Additive manufacturing
shapes, sizes and physical attributes. “We started this project from a blank sheet of paper,” said Oliver Laverack, Co-Founder of J.Laverack. “We wanted to totally rethink bike design to make the most bespoke, beautiful and technologically advanced bike possible. It would be made to measure — to the millimetre — as a series of perfect one-offs.” “During the development of the bike, we realised that 3D printing would enable us to make high-performance, geometrically optimised one-off parts,” continued Laverack. “AM requires no tooling and is perfectly suited to low volume, customised applications. However, AM is a relatively new technology and we had limited experience with it. We were looking for a development partner that we could have a strong relationship with, who could support and guide us with designing and manufacturing the AM components throughout the project.” J.Laverack reached out to Renishaw for support in manufacturing the titanium lugs, brackets, fork dropouts, headtube, rear dropouts,
seat tube lug and X-wing. Renishaw is a UK-based manufacturer of metal additive manufacturing systems, which are assembled at its Miskin facility in South Wales. “Working with Renishaw on the additive manufacturing was a no brainer,” emphasised Clow. “Not only is it a world-renowned British engineering company, we were impressed by its work on the British Cycling Olympic track bikes.” “We assessed the best way to lay out the individual parts on the build plate, determined the best angle to orientate them and designed a support strategy,” said Joe McMurtry, Mechanical Engineer at Renishaw. “Because every AM part is different, so too is the approach, and we had to adapt accordingly to achieve the highest quality components. When making the top head tube, we decided to build the part on the plate without supports, adding extra stock to be machined off later to ensure there was no possibility for error when removing the part from the build plate,” continued McMurtry. Renishaw engineers built the parts at an
“I think we’ve made the most beautifully designed and engineered bike in the world. It is sleek, stiff, fast, and we have the ability to make them totally bespoke to the individual.”
45 Machinery & Manufacturing
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