The ever more widespread diffusion – and ever more so the awareness – of what 3D printing technologies can offer is having a powerful effect, especially in situations where people are expected to experiment and try new things, such as university courses and masters programs. At the recent Masters Showcase 2015 for the Master in Transportation & Automobile Design (TAD), that took place at Milan’s Politecnico University, students showed off some amazing physical car designs, including one that was entirely 3D printed by professional rapid prototyping and 3D printing service Skorpion Engineering.
The gorgeous Ephesus 1:4 model was 3D printed as a single piece using Skorpion’s unique SLA 3D printing technologies, which can produce objects as large as Materialise’s Mammoth SLA machines. The model was composed with an internal “lung” piece, which also showed off more of Skorpion’s finishing capabilities.
The lung – which represents the concept car’s combustion chamber – was 3D printed as a single piece by SLA, using a high temperature resistant, transparent resin. It was then covered with a particular film and painted. Even the chromed parts – which look and feel like metal – were produced with SLA technology. A line of RGB LED’s was added to light up the structure from within.
The TAD Master course and relative showcase were sponsored and overseen by the Volkswagen Group and, in particular, by the Audi and Bugatti brands. The project topics, assigned by Volkswagen Group Design, belong to a collaborative initiative with the Comune di Milano named “Moving Milan: Urban Mobility Culture Associated with Expo2015”.
This project called for students to tackle mobility issues as inflected, case-by-case, by the various marques that belong to the Volkswagen Group. The Ephesus concept was conceived as a Bugatti, and, with some help from professional rapid prototyping, it is likely to make the historic Italian supercar manufacturer proud.
