I came accross this article the other day, and I thought it was very interesting. Many of us have heard about 3D printing, but I personally didn't know much about it. I had seen a new story not that long ago where the reporter asked for the company to print a wrench, which the printer printed in about 10 minutes. Cody and Tyler Kor are looking to drive across country in a car made entirely of 3D printed parts. Even better, their going to do it on only 10 gallons of gas.
In short, objects are printed when a computer aided design is uploaded to the printer. Object are printed using a substance called PolyJet, a resin, one microscopic lair at a time. Stratasys, the company with the largest 3D printer in the world, has a printer nearly 9 feet long by 6 feet tall, which can print objects as large as 36x24.
The physics of the car is actually quite interesting; it has a lower drag coefficient than a Prius. The entire car consists of 50 pieces. The MSRP for this car, anywhere between $16,000 and $50,000. Obviously, it's a wide range, but because it's not manufactured for the masses yet, there's no way to tell.
Take a look at the concept design...
Wow, that's quite crazy! So next thing we know is hear a colleague brag at lunch about his freshly printed Ferrari :)
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