Designer Spencer Wright has been working on this 3D printed titanium seatmast topper for quite some time. What you’re seeing here is something like the 6th prototype made, and soon his first functional one will go to Germany for destructive testing.
The seatmast topper is meant to be both a commercially viable product and an experiment in future capabilities for using the process to create consumer goods. It’s made using DMLS (direct metal laser sintering) from 6/4 titanium powder and, yep, lasers.
To give you an idea on where the technology is, earlier this year this part was featured in an 3D metal printing industry guidebook, reporting that initial estimates for prototype production were about $1,000 to $2,400. Per piece…
Here’s what the finished piece may look like. Part of the complication seems to be getting the build structure right, which allows for exact control over wall thickness of the finished product. Below, the video shows the first couple millimeters of a build. The part’s laying on its side, and most of what you’re seeing is the support structure to keep it positioned properly during construction. It’s kinda like scaffolding, and you can see it on the prototype part at the top the post. Eventually, that excess material would be machined off and the part polished.
Intriqued? Check out a couple more 3D printed Ti parts and bikes here, here and here.
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