14 DAY TRIAL // Bicycles are one of, if not the, most popular means of human transportation in the world, and also the core element of certain sports (cycling, bicycle stunts, etc.). As it happens, bikes have become the latest field where 3D printing technology can spread its wings.
Well, sort of. Rodin Wheels haven't exactly stated that they use 3D printing technology in the making of their new bike wheels.
They do call their process 3Drsr (Rapid Structural Replication), and they do say that it's what “comes after 3D printing.”
However, the description provided by the company makes it sound as if the technology used to make the wheels is more subtractive that additive.
Still, ultimately, it's a way to have a machine create a 3D object, instead of using normal welding and engineering manufacturing methods to make the wheels.
So what's so great about the wheels? Well, for one thing, they're hollow, and made from a single piece of “aerospace-grade composites.”
The wheels are not only light, but also tough enough to avoid being marred by dented rims, pinch flats and whatever else may happen when you land on a rock after making an aerial flip. The wheels should also make do without truing.
Rodin Wheels say that the 3Drsr equipment costs twice as much as a large format FDM (fused deposition modeling) 3D printer and will only need five minutes to produce a wheel, all for the sum of $200 / €143.
That's a huge advantage over the wheel made by Solid Concepts via their own FDM process. Solid Concepts took 36 hours to make a wheel (32 hours to print it, four more to sand and paint it). It also cost $3,000 / €2,154. The 3D printed wheel also didn't inspire the test rider with enough confidence to “go big.”
“The patented 3Drsr production cell with each cycle produces a low melt metal precision inside shape of the hollow structural part you would like to produce, such as the Mountain Bike wheels. At the very same time under extreme temperature and pressure the core from the previous cycle is over-molded with the desired composite material. Integrated in the cell are two 6-axis robots which perform the handling functions,” the 3Drsr inventor told 3DPI in an e-mail.
The Rodin Wheels 3D printed (or is it?) wheel is up on Kickstarter right now, so if you feel you could use a better set of wheels, you can pledge $389 / €280 or more to be among the first recipients.