While browsing the Leapfrog blog I ran into an entry on Leapfrog’s support to Zuyd University for the creation of a 3D printed vehicle (the first of its kind) to enter the Shell Eco-Marathon. The eco-friendly race for vehicles pushing the lints of fuel-efficiency took place in Rotterdam from May 15th to the 18th.
While checking the 3DPI archives for cross referencing purposes, I did indeed find an article written by Shane about a 3D printed car from Zuyd University for the Shell-sponsored race. Only in Shane’s article it was not Leapfrog supplying the source for the story (or the 3D printers) — it was Ultimaker.
The competition between the two Netherlands- based producers, as Leapfrog 3D printer owner Kees Kamper reported in his blog recently, is intense and it is heating up. I wanted to contact them both to confirm that, as I understand it, they have both supplied 3D printers to the Dutch University’s team Euregiorunners. Unfortunately I am writing this on Friday evening for a Sunday deadline and both are closed for the weekend. So, instead, I invite representatives of Ultimaker and Leapfrog to have their say and clarify their contributions to the project in the comments section.
For my part, since Shane has already reported on Ultimaker’s contribution of 10 3D printers, I delved a little into Leapfrog’s part, which I believe involved in them supplying 5 Creatr 3D printers that were reportedly printing day and night to create the blocks to be assembled to make the car’s mould. That is 207 blocks to be exact, puzzled together to make the mould into which to pour the carbon fiber and resin.
This not only helps to make the vehicle lighter, stronger and thinner (about 2-3 mm) but is a considerable advantage compared with a single block wooden mold weighing a literal ton and being much more expensive to make. The 3D printed moulds also let the team experiment more with the structure and implement a particularly advanced and aesthetically pleasing design created by the Design Academy of Eindhoven.
Items such as the dashboard and the steering wheels were 3D printed directly as final components using grey PLA, the more eco-friendly type of FDM thermoplastics. I checked on the Shell Eco-Marathon website but there are no reports (at the time of writing) as to the cars performance in the race. But as far as the race-within-the-race between Ultimaker and Leapfrog the real winners here are the 28 members of the team (13 students of mechanical engineering, 4 students of electrical engineering, 6 ICT students and 5 teachers) from Zuyd’s University.
