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Comment by Shivetya | Hacker News Reader

Its not a real car so don't call it one. Until it passed actual crash tests I don't are how much weight savings they claim to have.

I am impressed that someone took 3d printing this far, it shows the many uses traditional automakers will be able to derive from it, mostly on the component sides. There is no reason dash assemblies could not be done this for current makers other that costs and and that printing time. You can bet they have or are looking into such technologies.

There are many tricks to forming car bodies in steel that allow for variances of thickness and such. Hot form steel manufacturing being introduced now allows for thinner and stronger stamped steel parts; essentially a water cooled press.

So while its neat, its not a car, yet.

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My understanding is that 3-D printing is still only optimal for prototyping. Once you get into production of any size, traditional methods are much cheaper per unit.

It depends; 3D printing can be optimal for goods that are built to order (where having a mold for a one-off custom order would be a waste).

I can't help but wonder if it in some cases it will make sense to 3D print the mold.

The Rapid Prototyping Center at MSOE has several patents around creating mold casts with 3D printers. IIRC, one of their techniques allows building a tetra lattice coolant path around the part cavity, allowing more optimal cooling than traditional methods (increasing water turbulence, getting closer to the cavity face). They weren't printing the tools directly, but the tools could be made from the parts they generated.

That was about a decade ago, so I'm sure they've moved onto more exciting things.

I drive an old Montero. I frequently must wait a week or more for parts to be shipped - if I can even find them online. I dream of a day when I can walk into a shop and pay a premium for parts-on-demand.

You're dreaming of today? Because that's what it is. You can walk into just about any machine shop and get your part as long as you have drawings and material spec. You probably won't be happy with the cost, though.

The point is that the spare parts you need can be made with traditional manufacturing processes because that's how the original was done. Just because you only need one, doesn't necessarily make it easier to produce by a 3D printing machine.

One-off is by definition not production.

production: noun. 1 the action of making or manufacturing from components or raw materials, or the process of being so manufactured.

I'd say if you make a factory that takes raw materials and creates a series of one-off items, that you are engaging in production.

It seems like what you're really saying is, "this is not how production has been done in the past". With 3-D printing and related automation technologies, this will start to change very quickly. (It's already started, in fact).

Production is short for mass production in this context.

The advantage of a three wheel car is that it is not a car for regulation purposes, it's a motorcycle. Same reason there are tons of small motorcycle manufacturers.

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