3D Printed Carbon Fiber Bike
In the search of a material everything all at once we struggle to find something that really stands out. However, 3D Printed Carbon Fiber could be the future of 3D printing and in line with the ideas we look at in our previous blog: The Future of Additive.
As a 3D filament manufacturer and material specialist, we at 3D Print Works are constantly looking for new and exciting 3D materials. This is where Arevo captured our attention with their latest Carbon Fiber bike.
Not simple a carbon fibre bike, but one that uses 3D technologies to combine carbon fiber strands with thermoplastics like polyether ether ketone (PEEK) and nylon. Utilising this process, they achieved a material that is highly temperature resistance, light weight and won’t be beaten on strength.
3D Printed Carbon Fiber - Innovations
This isn’t the first time we have seen 3D printed carbon fiber bikes. Satoshi Yanagisawa from Japanese company ‘Triple Bottom Line’ developed a road racing bike with components made up of 3D Printed Carbon Fiber and titanium. This manufacturing method allows for a strong and lightweight frame to be achieved. However, it’s highly unlikely you would find this in your local 'Halfords' with the retail price being $2500.
In an interview with Hemant Bheda founder of Arevo, he explains how the real benefits of incorporating 3D Printed carbon fiber into this process is the time it takes to go from design to finished product. With the ability to shrink an 18 month design cycle into 18 days without compromising on ride quality. This is a very exciting time for 3D Printed Carbon Fiber. These quick processes once again demonstrate how additive manufacturing has the ability to achieve precise customization in no time at all.
With the high costs to produce ‘Triple Bottom Line’s’ road bike, Arevo have managed to reduce this figure significantly with it only costing $300 to produce the carbon fiber frame. This is very impressive and we are excited to see how 3D Printed Carbon Fiber applications develops as the material becomes more accessible to financial restricted projects.
