Infiniti Red Bull Racing 2014

[Cam]

Of course it is. Completely new fab + modern high end tools and hardware. They just need to move over all IP and all the people in key positions. That's like a new playground for engineers.

Modern high end tools and hardware = 3D printers. As Red Bull seem to have already embraced 3D printing, I believe that is the way they would go.

The only cast/machined item would be the ICE block, and possibly the heads. You can 3D print everything else in Aluminium, Titanium or Stainless Steel. The beauty of 3D printing an item, is no internal stresses!

3D printers do not yet achieve the same surface quality as machined parts do.
Same goes for the strength of the parts.
At this moment in time 3D printers are great for creating prototype parts for various assembly tests, but that is where it stops right now as far as F1 is concerned.

Would having 3D printed parts as some form of mandatory process in F1, not be beneficial to the sport? Not only that, but imagine the rapid technology growth that would come of it, not only for vehicle construction, but for 3D materials and processes.

This is where F1 should be - cutting edge car construction. Not necessarily road relevant, but as an industry as a whole - the advances would come thick and fast.

[Jano11]

Modern high end tools and hardware = 3D printers. As Red Bull seem to have already embraced 3D printing, I believe that is the way they would go.

The only cast/machined item would be the ICE block, and possibly the heads. You can 3D print everything else in Aluminium, Titanium or Stainless Steel. The beauty of 3D printing an item, is no internal stresses!

3D printers do not yet achieve the same surface quality as machined parts do.
Same goes for the strength of the parts.
At this moment in time 3D printers are great for creating prototype parts for various assembly tests, but that is where it stops right now as far as F1 is concerned.

Would having 3D printed parts as some form of mandatory process in F1, not be beneficial to the sport? Not only that, but imagine the rapid technology growth that would come of it, not only for vehicle construction, but for 3D materials and processes.

This is where F1 should be - cutting edge car construction. Not necessarily road relevant, but as an industry as a whole - the advances would come thick and fast.

I did not say 3D printing is not cutting edge technology, just that it is not suitable for producing finished engine parts as claimed earlier by Wayne DR.

[Wayne DR]

3D printers do not yet achieve the same surface quality as machined parts do.
Same goes for the strength of the parts.
At this moment in time 3D printers are great for creating prototype parts for various assembly tests, but that is where it stops right now as far as F1 is concerned.

So Koenigsegg have got it wrong then?

They are currently printing their stainless steel turbine housings and impellers (concurrently) for the new ONE:1.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... NedUZxP8NU

I think the issue is more that the exact limits of the printed components are unknown, and with the limits on track testing and the extremely high durability requirements, possibly no one is prepare to take the gamble at this stage...
(There would also possibly be pushback internally from within the teams, as it would significantly reduce manning requirements.)

Who knows, maybe we one day will be able to adopt road car technology (from the One:1) in F1...

[djos]

NASA are using 3D printing tech on rocket parts too:

http://www.nasa.gov/exploration/systems ... 7CxW_mSy4o

The component tested during the engine firing, an injector, delivers propellants to power an engine and provides the thrust necessary to send rockets to space. During the injector test, liquid oxygen and gaseous hydrogen passed through the component into a combustion chamber and produced 10 times more thrust than any injector previously fabricated using 3-D printing.

The component was manufactured using selective laser melting. This method built up layers of nickel-chromium alloy powder to make the complex, subscale injector with its 28 elements for channeling and mixing propellants. The part was similar in size to injectors that power small rocket engines. It was similar in design to injectors for large engines, such as the RS-25 engine that will power NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket for deep space human missions to an asteroid and Mars.

Now that's some serious testing! =D>

[Cold Fussion]

Would having 3D printed parts as some form of mandatory process in F1, not be beneficial to the sport? Not only that, but imagine the rapid technology growth that would come of it, not only for vehicle construction, but for 3D materials and processes.

This is where F1 should be - cutting edge car construction. Not necessarily road relevant, but as an industry as a whole - the advances would come thick and fast.

Mandating a manufacturing process is ridiculous. Surely 'cutting edge' would be using the most suitable and 'best' process for the job required, not using some process purely because it's mandated.

[Cam]

F1 is a competition based on a 'formula'. A set of rules. They can be serious, such as ensuring survival cells for drivers, or ridiculous, such as homogleration of engines. There's no reason why the formula could not mandate some form of 3D printing. It truly is the future. People are making weapons out of it. Within a few years household printers will be making furniture. So it's not that far fetched to forward think to solutions of high performance chassis, aero, rims etc.

