Not at all grassroots-yet, but shouldn't we be talking about how koenigsegg can *print* a turbo?

A discussion on FB brought this little tidbit up.  So I went on the googles and found an Idrive interview with Christian at the Geneva motor show. The 1:1 has 3d printed turbos. And here I am thinking "wow they can do coldside housings like that, impressive" and he goes on and says that the hotside is priinted cuz is is a dual nautilus chamber so it spools quick, then a lever moves, and it magically changes into a bigger hotside. SAme deal on the  coldside as well. And I'm all "mmmkayyyy" 

And then he says they print the whole thing all at once. Including the moving lever. Including the impeller. He didn't say if they print the bearings but he did say that they take the finished product out of whatever machine it's printed in and it's prettymuch ready to install, right down to the threads in the mount holes. 

Well, mind blown, that's all I'm sayin'... who here knows where to find a video of the manufacturing process? Cuz right now all I can visualize is Dumbledore waving a friggin wand. 

And here I was impressed Bugatti was printing brake calipers. 

Sounds like fantasy but I’m definitely NOT saying it is.

if this is happening now, where are we going to be in 5 or 10 years? 

The medical field should be looking very different in the future as well.

Jay_W said:

And then he says they print the whole thing all at once. Including the moving lever. Including the impeller. He didn't say if they print the bearings but he did say that they take the finished product out of whatever machine it's printed in and it's prettymuch ready to install, right down to the threads in the mount holes. 

 

So yeah all of this is totally possible with todays tech. As long as you pushed in the bearings its totally doable. With some cleanup of the outside of the print and inside to make it smooth as can be,  

At the small volume they do and the costs involved with each change this actually may be much cheaper then traditional reductive machining. 

The only other details I've found is the process involves 400 watt lasers and we can sinter titanium and/or stainless steel. Witchcraft, man, witchcraft...

And that's why koenigsegg is my hero. 

This is back in 2015 when GE was making turbine wheels in a 3D printer. 

[

And some titanium DMLS print from more recent. Yeah I have no trouble believing that they could do a turbo housing and turbine wheel custom. 

Though I imagine it would be cheaper to make the turbine with traditional methods as there are companies out there that make custom ones all the time. 

This is from someone local who we collaborate with sometimes

First a 3D CT scan was taken of the mouse, then the data was put into the metal printer. Voila, ( 11 hours later )  titanium mouse skeleton.

Pretty sure there are 3D printed jet engine turbine blades in commercial use already.

https://qz.com/667477/ge-fires-up-worlds-largest-commercial-jet-engine-using-3d-printed-metal-parts/

Just wait till they just hit print and all you need to do is fill it with fluids. 

Think about the savings in transportation costs. 

In reply to Andy Neuman :

Who cares about transport costs! Consider the variety of option you could order or even re-order!

This just came up on drivetribe 

https://drivetribe.com/p/this-ford-granadas-2000hp-koenigsegg-Q79SJI5dQ4KRWJ3Hp4FKKA?iid=FbErRjbqS4GK5s61Oaqx9g&utm_campaign=main+&utm_medium=fb&utm_source=organic

I've hooked up Renishaw 3D printers for titanium, the titanium comes in powder form made up of really tiny perfect spheres to be used in the machines and is made in a similar way they made shot over two hundred years ago.

Shot Tower

Titanium Plasma Atomization

Adam

In reply to RevRico :

I'm still impressed.

Actually this is great for the future of replacement parts too. As with all cars that age, you don't have to keep anything in stock. Just print what gets ordered at will.

This will be a huge boon for old-car enthusiasts.  All those NLA parts can be 3D scanned and printed as needed.  

My company (Siemens PLM) is doing some pretty cool stuff with 3D printing, too, but I'll refrain from making this post into a commercial. 

Holy E36 M3 I didnt know they did that. Damn.

In reply to Nitroracer :

This is some ways is significantly more impressive. There are some serious forces acting on a brake rotor. A Turbine housing just really needs to be air tight.

There is a video on /drive showing a partially printed turbo. Koenigsegegggeseegggg is really doing some stuff that is way beyond crazy.

RossD said:

In reply to Andy Neuman :

Who cares about transport costs! Consider the variety of option you could order or even re-order!

Probably still only offer the manual with the lower powered engine.

In reply to wearymicrobe :

I put the impeller up there with the (freaking awesome) caliper. How many gees does it stand up to at 100krpm? Hell I am still trying to wrap my head around printing the impeller inside the housing while you're printing the housing, and expecting it to, like, spin and stuff. 

I cannot wait to see that caliper's design principles applied to things like... um.. everything else. I have this image of an engine in a bay, where it gets tough to tell where the block ends and the chassis begins, all techno-organic Geiger-like. 

I downloaded and printed a fidget cube for a friend. It printed as a single piece with all the joints in it and it worked out. Way less cool than printing a turbo, but all the same it was cool to print out something out of plastic that had moving parts and required no assembly.

Once again, it it was shown on Star Treck, it is will be true eventually.  Everyone forget about the replicator?  Who's gonna need cars once the transporter comes around?

Pete

wearymicrobe said:

This is back in 2015 when GE was making turbine wheels in a 3D printer. 

 

[

 

And some titanium DMLS print from more recent. Yeah I have no trouble believing that they could do a turbo housing and turbine wheel custom. 

Though I imagine it would be cheaper to make the turbine with traditional methods as there are companies out there that make custom ones all the time. 

 

 

We are now making many things with the 3D printer, though the most impressive use is geometries inside fuel nozzles which really could not be made any other way. It's exactly as amazing as it sounds.

NOHOME said:

Once again, it it was shown on Star Treck, it is will be true eventually.  Everyone forget about the replicator?  Who's gonna need cars once the transporter comes around?

 

Pete

Except, most likely, FTL transport/communication (violates causality or all the laws of physics as we know them), and certainly the replicator as shown...a replicator could work using nanomachines, but to create matter from energy takes way too much energy. Something like the entire output of our sun to make Picard's cup of Earl Grey. Star Trek canon even recognizes the problem with the replicator but massively reduces it, such that they can only swing enough energy to make small everyday items but not large machinery.

The transporter, as shown, has the same problem as the replicator, but it's also worth considering that it could more accurately be described as a combination cloning machine and suicide booth. I'm not stepping into anything that disassembles my brain and permanently interrupts my consciousness, even if it digitizes it in the process and makes a perfect copy somewhere else.