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3-d Printed Car - Foxnews 11/17 - Text & Video
- Thread starter ks6c
- Start date
zelio
Elio Addict
A quote from the text:
Local Motors says that its cars will be the safest on the road because the company can use them in real crash tests, then rebuild what didn’t work the next day.
I hope they mean before you pay $18,000 to own and drive the thing. LOL :-) Z
It's a tech not quite ready for mass production. Small production will have to happen first.
Now keep in mind, this printed for 45 hours. Large machine tool time is worth anywhere between $50 and $500 per hour depending on the tool size and technology. Then add labor and facilities costs on top of that.
I suspect that 45hours is about 40hours more automated machine time than what current production requires. Probably about $4000 added in production costs. Of course there were other nice tradeoffs to the benefit of 3d printing. The 'finishing' doesn't seem to be one of them.
BilgeRat
Elio Addict
And there's another one out there... I'll grant that they're not ready for prime time just yet, but I've learned my lesson about scoffing at new technology, and 3D printing will be a complete game changer.
http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/27430-the-urbee-3d-printed-car-coast-to-coast-on-10-gallons
http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/27430-the-urbee-3d-printed-car-coast-to-coast-on-10-gallons
OctoberGlory
Elio Addict
Cute design, but " -- the sticker price will likely be between $16,000 and $50,000 depending on how many are produced yearly." Ouch!
http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/229882
BilgeRat
Elio Addict
Exactly. But I would expect that to change with time. Who knows for sure at this point? There's a lot of "good ideas" out there, and not all that many come to fruition. FWIW, I'd like to see Paul Elio and Burt Rutan team up on a vehicle; it would be a hoot to see what that brain trust could come up with! 
NSTG8R
Elio Addict
Exactly. But I would expect that to change with time. Who knows for sure at this point? There's a lot of "good ideas" out there, and not all that many come to fruition. FWIW, I'd like to see Paul Elio and Burt Rutan team up on a vehicle; it would be a hoot to see what that brain trust could come up with!
Burt Rutan's my hero!
And Paul might be in that class a year from now.
Burt Rutan's my hero!
And Paul might be in that class a year from now.
With Branson's backing?
NSTG8R
Elio Addict
With Branson's backing?
Holy cow!! I just flashed back to the day when yard work was done by the kids (me), and my older brother (3yrs older) got to run the lawn mower (when Dad finally bought a ICE type). Then, we had the dread "clippers" (note: The weedeater HAD to be invented by somebody around my age)...usually dull as politician. I remember that I just wasn't "really into it" that day, and Dad walked up, and said something soooo close to that. I believe it was, "If you're not going to do it right, don't do it at all!". So I thought, "Okay.", and flipped the clippers (nemesis) into the ground. Dad didn't say a word, the look said it all (heading for an ass-whoopin').
The yard looked perfect when I "finally" got done. To this day, I live by those words!
NSTG8R
Elio Addict
With Branson's backing?
Oh, and as for the tragic mishap, I believe they determined it was "co-pilot" error releasing something-or-other at the wrong time that caused the break-up in flight. Branson's just a brilliant entrepreneur, that had a great idea back in the day (Virgin Records), and parlayed that into an empire. A Dem would be offended by his wealth, a Rep would be impressed.....Oops, revealed my leanings! Some might say odd for a 27yr union guy. Fourth beer, time to quit posting! (somebody find me a "toasting" emoticon, please!)