Somerset-based customized bicycle producer Sturdy Cycles has switched the manufacturing of its titanium bicycle elements to Chilly Metallic Fusion expertise (CMF) from German 3D printing bureau Headmade Supplies. 

The 2 corporations will work collectively to 3D print titanium elements equivalent to crank arms, frameset connectors and chainstay elements, for Sturdy Cycles’ Fiadh titanium highway bike utilizing CMF, with Sturdy Cycles proprietor and body builder Tom Sturdy favoring the expertise over SLM.

“Since Headmade Supplies could be very intently concerned partially improvement, Tom highlighted some great benefits of our expertise to us throughout a dialog,” stated Andreas Schertler, Purposes Engineer at Headmade Supplies. 

Headmade’s CMF expertise

Headmade Supplies was established in 2019 after being spun off from the polymer analysis institute Das Kunstsoff-Zentrum (SKZ) in Wuerzburg, Germany. The agency’s founders Christian Staudigel and Christian Fischer set out with the mission to design a course of that will make serial 3D printing cheaper and extra accessible, resulting in the event of CMF.

CMF broadly combines steel sintering with SLS in a novel manufacturing method, with Headmade’s proprietary 3D printing materials setting it other than standard SLS processes. The agency’s steel powder feedstock is built-in with a plastic binder matric that each improves its flowability and will increase its compatibility with completely different machines.

The four-step CMF course of begins with upscaling the CAD file of a goal object earlier than it’s produced layer-by-layer in a similar way to SLS 3D printing, however at a temperature under 80°C. Working at a decrease temperature considerably minimizes heating and cooling instances, due to this fact stopping the necessity for exterior cooling units, whereas additionally providing power and time-saving benefits.

Following the printing part, elements are then de-caked, post-processed, debinded, and sintered. Throughout printing, the plastic binder contained inside Headmade’s proprietary powder resin is melted away and used solely as a assist construction, delivering elements that the agency claims are akin to these produced by injection molding. 

The partnership with Sturdy Cycles just isn’t the primary time the agency’s CMF expertise has been deployed for the manufacturing of motorbike elements. Final yr, Headmade partnered with 3D printing service bureau Element22 to develop a novel 3D printed bike pedal design dubbed MyTi. Initially out there for backing on kickstarter, the clipless titanium pedals launched beneath the joint Titanum model later that yr. 

3D printing the Fiadh

For its newest bicycle-related venture, Headmade has as soon as once more teamed up with Element22 to 3D print the titanium elements for Sturdy Cycles’ Fiadh titanium highway bike. The Fiadh is designed to be a sporty highway bike and as such, required sturdy weight-optimized elements.

Body builder Sturdy is not any stranger to 3D printing, having beforehand partnered with steel 3D printing service supplier RAM3D to produce titanium elements for his different highway bike fashions. Sturdy settled on 3D printing resulting from its capability to provide elements with complicated geometries not achievable through standard manufacturing means, an integral aspect to his bespoke bike body enterprise.

Having realized the added advantages of CMF, Sturdy has now switched the manufacturing of a number of titanium bike elements to the expertise. The method is being leveraged to provide 3D printed connectors that are welded to polished tubes on the Fiadh’s frameset, and which accommodate main bike elements such because the handlebars, saddle, and backside bracket.

The bike’s chainstay can also be made completely of elements 3D printed utilizing CMF, as are the mannequin’s crank arms, which Sturdy is now distributing as a part of a standalone crankset. 

Because of the bespoke nature of Examine Cycles’ enterprise, the person segments of every bike are comparable in construction in design nevertheless no two bikes are alike. With elements tailor-made to particular person riders, all elements are completely different of their dimensions, which has now change into economically possible in excessive volumes due to Headmade’s CMF expertise. The truth is, Sturdy now goals to provide annual portions of the Fiadh within the triple digits.

In keeping with him, that is made potential by CMF’s wonderful course of stability and the ensuing repeatability for elements, which has led to simpler and extra environment friendly body and half manufacturing. The expertise additionally delivers much less stress to metals elements in comparison with these produced with SLM, whereas the improved half floor achieved with the method simplifies the floor ending course of for elements. 

Sturdy additionally attributes effectivity positive aspects to the lowered quantity of preparatory work wanted to combine CMF-printed elements into the bike manufacturing course of, in comparison with SLM elements. Enhanced half high quality delivered by CMF additional means that almost all of labor will be achieved on-site at Sturdy’s manufacturing facility which in flip reduces prices and coordination efforts with varied service suppliers. 

“The manufacturing of the elements has now been fully taken over by titanium specialist Element22 and we’re glad to contribute with our Chilly Metallic Fusion expertise to make sure that these dreamlike highway bikes from Sturdy Cycles discover their option to many happy prospects,” stated Fischer, Headmade Materials’s Managing Director and Co-founder. 

In keeping with the greater than 40 CEOs, leaders, and specialists that shared their 2022 3D printing traits predictions with us, progress inside materials qualification and growing demand for greater efficiency supplies illustrate the boldness producers are inserting in additive manufacturing applied sciences, whereas the expertise’s capability to allow mass customization is anticipated convey “huge worth” to a number of purposes to learn each industries and folks.

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Featured picture reveals Sturdy Cycles’ Fiadh highway bike. Photograph through Headmade Supplies.