readygetsetBen

While 3D printers are insanely cool and high tech, I think the technology is still pretty young. That being said, when they're at the star trek replicator level, I'd like to reproduce myself a set of Cannondale Coda Cranks. Does anyone have any requests for the future technology? In other words, what intricate, rare to find, or vintage bike part/frame would you like replicated for yourself? I'm super interested because I know there are some really creative people on this forum. Thanks anyone for replying!

2 Piece

I f I had a Star Trek kind of replicator at my disposal and I had bicycle parts on my mind I think I would have myself committed. What a waste of resources! Now if I could replicate other things....well..... I like what Michael York replicated/ sent for when he got Jennifer Agutter oh my!

Feldman

Well, since this is a bicycling forum, I'd take a Suntour New Winner/Winner Pro cog board fully stocked, a clone of a Preciray truing stand, and a 56cm Alex Singer randonneur frameset, 56cm top tube, please. Seriously, what materials can really be manipulated with a 3D printer. A simple replacement cog for a cassette or freewheel, for instance, would have to get the equivalent of forging or stamping, machining, and plating. How much real manipulation of metal can those things really do yet?

tyrion

Why waste time on bicycle parts when you make make a harem of sex robots?

Phloom

It is going to be a while before 3-D printers can do steel, if ever. Current 3-D printers work with soft materials.

tyrion

Seriously, one thing I thought of would be making a fitted saddle. You'd have to sit on some kind of sensor that maps your butt and sit bones, then the printer would make a saddle to your specs. Like an already-broken-in leather saddle, but lighter and flexibility tailored to your weight.

They wouldn't necessarily need be custom though, you could have a hundred different models for various sizes and weights, and just order the pre-existing design that fits you best. I believe the cost of having many, many different models would be much lower than it would be with conventional manufacturing.

tyrion

They can already work with steel, aluminum and titanium.

First metal 3D printed bicycle frame manufactured by Renishaw for Empire Cycles

SloButWide 

No, you can print using sintered metal. Aircraft engine and rocket parts printed using the technology operate at high temperature and under high stresses.

joejack951

I am working on a medical device in its early stages of production and rather than invest in MIM (metal injection molding) tooling right from the onset, we're using DMLS 17-4PH stainless steel parts for a highly complicated but critical piece of a laparoscopic device. The basic strength of the sintered material is pretty much on par with the sheet metal equivalent, but by using a sintered or molded part it can be functional much stronger due to features unobtainable using formed sheet metal. The part has a nominal thickness of 0.5mm (.020") with some features as thin as 0.3mm (.012").

Your typical hobbyist 3D printer (FDM plastic) need not apply, though they are still useful for many things.

joejack951

No reason to 3D print something like that. CAD it up and have it CNC'ed. They'll likely be cheaper produced that way than 3D printed in metal, no matter how cheap that process gets (it's currently quite expensive). Best of all, there's nothing stopping you from doing it today.

TimothyH

There is that whole pesky copyright and patent law thing.

You can't just replicate designs that others own. To do so is stealing, the same as if you reached into the owner's pocket and took their wallet.

Lots of people do it. Nations do it wholesale. The fact it is done doesn't make it right.


-Tim-

Phloom

Sounds very expensive. 3-D printing will definitely have its place but not for everything. When we can finally make some Star Trek technology happen, a replicator should be capable of reproducing anything. But we need the ability of converting matter into energy and back to matter. Not easy and potentially very dangerous.

joejack951

If this is in reference to the OP's request to reproduce a set of Coda cranks for himself then it's irrelevant.

indyfabz

You don't have to wait any longer. I will sell you the Coda crank set off my 1998 Cannondale T700. But wait! There's more! I will throw in the decrepit frame and assorted parts the cranks are attached to, which has been decomposing in various locations since about 2000. Just pay separate shipping and handling charges.

TimothyH

Help me understand.

It is legal to copy a patented design and use it for personal, not for profit purposes?

I'm asking out of ignorance and thought you couldn't do that. It certainly isn't legal for copyrighted music, for example.


-Tim-

jefnvk

It is actually not irrelevant. If you mean it is unlikely that he will be caught or prosecuted, well yeah, but that doesn't make it legal. If the patent owner wished to sue, they could.

That said, patent protection on most C&V parts would likely have run out long ago.

Milton Keynes

IANAL, but I don't see why not. As long as you're not mass producing someone else's patented design and selling them, I don't see what damages they could try to sue you for (especially if they never know about it). Seems like every time someone gets into trouble for copying something which is patented or copyrighted, they are trying to sell something. I've never heard of anyone being sued for copying a design for their own personal use. Of course, a lawyer could always send a cease-and-desist letter but it's only about as good as the paper it's printed on. What are they going to do, come to your house and take the crank set off your bike?

shafter

I want my Trek 1220 back, the whole thing.

Retro Grouch 

Campy Record brakes from the 60's. I wouldn't even need a bike to hang them on - just a glass topped coffee table.

tyrion

No, it's not legal. If it's patented.

Doesn't Bikes Direct blatantly copy some frames? Maybe you can't patent the exact dimensions of something.

dedhed

I actually looked into getting a first generation Sturmey Archer S-5 IGH plastic dual lever shifter 3D printed after breaking one of mine. The 3D printing wasn't the expensive part, it was the 3D scanning to create the print file that was the deal breaker. Found a 2nd gen metal set instead.

Darth Lefty 

Metal, to reach its full strength, must be worked and heat treated. Carbon fibers must be laid very close together and well trapped in their resin. (You could argue a carbon fiber winder is a "3D printer" but not in the sense most people are thinking.) So anything that takes a big stress, like lightweight frames or cranksets or rims or spokes, are probably out.

But it's going to be used for a lot of other parts.

I'm sort of fascinated by the guy who built the house-sized 3D printer that pours concrete

joejack951

So my original 'irrelevant' comment was due to my mistaken interpretation of patent law in that only commercial use of a patented invention was infringement. Interestingly, the Wiki on patents says the same thing but the USPTO description suggest any use is infringement.

I find that interesting for several reasons mainly because I can think of so many gray areas with regards to who actually infringed. For example, you can infringe on a patent for selling an item with the intent that it will be combined with another item and infringe on a patent. And if any use is considered infringement, making something with the intent to combine it with something to make a patented item is also infringing. The seller of the 'other item' can have no knowledge of what is happening and theoretically would not be liable. However, assume that they found out that some people were buying their product to combine with the original infringer's product or something they made to make a patented item. Are they supposed to interrogate everyone buying their product now even though their product and its intended use in now infringes on the patent? If they suspected it but did nothing it would seem they could be held liable for infringing which seems ridiculous.

If I had just lied and suggested this was intent of my comment I'd have been right Did Cannondale even patent anything on the Coda cranks?

unterhausen

in the U.S., there is no personal use exception to a patent. There is also no iron-clad educational use exception to violating a patent. That being said, I doubt that by copying a part with your Star Trek replicator that you would violate any patents, and the patent holders wouldn't come after you if you did. Unless you mistakenly bragged about it on social media and it went viral.

Bikes are being sold now with metal 3d printed parts. Lots of Ti builders are using 3d printed parts. Seems to me that it's going to become very common

joejack951

Not only does the sintering process impart a heat treatment on DMLS parts, but the parts can be further heat treated as necessary. For example: https://www.stratasysdirect.com/wp-c...ifications.pdf

As compared to: https://www.aksteel.com/pdf/markets_p...data_sheet.pdf

Specifically, look at the similarities between 'DMLS As-Built' and 17-4PH condition H1150-M.