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Charge Bikes x EADS: 3D Printing Titanium Parts for a Bicycle Frame

By Ray Hu - August 20, 2012

in Digital Fabrication

3D printing has been heading into uncharted territory of late, what with a recent, as-yet-unresolved IP debate. Yet while the DIY/consumer-oriented 3D printers are typically designed to extrude thermoplastics such as ABS, I (for one) didn't realize that 3D printing can also be used to make metal parts in a similar fashion. One commercially available process, electron beam melting (EBM to those in the know), has been around for upwards of a decade and its major applications include medical implants and aerospace engineering.

Alternately, as commenter Modul notes, metal objects can also be digitally fabricated in what is known as Direct Metal Laser Sintering (DMLS), which allows for a higher level of detail but requires postprocess thermal treatment, which is not necessary with EBM (a detail comparison of the two processes can be found here). Using their expertise in the second technique, European Aeronautic Defence and Space (EADS) recently collaborated with Charge Bikes (no acronym necessary) of Bristol, UK, on fabricating titanium dropouts for some of their cyclocross frames.

Andy Hawkins of EADS Innovation Works notes that "the key benefit of this technology [is that] we're able to manufacture components with a much higher degree of complexity. Features that were totally impossible with conventional machining, for instance, are now possible."

Additionally (or is that additively?), 3D-printing is substantially less wasteful than traditional subtractive methods, in which a block of material is milled or machined down to the final product: the excess powder (at 2:09 in the video below) can be reused.

Watch and learn:

Wild stuff.

Hat-tip to Aaron Panone

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Chasity

10 years ago

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I am really amazed by the precision of these titanium parts. These titanium parts open up completely new possibilities that were not possible with the conventional methods. I am curious where this will take us. Titanium parts that are crafted like this will increase the stability while maintaining the weight and thus will make cars and plans more efficient. Wow!
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name

12 years ago

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We have an EOS electron beam melting Titanium printer in our college rapid prototyping workshop. :)
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Adam

12 years ago

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Just FYI, when you machine something, the chips don't get thrown away. They are recycled and made into new blocks of metal. Not quite as energy efficient as reusing powder, but it's not like the metal is unusable after it gets machined off.
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Modul

12 years ago

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Wow, you did not do your homework before writting this article...
What you are showing pictures of is called DMLS (direct metal laser sintering) not EBM. Also the term 3D printing is usually associated with plastics. When using metals to create "real parts" is typically referred to as "Additive Manufacturing".
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