame for their semester project. He explains that there are many factors an engineer must be aware of, such as the load carrying structure, material properties, dynamic loading on structures, and improving performance with new materials.

“A bike is a simple mechanical construction and obvious to use in a project. The idea was to design a topology optimized bike frame because 3D-printing makes it possible to make these complex structures. In the university, we have bought a BigRep ONE that makes it possible to print the bike frame in one piece. That was also one of the reasons why I specifically was going for a bike frame in the semester project,” says Lauridsen.

Looking for a material that is easy to print with, the bicycle frame is printed in orange PLA. The mechanical engineering team successfully printed the frame on their first try. In the future, they plan to repeat the project with a stricter focus on material performance and topology optimization.

Pedaling Towards a Functional Future with 3D Printing Technology

Despite being produced in plain PLA, Lauridsen claims that the bike frame is able to carry at least 90 kg of weight and works under certain conditions. In fact, the PhD doctorate states that this bike can be used to transport yourself around the university. He believes that the mechanical capabilities of a 3D printed bike frame will only improve as time goes on and the technology advances.

“I think it will be possible to design a usable 3D printed bike frame. The technology in the field evolves quickly and in a few years will this be possible. The print materials are also getting stiffer due to the added glass fibers and carbon fibers. Hopefully is it possible in near future to print with even higher percentage of glass fibers or carbon fiber in the filament,” Lauridsen concludes.

During the next semester, each student will have their own 3D printer to further explore the technology. For the mechanical engineers at Aalborg University Esbjerg, the BigRep ONE displays a large and open window into what will be possible in the future, as well as what engineering feats can be accomplished today.

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05/02/2018