3D Printing a Full Scale Fiberglass Speedboat

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Itā€™s an age-old problem. You draw up a nice 6.5-meter long motorboat and then discover the shape wonā€™t allow for a fiberglass mold. What do you do? If youā€™re [Moi], you grab a few Kuka robots and 3D print it using thermoplastic with embedded glass fibers. A UV light cures the plastic and you wind up with printed fiberglass. Thatā€™s the story behind the MAMBO, a 3D printed powerboat.

Despite the color, the fiberglass isnā€™t blue out of the gate ā€” the boat is painted. Still, it looks nice with lines inspired by [Sonny Levi]ā€™s Arcidiavolo design from 1973. MAMBO stands for Motor Additive Manufacturing BOat. It has a dry weight of about 800 kg and is fitted with a cork floor, white leather seats, and an engine. We presume none of those things were 3D printed.

Although it wasnā€™t fiberglass, weā€™ve seen a 3D printed boat before. In particular, the University of Maineā€™s giant 22,000 square foot printer cranked one out. Weā€™ve also seen boats printed in standard PLA filament, which then had fiberglass cloth and resin applied after printing. True that one was only RC, but thereā€™s no reason the concept couldnā€™t be scaled up if you had the patience.



from Blog ā€“ Hackaday https://ift.tt/3agtnbD

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