Get ready to see shapes and designs never seen before in the world of motocross. Spanish company Stark Future is taking titanium 3D printing out of its prototyping lab and into mass production of its insane electric dirt bike.
According to the company, this is a world first in the automotive industry and a significant moment in the history of manufacturing.
By now, we all know the amazing capabilities that 3D printing offers, including the ability to produce lightweight titanium parts with virtually zero waste in shapes that would be impossible to achieve with CNC milling, casting, or forging. Not to mention the ability to customize each one as well. Customize the unit to the customer’s specific requirements.
Titanium 3D printing is already an important manufacturing method in fields such as aerospace, where it can significantly reduce the weight of critical aircraft structural parts, and medicine, where it can create custom-made titanium implants that integrate perfectly into a patient’s body. Established. Improves your own physiological functions while promoting bone regeneration.
But in the automotive field, where weight is generally less important and volume is, it has been deemed too slow, too expensive, and unwieldy, so it’s mostly been used for rapid prototyping, concept work, and the odd ultra-luxury hypercar. has been used for. .
Chinger
There’s no better example of the latter than the extraordinary Czinger 21C, which uses over 350 3D printed components to keep the overall chassis weight to just 120 kg (265 lbs). Using 3D metal printing, Czinger was able to take full advantage of generative (or evolutionary) design, resulting in strong, lightweight, skeletal, organic-looking part designs. A car was created that could not be manufactured any other way.
But Chinger only promised 80 hypercars. Meanwhile, Stark Future makes some of the most popular electric dirt bikes on the market, and while production may not yet reach Honda’s levels, the company said in June that it will produce 1,000 bikes a month. The company claims that it is on track to become the fastest bike in the world. -A growing startup in Spain.
The world’s fastest motocross bike goes electric – Stark VARG
Stark Varg is a dirt squirter’s absolute weapon. A battery electric dirt bike that weighs as much as a fully fueled 450cc race bike, yet completely destroys ICE bikes when refueled and powered on (80 hp / 60 kW) and torque (692 lb at the rear wheel) -ft/938 Nm). This is a serious contender.
However, it struggles to offset the weight of the battery, resulting in an unfortunate 260 lb kg (118 kg), making it a bit more difficult to carry than, say, a “race-ready” 240 lb. lb (108 kg) KTM 450 SX-F.
stark future
This problem may be resolved in the next model. Stark Future has entered into a strategic partnership with German company Farsoon Technologies to bring large format titanium printing to its production lines.
Farsoon will supply Stark with an 8-ton FS721M CAMS machine that can continuously print parts up to 72 x 42 x 65 cm (28 x 17 x 26 inches) in size using a 500 or 1,000 W laser. Masu. Prints approximately 500 cc (30.5 cubic inches) of material per hour.
Farsoon FS721M-H-8-CAMS Large Metal System
“Farsoon’s cutting-edge large-format metal 3D printing technology now allows us to scale up production of technology previously only used in F1, space and prototyping,” Stark CEO Anton Wass said in a press release. It is stated in With this partnership, Stark hopes to become the first automaker to mass produce components with titanium 3D printing. . ”
And that’s the fun part. The above Wild Varg currently has no titanium parts at all. This new partnership appears to be focused on future Stark models that could bring what Chinger has accomplished in the hypercar world to mass-market motorcycle products at scale.
This definitely makes for one of the craziest looking production bikes ever shipped. And they want to know how much weight they can save and where companies will use this technology throughout the bike.
But to understand what’s possible, take a look at what BMW was able to achieve in 2018 using generative design and 3D printing to prototype this wild S1000R superbike chassis. Let’s.
stark future
We can’t wait to see what Stark builds with this crazy technology, and we have no doubt that it will be nothing short of revolutionary.
Source: Farsoon Technologies (via MCNews.com.au)
