The Automobile Driving Museum in El Segundo, in conjunction with the Los Angeles branch of the IDSA, will be hosting a car show on Saturday, October 6th from 10am until 3pm. Because of an influential history in the automobile industry, the Los Angeles area is home to several excellent museums with an automotive motif.
Race Tracks of the World Wall Art
A website called Griot's Garage features an array of automotive accessories and ornament. The most intriguing items they sell are the 3D Race Tracks of the World art pieces. These pieces are CNC cut out of Baltic birch wood with a matte black Formica® top layer. The wall art measures in at an average of 36" in the shape of a wide variety of racetracks. I grew up watching a great deal of Formula One and Le Mans races with my dad and have always loved road racing. This minimal and powerful track art makes an excellent homage to the world of racing and is a great addition to any automotive enthusiast's collection.
Some of the racetrack options
Visit the website for more details and purchasing information.
Stratasys has teamed up with Kor Ecologic Inc. to develop the world's first car to have the entire body created by 3-D printers. Every part of the car's exterior, even the glass panels, is made on Dimension 3D Printers and Fortus 3D Production Systems. This use of 3-D printing eliminates the need for tooling, machining, and handwork during the manufacturing process. Stratasys' website also states that this process of automaking saves time when last minute design changes are needed. The car's code name is Urbee.
Kor Ecologic has engineered this two passenger, hybrid automobile to run on electricity and liquid fuel with the possibility of getting over 200 miles per gallon. The development of Urbee has been documented by the Discovery Channel and a full scale prototype was displayed at this year's SEMA show in Las Vegas. Urbee is estimated to cost between $18,000 and $21,000.
3-D printing makes the design process much more efficient. It offers on the fly prototyping without the cost and time of making molds. My company currently uses a Stratasys Dimension FDM printer. When presenting a concept to a client, we send them a hand primed and painted FDM model to give the client an idea of the scale and feel of the product. This makes the probability of the client approving the project increase exponentially.
Sunscope's 3-D Printer