China3D printingOn August 13th, the German company Urwahn previously released3D printingStadtfuchs bicycle and Platzhirsch gates drive (e)bike. On Standtfuchs, the company used CL 50WS maraging steel parts manufactured by GE Concept Laser machines. The Urwahn team used a combination of 3D printed brackets and tubes to create unique geometric shapes and reduce the weight of the bicycle.
Now they use this concept again to put Waldwiesel and Waldwiesel.E gravel bicycles into mass production. Both bikes can be customized to your liking, and are available in 250 frame colors, starting at US$5,000 and US$6,000, respectively. The electric drive comes from MAHLE with a power of 250 Wh and can take you 80 kilometers. These bicycles are also equipped with Shimano GRX 600 and Acros components (handlebars, bearings) with Shimano GRX 1-11 gear levers.
Designed by Sebastian Meinecke, the frame is clever and has what the company calls Softride geometry, without a riser. This should be to protect the rider from unevenness and terrain. The company also operates under the concept of a fair framework, that is, only local suppliers are used.
The company uses 1.2709 tool steel, which is said to be made in Germany. This suggests that it was probably made by Heraeus. This steel is used to print connecting components that are welded to tubes made up of traditional CroMo tubes.
We contacted Silke Walter of Urwahn for more information. One of the reasons they chose steel is, “Compared with carbon and aluminum, steel is easier to process, repair, and recycle. With shorter production and logistics routes, we can also drastically reduce carbon dioxide emissions to benefit our environment. .”
The team is proud that they have also been able to reduce the wall thickness of 3D printed parts, as well as the overall wall thickness of pipes and weld components. They hope that further reduction in wall thickness will make their bikes more efficient. For now, they are satisfied with being able to obtain a universal thickness across the entire frame, which makes the bicycle look like a casting as a single item.
Walter specifically pointed out that the team is not printing the entire frame, but the important parts, which can provide them with the design and performance freedom they need.“Ensuring a uniform surface finish is a challenge we must face. In addition, it is difficult to produce the lowest possible part weight, including material usage, while maintaining high stability. Processing speed also poses a challenge to the cost-effective nesting of components .”The finishing of metal printing parts has always been a series of multi-step processes. Trivial and complicated steps such as shot peening, stress relief, tumbling, and CNC require a lot of time and processing. High stability-or, in their case, low vibration and torsion-while maintaining thin walls and low quality, is what many people want to achieve now. When the strength and stiffness vary with different configurations, geometries, and wall thicknesses, vibration will propagate. No one wants to add unnecessary weight to the bicycle. At the same time, low quality means less machine time and more business profits. The resulting design challenges can be a bit difficult to balance correctly.Take the nesting factor into consideration and you will have interesting metals that many people in the world are dealing with3D printing.
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