3d printed Aluminium Part

My friend and Ex-boss Tony  from Spee3d 3d printing machines with an aluminium bike part printed for me by Spee3d.

The new Spee3d part is on the deck.  It is equivalent to the assembly shown on the front of the bike, for a few pics of the whole bike see here.

Another view of the parts.

Hi

Today I was emailed by Tony from Spee3d to say that after a long wait, a 3d printed aluminium part I'd designed was ready for me.  Fortunately I was working in the next suburb and was able to pick it up after work without going too far out of the way.

The part is a very early use of the 3d spray technology, and I am really pushing it to even think of employing it on my bikes.  The assembly I aim to replace with the new part was documented in a previous post . The extrusion part has a 3mm wall thickness and this one has an 8mm wall.  For the complicated shapes the assembly uses lost wax castings.

For the new part, there's a bit of machining, cad and plastic 3d printing to go before I can even use it.

But lost wax casting has been around for about 6000 years and spray 3d printing about 2, guess which one is likely to develop quickly?  Anyway, I will keep documenting my progress with this part.

Regards

Steve Nurse