by General Fabb While it isn't the world's first 3D printed car,
it may be the first 3D printed Racing Car. The Areion was
designed by 16 engineers from "Group T" as their entry in the
Formula Student 2012 Challenge. Obviously, the entire car was
not 3D printed - only the body, which was then attached to a
conventional chassis, engine and other parts. Unlike the Urbee
3D printed car, whose body is composed of a dozen or so 3D
printed parts, the Aerion's body appears to be a single piece.
But wait! A car body is a rather large item to 3D print. How big
of a 3D printer is necessary? The body was produced at
Materialise on their "Mammoth" stereolithography machine, which
has a build envelope of an astonishing 2.1m x 0.68m x 0.8m. Yes,
that's "m" for meters. This approach vastly simplifies the
construction of the vehicle, in addition to reducing weight,
because various fittings can be directly integrated into the
body 3D model without requiring additional parts to be attached.