Here at 3D Rapid Print, one of the fastest growing 3D Printing companies in the Thames Valley, we like to keep abreast of the latest innovations in 3D printing.
Multinational car manufacturer Ford Motor Company of Dearborn, Michigan has been a significant sponsor of Hoonigan Racing Division professional rally driver Ken Block, who is also a co-founder of sports footwear specialist company DC Shoes of Huntington Beach, California. Circa February 2019, Ford manufactured an intake manifold for Block’s 1977 Ford 150 “Hoonitruck”. The intake manifold needed a web-like structure that would have been impossible to make via conventional means; it took 5 days to make and is the largest ever 3D printed car part. Some of the most significant features of Block’s Hoonitruick are:
- A twin-turbocharged 3.5-liter EcoBoost V-6 (like the GT Le Mans racing car)
- 914 horsepower
- 702 lb-ft of torque
- Toyo Proxes ST III tires with 20-inch Turbomac wheels
The world’s biggest car manufacturers have been using 3D printing for prototyping long before the mainstream could appreciate the significance of what the technology would bring to the world. Circa May 2017, Local Motors of Arizona produced their first fully 3D printed Olli, which Local Motors describe as “the world’s first co-created, self-driving, electric and cognitive shuttle”. The concept of Olli originated from Local Motors’s 2015 Urban Mobility Challenge, with the first Olli being unveiled at the opening of Local Motors’s then new Sales and Demonstration facility in June 2016.
3D printing is an amazing tool. It can grow your small business or start a mini revolution in an industry. Explore what it can do for you when you contact us today.
Disclaimer: Featured image of “Auto wreck, USA, 1923” is in the public domain in the United States because it was published in the United States between 1924 and 1977 without a copyright notice. See Commons:Hirtle chart for further explanation.
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