Graphite Additive Manufacturing has worked with Schumacher Racing Cars, a leading manufacturer of remote control vehicles and accessories, to make a radio-controlled car almost entirely by 3D printing.
Graphite hopes to show the weight-saving benefit can be applied to a wide range of other applications in manufacturing. The company has strong credentials in this area, as it is headed up by managing director Kevin Lambourne, who previously managed the UK's largest rapid prototyping department in the 1990s and also spent seven years at Red Bull Racing, applying the technology.
Graphite printed the parts using its specialist Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) process, employing carbon fibre reinforced plastic.
The carbon fibre reinforced material used has the highest stiffness-to-weight and strength-to-weight ratios of any 3D-printed plastic, and its use gave a weight saving on the finished 'carbon' car of 10%, when compared to the car in standard trim.
Photo: Standard radio controlled car weighs 1 kg
Photo: 3D-printed car weighs 0.9 kg
The metal components, such as shock absorbers, floor pan and nuts and bolts, along with the rubber tyres, were carried over from the standard car, with these bolted straight into the 3D printed parts that required no additional work, other than the tapping of threads in certain areas.
