![]() ![]() “Our machines have a build envelope of 250 mm square and as high as 330-340 mm high,” said Woolcock of what equates to a roughly one-foot cube of printing potential. Table size is often the limitation of what can be printed. We’re also making a variety of other components and parts in titanium.” ![]() For our bicycle frames, we bond those lugs together with carbon fibre tubes. “In that time we’re printing what’s effectively the lugs of the bicycle, the bottom bracket, head bracket, seat bracket and dropouts, as well as the seat topper. “We tetris parts in and fill it as much as we can each build,” Woolcock said. Bastion makes effective use of that time by printing multiple parts on a single print bed. In Bastion’s case, those usable parts typically take two full days – 48 hours – to be printed. With each layer, the machine adds more powder until eventually, the pieces are built up into a useable part. (Such oxygen purging is common in more traditional titanium welding methods to ensure consistent results, but the temperature used here means the titanium powder would ignite if not in the presence of an inert gas). That happens at an insanely high temperature – about 1,700 ☌ – and that means an inert gas must be used (argon in this case) to purge the chamber of any oxygen. Each of Bastion’s printers features a single laser that melts the fine layer of titanium powder in place. The process is basically like welding metal, but rather than melting pre-existing metal pieces together, it happens one dust particle at a time. “The metal 3D-printing we do is with titanium, and we run two Renishaw machines that use a laser to melt titanium powder layer by layer,” explained Woolcock of how the parts build up in an additive fashion. Pieces are rarely printed separately instead Bastion assembles those pieces like a puzzle to gain efficiencies from the printers. Each individually drawn component is carried over to what needs to be printed.Pictured is a stripped-back CAD drawing of Bastion’s new cockpit. Everything to be made begins with a design.That becomes a 3-4 gigabyte file transferred to the printer and that instructs the printer to direct the laser beam to just the portion of the cross-section that we’re building at a time.” “We then prepare that data to be sliced in a way that the printer can read. In our case have the structural lattice supplied to the inside and then we use a thin wall outer skin and structure. “We generate the CAD (computer-aided design) model of what we want to print. “Our core strength is parametric modelling,” Woolcock said. In this sense 3D printing isn’t all that different to printing a digital photograph or operating a CNC milling machine – you have to have a design and the data of what you’d like to make. Step one: The dataīefore building any parts, you need the data to tell the printers what to print. ![]() So what exactly is 3D-printed metal? What processes are involved? And what are the limitations? To answer these questions, we sat down with Bastion’s co-founder and engineering director, James Woolcock. The company also produces frame components for renowned Australian custom builders such as Prova Cycles, Baum Cycles, Devlin, Mooro, and more. For the past three years, the young Australian company has relied on in-house printing capabilities.īastion uses its 3D metal printers to produce the titanium lugs that dictate the custom geometry and stiffness of its carbon tubed bicycles, and as of this year, the brand’s now producing its own forks and cockpits, too. They first used 3D-printed titanium lugs in 2015 to produce the first custom road bike of its kind and the brand continues to refine the technology today. When it comes to 3D printing metal for bicycle purposes, few have more hands-on experience than the Melbourne-based team at Bastion Cycles. And while still niche in its usage, you can add 3D printing to the list. Metal hydroforming, computer-controlled milling, and laser cutting are all now commonplace within bicycle parts manufacturing. Modern technology is continually opening the door to new ideas. Heading out the door? Read this article on the new Outside+ app available now on iOS devices for members! ![]()
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