3D printed car

I was bored, have a 3D printer and decided to try a quick design exercise. The car is printing as I write this. I'll post up pics of the finished product in the morning. The solid area's are not actually solid, but rather a honey comb type grid work with layers covering it on the top and bottom. Kinda curious to see what this thing will weigh. Computer says about 20g of material, so we shall see.

 

Here she is. Total print time was 3 hours. Came in ok on weight, but I think there is a lot of room for improvement. I’m going to thin up the side ways and braces between the pockets. I’d like to get this down under 15g. Once I get the design dialed in, I’m going to order some wood filament and actually print it out of wood. And yes, that’s actually a thing!

 

Just the fact that 3D printing is a thing still blows my mind to be honest. Lol
Nice work.

 

Here is version 2.0. Thinner walls, less support, but still pretty strong. Saved 4.9g. Weighed in at 17.56g

 

Still too heavy. Keep going.

 

Looks like a lot of meat on that front end still. The third pic in the first post... looking at that profile, you could really thin that guy down. Maybe even consider just going totally hollow ladder style and use 64 ply for the top.
Just some suggestions from a guy who is still leagues away from even understanding 3D printing mind you. Really cool though. Next and more import recommendation, follow Fonze’s lead.

 

Yea, this is kinda new for me as well. The nose section is mostly hallow with just a “honeycomb” substructure like a surf board.

I designed another one last night that my printing software will use about 13g of material including printing supports.

I present to you “Spatula”

 

Take 3. Got it WAY down to 9.95g! Strength wise it’s still good. I’m going to play around with actually weighting and building it.

Just curious what class I could run this in if I wanted to test it and race it?

 

Looks COOL! check out the link for your question...
http://npwdrl.com/rules/

 

Depends what class and what league

 

Like the others already said... Just look at the rules of the 3 main leagues. Start with what classes allow non-wood body and go from there. Otherwise most are open wheel base and you can get whatever axle and wheels are allowed for that class.

 

Will do!

BTW I just ordered a spool of wood filament, so technically I can print an actual "wood" car

 

The ‘spoon’ bodies have disappeared in League racing. I believe it’s because you are catching air twice. Pony Express might still have a fast spoon body in the Eliminator class. @HurriCrane Racing would know more about that.

 

I made a Fork body once... No kidding! Was a ton of work and I’ll NEVER do that again! Haha

 

Very cool stuff! Remember in that last body design you will need to get about 2 rows of 6 cubes in front of your back axle- looks like it will not be possible with the current design. I like the second body but can definitely get it down in weight- does the body design already make a 1/16" (or more) narrower area in the dominant front wheel area? If not maybe need a little bit thicker sides in that area where the narrowing needs to still be done or just simply design it with a notch or narrowing already. Mr The Fonze is the man to ask in this arena!

 

Yea, I though about the weight ahead of the axle after I printed it, but could still get about 1.5-2oz of putty in there. I did another one with more room for cubes. Have also done another "wedge" type car that I think will be the best bet. Came in around 12g. Just got my wood filament today and am going to try reprinting it in that medium tonight.

 

Couple more. I think I’ve settled in the blue one to build and enter. Going to print it out of wood tomorrow

 

Interesting for sure. I'm real close to pulling the trigger on a CNC router to use making bodies.

 

Well, I’d call this a big success! 3D printed WOOD body car! Even sands like regular wood! Did a little sanding on the nose to start smoothing out some of the print lines as you can see and it just dusts up like regular pine.

Comes in at 12.14g which was a real surprise. This wood body is the exact same program as the blue car above, yet it weighs almost .8g less!

 

Ha! Way to go!!! It’s wood so it should be allowed in any of the leagues races. Best of luck