Posted on by Editorial Staff

Santa Cruz Bicycles finds customization opportunities with 3D printing

Santa Cruz Bicycles has expanded its concept modeling, prototyping, and tooling capabilities in producing customized mountain bikes using Stratasys F450mc 3D printer.

A bike is more than just a way to get from one place to another – which is what Santa Cruz Bicycles lives by in building high-performance bicycles and is particularly a huge draw for mountain biking enthusiasts.

But as their carbon-fiber bikes were mass-produced in Asia, they were met with a challenge when a customization request came in from professional street trials and mountain bike cyclist Danny MacAskill, on a tight timeline.

Developing Danny’s bike according to his requirements was really uncharted territory as it was a one-off design, and the team decided to turn to 3D printing to advance the R&D phase.

Design concept bike frames 3D printed with ASA material.
Design concept bike frames 3D printed with ASA material.

Several design concepts were then printed out using ASA material, and the prototypes help designers to visualize and ideate various design ideas in a quicker manner.  “It’s so nice to feel the frame in your hand and see the tube proportions in person. You just can’t get that from seeing it on a screen,” said senior industrial engineer, Jack Russell.

While prototyping was a success, a problem emerged in producing it in carbon fiber which required a new set of toolings and molds. The team turned to 3D printing again and this time used ULTEM 1010 resin material to fashion 3D printed mandrels that formed the basis for mold tooling used to make the carbon fiber frame.

Test fitting a 3D printed ULTEM 1010 resin mandrel in the composite lay-up tool used to make the carbon fiber bike frame.
Test fitting a 3D printed ULTEM 1010 resin mandrel in the composite lay-up tool used to make the carbon fiber bike frame.

The satisfactory result of Danny’s bike frame after working with Stratasys led to Santa Cruz to acquire their own F450mc with Nylon 12 Carbon Fiber (CF) and ULTEM 1010 capabilities, and they now do concept modeling, prototyping, composite tooling, as well as jigs and fixtures that encompasses the whole product lifecycle.

We’re actually running the printer on a daily basis. I feel like we’ll be able to utilize the vast array of technologies that Stratasys offers and in the end, just develop better bikes quicker, in a more efficient way, and put better products out there for people to enjoy,Nic McCrae, Santa Cruz R&D manager

Santa Cruz has also managed to create incredibly precise latex bladders using ULTEM 1010 resin. Traditionally, it would be very hard to machine them or would require multiple set-ups on a five-axis machine which leads to high costs and long turnaround time. But with 3D printed tools produced with the F450mc, Santa Cruz is able to churn out a design in just hours, iterate, and go from CAD to rideable prototype in weeks.

Black 3D printed Carbon Fiber-filled Nylon 12 holding fixtures anchor a bike frame during fatigue testing.
Black 3D printed Carbon Fiber-filled Nylon 12 holding fixtures anchor a bike frame during fatigue testing.

Click to learn more about Plastic 3D Printing technologies and Fortus 450mc 3D Printer. You can contact us via our contact form, email us at info@creatz3d.com, or call +65 6631 8555 for any further inquiries.

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