Marc: Yeah, I need to get the gold wheels on there for some more pics; it was late
. I actually prefer the black ones, though. The Boost had black wheels, so that was my inspiration for the black ones on this build.
3D Printing:
I've had a Solidoodle "Fused Filament Fabrication" style 3D printer on my desk at work for almost a year now. The Solidoodle is definitely inexpensive, open source and hobby grade, but it's been a great start in 3D printing and I plan on buying a better printer one later this year. All that said, the Solidoodle has the same resolution as much more expensive printers. It's just not as elegant.
There's been a fair amount of discussion on here, and in the general media, lately about 3D printing. I think the technology is definitely posed to change manufacturing period, let alone the awesome options it gives a hobbiest. As opposed to traditional machining, the printer makes creating the physical part very easy. The challenge is now almost solely in creating the 3D models using various software. Most parts just can't be copied directly from their molded or machined originals. Care must be taken to ensure the part is easily printed and is strong enough structurally to withstand the stresses encountered on a running RC car; common 3D printing polymers just don't have the strength of glass or carbon filled nylon blends.
Given the time and skill, anyone can design and print almost a whole car if they want to. See these guys:
https://plus.google.com/communities/112745535856143176146
My Pro Radiant has four sets of 3D printed parts: shock bushings, custom battery clamps, servo mounts and the little dogbone capture thingys (that's a technical term!
) on the front lower arms. I only had one dogbone thingy, so I modeled it and printed two. The material is black ABS. ABS and PLA are pretty standard for filament type printing. I do all my CAD work in Autodesk Inventor and export to .stl files for printing. That's pretty much the standard file format at the moment.
Robert
