Well keep at it ... i like what I'm seeing

I know if I don't keep at something hard ... other things will creep in and then it's Super Tough to get back to the Total Immersion

 

It's amazing what 3D printers are capable of. My mother in law is a product manager for a company that makes 3D printers mainly for commercial applications, so I get to see some of the latest and greatest stuff.

They're starting to push the terminology "additive manufacturing" instead of 3D printing, cause it sounds less like a toy apparently. Some of their printers are north of $150,000.

 

Yeah. That's the caliber of printer I had access to at my last job. Stratasys and the like. SLS (laser sintering) and SLA (UV cure resin) mostly. Those can do some amazingly detailed prints. Layer thicknesses down in the single microns.

FDM is what this type of printer does. Filament deposition...molten plastic extrusion. It's not nearly as accurate or fine but for what I'm trying accomplish, it's perfectly adequate...and affordable. Even hobby grade SLA printers are still well north of a grand at less than half the size of this one.

I'm setting this one up to higher temp structural plastics like carbon fiber filled polycarbonate. Maybe Ultem or PEEK, eventually.

 

Stratasys is the company my MIL works for. Need to get over there for a tour one of these days.

 

They're near the top of the pile for commercial grade machines. Also one of (if not THE) first 3D printer manufacturer.

 

"Addictive Manufacturing" ... interesting

 

I lost a lot of my bike models somehow so I have to rebuild them before I can make much headway on the new tail light housings.

Thanks to Tarik, I also got a fair model of the piggyback ohlins so I can accomodate that in the design.

Shocks and old tail so far. Frame and seat next.

 

Wow, looks just like my shocks! Great skill to have for custom building!!!

 

Yes it is a good skill to have. I am so glad I had the opportunity to learn it at my last job. I use it for all kinds of things. The model of your shock is not nearly accurate enough for Machining for example. I just needed it good enough for visualization and clearance. You can probably see several small details missing. For example, I didn't bother modeling the length adjuster at the bottom and the overall length is not correct, however, for my purposes it works fine.

 

In case you were wondering, these Ohlins are over a pound lighter (each) than my OEM non-piggybacks... The also have the heavy end furthest from the swingarm, unlike my originals. It's gotta be a minimum of a full pound reduction in rear unsprung weight, at least (totals: 5lbs, 4.7oz vs. 4lbs, .07oz).