Bristol engineers invent nylon bicycle strong as steel

[ACS]

From the BBC

Linky

 

[adscrim]

His freewheel sounds a bit rough!

Interesting though.

 

[ASC1951]

Hmm. Every time I hear a spokesman from an arms manufacturer like EADS urging "the Government to back winners", I put my hands in my pockets to make sure that my cash stays there. EADS wouldn't recognise a profitable non-subsidised product if it fell out of the sky in front of them.

Bless the BBC, scanner/plotters of this sort have been around for years - and organisations who employ journalists with actual scientific knowledge reported on them years ago.

 

[downfader]

Hmm. Every time I hear a spokesman from an arms manufacturer like EADS urging "the Government to back winners", I put my hands in my pockets to make sure that my cash stays there. EADS wouldn't recognise a profitable non-subsidised product if it fell out of the sky in front of them.

Bless the BBC, scanner/plotters of this sort have been around for years - and organisations who employ journalists with actual scientific knowledge reported on them years ago.

True, nylon laser parts have been used for years in various industries but it is very expensive and more labour intensive than carbon fibre iirc. I've seen it used for car parts, reconstruction of archeological artifacts like skulls and bones..

Dont EADS work for Nasa providing parts? Sure I saw that bloke on a Nasa documentary.

 

[Piemaster]

I think there is a company doing something similar with the technology and can produce a 3D model of your babys face while its still in the womb.

 

[2Loose]

3D printers have been around for years working in similiar kinds of material, as ASC1951 pointed out.
I think the 'new' feature of this is that the new nylon is both easy enough to use on this kind of printer and also far, far stronger than normal nylon.

Printing 3D babies is one thing, but printing 3D components that can stand up to industrial wear and tear is another and one step closer to being able to buy a bag of powder and chemicals and then pop out to print your own wheelbarrow\bike\bookshelf\gearbox\lawnmower etc.

Nice

 

[Fozz]

i`m just worried about the build up of static............

 

[snailracer]

i`m just worried about the build up of static............

The sparks do away with the need for bike lights .

 

[twentysix by twentyfive]

He guarantees we can print our own in 10 years time. Hmmmmmmmmph ??????????

 

[dellzeqq]

He guarantees we can print our own in 10 years time. Hmmmmmmmmph ??????????

you can buy a home 3D printer now http://www.desktopfactory.com/

the bike was simply a bit of publicity for EADS. Now, if you're serious about revolutionary materials....

 

[summerdays]

It was on the local Inside Out West tonight for about 10 mins ... when they went to do the first test ride the pressure in the tyre broke the rim of the wheel. On the actual ride it looked very jerky to ride.

 

[vernon]

You can build your own home 3d printer now from a kite from Maker Bot

Determined folk can build them for around 1/3rd of the price if they do a bit of searching for the bearings and rodding themselves.

Googling for open source 3D printing will give geeks many pleasurable fantasies - I am at the threshold of making a purchase and will still be there for the next few years until I can persuade myself that it would be a wise purchase.

The UK product is known as Reprap and was created in the University of Bath.

I have a 3d printed ball within a cage that was printed at a demonstration of rapid prototyping at Leeds University in 1992 or thereabouts.