Quote Originally Posted by astroracer View Post
Ken,
3D printing is nowhere near as strong as a cast or billet machined part. There is no way a 3D printed wheel would live under even normal street driving rigors.
Think of the printed part like one of those layered biscuits your wife makes for dinner. The layers are not really attached to each other. Think how that would come apart under any sort of stress or side load. 3D printing is an excellant tool for making proto-type models and checking designs and making model parts such as I am doing but it will not revolutionize the auto parts industry.
Even the parts I am doing need to be resin cast to make them affordable. Look at the clear tires I modeled, it cost me 12 dollars to have each of those parts printed. The 3D printing is cool but there are many limitations.
Mark
Mark,

Thanks for the good info. 3D printing, while fascinating, is an area in which I'm still lacking any hands-on experience. I'll need to rectify that later this year once my car project is finished.

Great biscuit analogy! So, the takeaway is that my wife shouldn't bake any high-stress components…

I've got to believe that the tech will continue to develop, eventually reaching the point where the layers will be sufficiently fused as to render the resultant part full-strength. Someday…

Ken