Rally Fighter?

[TedV]

I spoke with the custodian of the Rally Fighter that has been seen around Knoxville recently at an event today at work. It was built to run the desert of Arizona but there was some discussion on what it could do at autocross or rallycross. He gave me email address to send any links or info about our events. I didn't have any ETR business cards with me. DOH!!

Any height concerns about the vehicle for RallyX or solo? I said for what we do it could stand to be a bit lower and asked how hard would it be to lower it a bit. He wasn't sure. So... thoughts?

[IsaacMTSU]

I hope the guy driving it knows more than the people working at the store

[2slow]

The Beast!

[thrdeye]

For solo, we'd have to do the math on the thing. Wheelbase and vehicle height. It certainly looks too tall, but it's pretty long and wide

[MARKP]

From what I have read on it, the suspension is adjustable everywhere. I'm pretty sure it could get low enough to not be a concern.

I would love to see one of these things run. They look like a blast, especially for RallyX.

[Pewter Sonoma]

Local Motors is working with ORNL on Additive Manufacturing quite heavily. They will be printing an entire car at IMTS (International Manufacturing Technology Show) in Chicago in Septmeber. I will be there.

You can see the IMTS sticker on the side. I joked with a few guys from ORNL about having spare parts already printed and working on it at night, in case it has issues. There was a big Additive Conference in Detroit a few weeks back.

This industry is rocking right now.

[TedV]

Yup. I'm trying to line up a tour of the Manufacturing Development Lab next month. Fingers crossed. Since LM is wanting to build a micro assembly plant here in east TN, they are looking at what kind of cars would people around here want. The rally fighter is an Arizona based design. The $100K ish price tag I think is a bit st eep for around here.

[MARKP]

I want a plant tour!

[TedV]

The public can tour ORNL via a program at the AMSE in oak ridge. Not sure if the MDL is on the regular schedule tho.

[Pewter Sonoma]

It's actually called MDF (Manufacturing Demonstration Facility) off Hardin Valley.

Ted, you work at ORNL, right? PM me if you need contact info - I know about 8 guys there, all for Additive.

[Pewter Sonoma]

More info on LocalMotors and IMTS: http://additivemanufacturing.com/2014/0 ... allenge-2/

[TedV]

Yup, I have my dyslexic moments. MDF is particle board dang it!!!

They have some tours scheduled for the employees and the summer intern students. I am trying to piggy back in on one of those tours but with the summer shutdown I have limited days I wont be neck deep in detector installation and repair. I thought I had it lined up on a day I would be able to leave the lab but I got a confusing email from the scheduling lady this morning and no reply to my last email. So I might hit you up if piggy backing is too difficult.

::edit:: I asked for funds for a rapid prototyping machine 9 years ago. "Oh No!! no applicable use we wont pay for it" now it is all the rage. sigh

[Pewter Sonoma]

In your managements defence, there is a big difference between $1000 Makerbots for rapid prototyping and metal powder machines priced $675,000-$2.5M for final part production

Do the tour if you can.

[TedV]

actually the machine was much better than Makerbot. One of the other labs down the hall was able to get one of those. The one I wanted was for high definition stereo lithography, results similar to ABS plastic and cost $60k. We ordered parts to be made and spent well over $100k before I quit counting. I'm dealing right now with parts being shipped in that don't match the drawings but the vendor thinks "it's good enough for gov-mint work". Come to think of it, I've delt with that the last 10 years. It's a living

[Pewter Sonoma]

Stratasys Fortus machine, perhaps?
http://www.stratasys.com/3d-printers/production-series

We have 3 here in Cali - we use it for ABS and Ultem. Resolution is .005"-.010", depending on which model we use.

I mainly focus on the metals machine, which uses powder, not an extrusion process like the plastic machines use.