Riding into the future – 3D printed

bike

Presented by David Ewing, Marketing Engineer

Renishaw Additive Manufacturing Products Division

Altair Technology Conference 2014

The world’s first 3D printed metal bike frame

Slide 2 7/2/2014

• British mountain bike manufacturer

• Won prestigious reddot award in 2010

• Used 3D printed plastic components to

prototype new designs

• Had the vision to use metal additive

manufacturing in bicycle construction

Who are Empire Cycles?

Slide 3 7/2/2014

• £347 million turnover, 3400 worldwide staff

• Inventor of the touch trigger probe, widely used on coordinate

measurement machines (CMM’s)

• Apply innovation – around 15% of revenue invested in research and

engineering development

• Diverse product range – measurement equipment, additive

manufacturing, laser surveying equipment, dental equipment, Raman

spectroscopy

• Efficient high quality manufacturing sites

Who are Renishaw?

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Renishaw’s AM250 Additive Manufacturing system

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Slide 6 7/2/2014

Is it rideable?

Slide 7 7/2/2014 [1] http://www.dreammagazine.co.uk/

[2] http://www.empire-cycles.com/

• Empire MX-6 - starting point for design

• Swing arm is machined from a solid billet of aluminium alloy

• Frame is tubular, welded to machined components

• Seat post bracket is cast aluminium alloy and weighs 360 g

Empire Cycles

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• Build volume – 129 cm³

• Support volume – 5 cm³

Original design

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• Topological optimisation using Altair’s solidThinking Inspire 9.5

software

• Next iteration drawn in CAD

• Design review, model optimised by removing the downward facing

surfaces that would otherwise have needed support structures

• Produced in titanium alloy with <1 mm wall thickness – weight

reduced from 360 g to 200 g

Seat post – topological optimisation

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• From the Greek – Topo meaning way or path, literally the optimum load

path

• Bounding box is defined

• Altair’s solidThinking Inspire 9.5 software calculates the material under

least strain and removes it in iterative steps

• What is left is the most efficient way for the material to transmit the loads

• This is not necessarily optimised for AM build

• Due to surface texture re-modelling is

required

Topological optimisation

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• First design iteration

required excessive

supports

• Volume of part – 78 cm³

• Support 26 cm³ (25% of

build is support structure)

First iteration

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• The part was also shelled, the hollow legs further reduce the volume

from 78 cm³ to 46 cm³

• This reduces build time and also weight

Second iteration

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Comparison of original and optimised for build

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Arch builds unsupported Web angle

45° self supporting Radius < 3 mm

• With these design modifications the part could be built with few supports

Second iteration

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• A key advantage of Additive Manufacturing is that it is not constrained

by the same design rules as conventional manufacture

• This means multiple assemblies can be made in one piece:

Multiple components consolidated

Slide 16 7/2/2014 [3] http://www.gereports.com/post/80701924024/fit-to-print

• GE’s LEAP fuel nozzle is an excellent example: “3D printing

allowed engineers to use a simpler design that reduced the

number of brazes and welds from 25 to just 5”[3]

• Internal bracing and webs can

improve strength

• By applying 2D lattice work or 3D

mesh

• Aim to emulate bone-like structures

(particularly birds) which have

optimum specific strength

Internal and complex structures

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Optimised components

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• Nottingham University project to look at topological optimisation of

bike components, as well as aluminium lattice structures (ALSAM)

• Crank arm

• The design was constrained by the size of the machine chamber

• 3M advised on a high strength 2-part epoxy developed specifically for

titanium

• Ribs were incorporated into the design to optimise glue gap

• Demonstrates possible aero applications – aircraft have evolved from

75% aluminium to 50% composites and 15% titanium[4]

• Bonding is increasingly used in aerospace

Why bonding?

Slide 19 7/2/2014 [4] http://www.boeing.com/commercial/aeromagazine/articles/qtr_4_06/AERO_Q406_article4.pdf

Epoxy applied to

socket joints

The future

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• Lattices reduce weight

• SolidThinking Inspire 9.5 software

being applied to the whole bike

frame

• Aim of reducing the frame weight to

less than 1 kg

• Carbon fibre bike images courtesy of

Delta 7 and BME

[5] http://www.delta7bikes.com/

[6] http://www.bmedesign.eu/c-thruframe.htm

[5] [5]

[6]

• Build time for frame ‘kit’ = 90 hours

• Mass of titanium powder = 1400 g (compared with 2100 g for the

original in aluminium alloy)

• Cost is high presently, feasibility study rather than for commercial

release

• If the mass can be significantly reduced both the powder and

processing costs will also be reduced

• Intelligent design can result in win-win

Cost effectiveness

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• Key advantage – bike can be tailored to the riders size, height and

riding style

• Compliance and stiffness can be tailored to give a comfortable but

precise ride

• Very unlikely to see industrial printers in the home

• Local distribution centres, bike shops, internet order?

• An Australian company custom make bikes using hybrid of 3D printed

lugs and titanium tube[7]

• One limitation is time spent in the design stage and CAD software

Mass customisation

Slide 22 7/2/2014

[7] http://www.flyingmachine.com.au/2014/01/3d-printed-titanium-bike-of-the-future/

• With imagination and good design tools a lot can be achieved

• Additive manufacturing can unlock some of this potential

• However it is not a ‘magical’ process – the outputs will only be as

good as the design input

• The future is very exciting, number of metal Additive Manufacturing

machines sold increased 75% from 2012 to 2013[1]

• Wohlers believes Additive Manufacturing could someday account for

2% of worldwide manufacturing, which would be a $210 billion

industry[1]

• Just as in 1903 when two bicycle mechanics who’s business really

‘took off’ could not comprehend today's aerospace industry, it is

difficult to predict how additive manufacturing will shape

our lives in the future.

• Renishaw continues to invest in this pioneering field

Summary

Slide 23 7/2/2014 [8] Wohlers report 2014 - http://www.wohlersassociates.com/

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