Sometimes, mandating can be a good thing. I ca certainly see teams printing new wings in between Practice sessions.

[SectorOne]

3D printers do not yet achieve the same surface quality as machined parts do.
Same goes for the strength of the parts.
At this moment in time 3D printers are great for creating prototype parts for various assembly tests, but that is where it stops right now as far as F1 is concerned.

So Koenigsegg have got it wrong then?

They are currently printing their stainless steel turbine housings and impellers (concurrently) for the new ONE:1.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... NedUZxP8NU

I think the issue is more that the exact limits of the printed components are unknown, and with the limits on track testing and the extremely high durability requirements, possibly no one is prepare to take the gamble at this stage...
(There would also possibly be pushback internally from within the teams, as it would significantly reduce manning requirements.)

Who knows, maybe we one day will be able to adopt road car technology (from the One:1) in F1...

Not to mention their titanium exhaust end piece!

[FW17]

3D printers do not yet achieve the same surface quality as machined parts do.
Same goes for the strength of the parts.
At this moment in time 3D printers are great for creating prototype parts for various assembly tests, but that is where it stops right now as far as F1 is concerned.

So Koenigsegg have got it wrong then?

They are currently printing their stainless steel turbine housings and impellers (concurrently) for the new ONE:1.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... NedUZxP8NU

I think the issue is more that the exact limits of the printed components are unknown, and with the limits on track testing and the extremely high durability requirements, possibly no one is prepare to take the gamble at this stage...
(There would also possibly be pushback internally from within the teams, as it would significantly reduce manning requirements.)

Who knows, maybe we one day will be able to adopt road car technology (from the One:1) in F1...

Not to mention their titanium exhaust end piece!

Are stainless steel and titanium the right material for an turbo and exhaust?

[Harsha]

Taking this to the racing topic just for a while i saw this article in AMUS
http://www.auto-motor-und-sport.de/form ... 28509.html
I don't know how much of that is true and even is this believable did SV has this much of issues all this time over 8 races?

[Tim.Wright]

I ca certainly see teams printing new wings in between Practice sessions.

Pretty wild imagination you have there. You're forgetting 2 big things (and many small things)
1. RP parts are slow to make. Complex parts require many hours of machine time
2. What about the engineering time to define the aerodynamic surfaces, design the part, stress it, create the stl file and program the machine? Is that all going to fit between practice sessions too?

Rapid prototyping is a nice process but its not magic.

[Cold Fussion]

Sometimes, mandating can be a good thing. I ca certainly see teams printing new wings in between Practice sessions.

I think you're pretty delusional. How do you plan to design and validate and manufacture in a period of 4 hours?

[Cam]

Wow. For a technical forum to have zero foresight is truly appalling. Who said it has to happen tomorrow? Big up vote.

It's people with imagination that climb the mountain while you're all busy deciding which edition of the manual you read at university has the more relevant data on ropes.

No wonder F1 is going backwards. See you at the top.

[Cam]

I ca certainly see teams printing new wings in between Practice sessions.

Pretty wild imagination you have there. You're forgetting 2 big things (and many small things)
1. RP parts are slow to make. Complex parts require many hours of machine time
2. What about the engineering time to define the aerodynamic surfaces, design the part, stress it, create the stl file and program the machine? Is that all going to fit between practice sessions too?

Rapid prototyping is a nice process but its not magic.

What technical discussion? I gave an idea about possible future abilities in F1. It's entirely possible that 3d printing could be used. Are you suggesting it's never possible? Certainly people agree with you that it's not forseably possible. Just because it's not currently at that quality at that speed today, does not exclude it from the realms of future advancements.

Without imagination, we'd still be living in caves. I'll dream today of what's possible in the future, so you engineers can make it tomorrow.

[Tim.Wright]

The technology is only half the story. You're neglecting my second point. Even if the machines made perfect parts in seconds you still need to give it a part to produce.

Designing a part for manufacture is not the work of an hour. Every part you see on a car now would have been months in development. You can't compress that whole process down so it fits in between FP1 and FP2.

[Cam]

So it's inconceivable to bring 100 versions of a 3d model and print the 'best option' based on test data?

Again. The lack of foresight is astonishing.