Not having much experience drawing bike frames, this is the final shape that I came up with after all of my constraints were considered. I wanted it to be stylish, but at the same time I had to make sure the print was very clean and presentable. Working with such a large scale printer can be very challenging, but I found it easier to design according to the printer's capabilities.
This model displays how the two half pieces work. Since I had to print on a flat surface with no support material, I used angles to my advantage. I simply increased the layers as the printer moved toward the seat creating the angle I was looking for. This gave me room for the back tire and made the whole design possible. This idea stumbled upon me just when I thought there was no hope.
In order to assemble the bike I had to adhere both sides. This picture shows the frame just as I finished clamping it together.
This is me with the bike frame right after I unclamped it from drying all night, you could say I was very anxious to piece everything together.
The final design came out much better than I expected. Everything worked out in the end and I am very grateful for having such an amazing experience working with my coworkers and of course the BAAMCI . Additive Manufacturing is making a huge jump by coming out with printers such as the BAAMCI and the future looks promising. I hope that in some way my work has made an impact on others furthering the research in Big Area Additive Manufacturing, my time working for SABIC has been priceless.
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3D Printed Bike
January 2015
This Project was quite the engineering task. The objective was to print a bike on a 3D printer, but the problem was that the BAAMCI that I was operating on does not have any support material. To understand the importance of support material refer to my project, My Design Process. These constraints caused me to think outside the box a little and print the frame in halves. Granted that the structural integrity of the build is lacking, this is not the whole point behind the project. This projects can open doors to applications that may not have been considered before. This bike may not be perfect in the eyes of a professional bicyclist, but in the eyes of an engineer it shows promise.
