Autodesk is collaborating with Local Motors, a leader in open-source hardware innovation, to utilise the Spark platform as the latter continues to develop the world’s first 3D printed car Strati.

The recently unveiled Strati is being developed by Local Motors team at the DOE’s Manufacturing Demonstration Facility (MDF) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, a leading innovation centre around additive manufacturing.

The Strati vehicle design was chosen from entries submitted by Local Motors’ global co-creation community and as the project progresses it plans to use the Spark platform, which will make it the first large-scale industrial application of Spark.
 
Alex Fiechter, head of community management for Local Motors, said: “The Spark platform is set to accelerate manufacturing innovation. From capturing our ideas more accurately to guiding Design for Additive Manufacturing (DFAM) and simplifying the creation of machine code, Spark will help us to turn digital models into an actual physical production parts far faster than was previously possible.”

Samir Hanna, vice president and general manager, Autodesk, said: “Local Motors recognises the capabilities of the Spark platform for industrial manufacturing projects. This collaboration is a natural fit to push the boundaries of large format 3D printing to fundamentally change how things are designed and made.”

ORNL and Cincinnati Incorporated created a Big Area Additive Manufacturing (BAAM) machine similar to a fused deposition modelling (FDM) printer by taking a 6.5 x 13 foot bed laser cutter adding custom hardware to transform it into a massive 3D printer.

Spark will help connect automobile digital design information to the 3D printer in a streamlined way for easier visualisation and optimisation of 3D prints.

The Strati simplifies the automotive assembly process and is a result of leveraging the contributions of community, advanced manufacturing tools, and software, like the Spark platform, said a statement from Local Motors.

This could bring many advantages, including reduction in the number of parts in a vehicle’s Bill of Materials (BOM) from 25,000 components to less than 50.

The on-demand nature of 3D printing means that automotive manufacturers can change aspects of their design—or even come up with an entirely new one—with little or no additional cost in tooling or time. - TradeArabia News Service