Tim's Motorcycle Diaries: Search results for 3d

Showing posts sorted by relevance for query 3d. Sort by date Show all posts

Saturday 28 November 2015

IIHTM: The Digital Workshop

If I had the money, what would the dream workshop look like?

I'm a computer tech teacher by day, and the 3d printer revolution is astonishing to behold. The dream workshop would have the usual suspects (awesome tools etc), but it would also have some truly alien looking tech.

Ever seen a resin based 3d printer? It's like something out of Terminator:

3d printing is about to get even wilder, with larger scale prints becoming an option. Imagine a 3d printer that could handle motorcycle fairings... except you could do anything you want. Want a fairing made out of dragon scales? No problem! Want customized etching across the entire fairing? No problem! Want to design a radical fairing using the stock mounting points?

Some time in Blender and you'll be ready to print radically customized fairings and other parts.

The BigRep1 goes for almost $40,000, but imagine what you could print in over a cubic meter of build space - motorcycle fairings would be not problem. I think I'd rent one first to see what I could get away with before buying.

Using resin based printing instead of additive 3d printing means you can produce parts that have the same structural nature as cast pieces (they aren't made of bonded parts). These pieces would be incredibly strong - they could also be made much more quickly. Instead of hours long build times, we'd be looking at minutes...

If you're looking for futuristic workshop inspiration the Big Hero 6 garage would be a good place to start - in there he's 3d printing carbon fibre! The holographic display is pretty dope too...

Iron Man is another film that gives you a good idea of what a 21st Century garage might look like. Tony Stark's workshop is a holographic wonderland with built-in fabrication capabilities.

It was once thought that with fuel injection, onboard computers and digitization we would be losing the ability to modify and customize our motorbikes. It turns out that digitization is actually handing the ability to manufacture back to individuals from the factories that took it from them. Industrialization meant standardization and centralization in the 19th and 20th Centuries. In the 21st Century manufacturing will return to the craftsmen it started with; localized micro-manufacturing is going to be the way of things to come.

If you're making shop space for yourself, having a computer in it gives you access to a world of information (I frequently use my to watch how-to videos and view schematics), but that workshop based computer is soon going to be providing a lot more than just information. Do yourself a favour, get a handle on 3d modelling, it'll come in handy in the near future.

Ways to get started:

Get handy with Blender - it's free, and it's powerful! There are also a lot of tutorials available for it online
Structure Sensor: a 3d scanner that snaps onto your ipad. It makes making 3d copies a breeze!
Basic 3d printers start at about $1000.
If you want to give printing a try, many people in the maker movement offer 3d print services. It's a nice way to see what a 3d printer can do for you without the overhead... 3D Hubs is one such option, and they'll introduce you to makerspaces in your area.
Sketchfab is handy for sharing and doing light editing on 3d models.

XS1100 Yamaha 3d model by timking17 on Sketchfab

Update: Just saw this. It'll print 18 x 18 x 24 inch pieces and is made by a Canadian company! That'd do the business...

Tuesday 17 March 2020

KDF: Kingfisher Digital Foundry

In my day job I'm a high school computer engineering teacher. The subject is still relatively new and covers a ridiculous range of differing technologies, all lumped under 'computer technology' because they all have some vague connection to it. While teaching it in class can be demanding, the upside is that in the decade I've been working away at it I've become familiar with technology well beyond my background in IT. From electronics engineering to 3d modelling and 3d printing, I've had a front row seat to the evolution of digital technology as it rapidly expands and evolves in the 21st Century.

The other benefit of this front row seat is that I've gotten to work with some skilled teachers with diverse technical backgrounds. From Jeff who was working in CAD and 3d industrial design when most people didn't have a computer to Katy the engineer who was one of the only people in our school board who could get the first generation of 3d printers dependable enough to actually use in class, I know some very technically adept adults.

Then there are my graduates, who have gone off to work in fields ranging from robotics and industrial engineering to electronics, IT and computer science; I know years of very technically advanced young adults who bring a staggering array of expertise and intelligence to the table.

On this cold and rainy March Break Tuesday in the middle of the COVID-19 epidemic, I'm wondering how we could leverage all that expertise and create a niche product that could serve a number of different markets.

I recently found myself frustrated by a lack of parts for the late '90s Honda Fireblade I was restoring. Knowing that Katy has been using 3d printing to create prototypes in her class, including printing in flexible materials, I was wondering why no one has filled this gap as business proposition. To replace one perished airbox rubber tube I would have had to pay to get four them shipped from a place in the UK at over €100; no one in North America had one. I suspect Jeff could have made an accurate model in an hour and then Katy could have printed it in about 30 minutes. We'd then have that model on hand if it was ever ordered again and could be filling individual orders for them in thirty minutes. At $20 plus shipping for the part we'd be offering rare parts that meet specific needs for way less than the market is willing or able to at the moment. For ten bucks more we could put initials or a symbol on a printed piece to satisfy the customizers. Beyond the capital costs of getting the 3d printer needed, printing a part we had a model for is a quick and easy process and would only require maybe $5 in parts and power.

There are other angles to this besides micro-manufacturing old, out of production parts. We could also create small batch bespoke parts for companies building prototypes. By rapidly producing accurate, high tolerance parts, we'd also be creating a library of digital 3d model files that could also be part of the service. Those models could then go on be used in production.

Beyond the out-of-production parts market and assisting companies in with their prototyping needs, there is also the opportunity to pursue bespoke custom parts. Within five minutes of the first time I saw 3d printed additive manufacturing technology, I started thinking about custom motorcycle fairings. The default at the moment is to stamp out cheap copies of fairings, but it wouldn't cost much more to digitally redesign unique 3d variants of fairings and sell those, it would just need a large format printer. Variations in ducting for people wanting to fit a turbocharger? No problem. Want to get really crazy? A dragon scale fairing for a Game of Thrones fan? This is a 3d printed fairing with scales that have depth and texture. It would take custom motorcycle design to the next level, especially with a sympathetic paint job on top.

As far as the technology needed to create our digital foundry, I'm partial to the Formlabs 3d printers because they look like something out of Terminator. They also produce very high resolution models. Their new 3L large format printer comes close to being able to make detailed, high resolution models almost up to a cubic foot in size.

The process of additive manufacturing (3d printing) is surging forward. It isn't quite ready for the range of parts I have in mind, which would include being able to print 3d flexible parts that are fuel resistant, but this is more a chemical engineering bottleneck than anything else, and chemistry these days is rocketing ahead.

I'm hoping that just as I'm ready to retire from teaching, micro-manufacturing will have caught up and I can retire right into another profession making locally developed and manufactured bespoke components in a micro-manufacturing facility of my own, Big Hero 6 style.

Front right is a holographic desktop and keyboard - not quite there yet, but I've got physical hardware that does the same job now. The blue thing in the back right corner is a large format 3d printer - in the film he prints everything from carbon fibre armour to metal mechanical parts. This kind of localized production will be the norm rather than the exception in the next couple of decades. You can watch Big Hero 6 on Disney - I highly recommend it.

***

This isn't the first time I've kicked around the idea of applying emerging digital technologies to mechanics and manufacturing:

https://tkmotorcyclediaries.blogspot.com/2016/04/on-verge-of-future.html

https://tkmotorcyclediaries.blogspot.com/2015/11/iihtm-digital-workshop.html

Yesterday I was out in the garage using a Structure Sensor to 3d model my motorcycles, there are so many things we could do digitally with mechanical engineering and manufacturing:

1997 Honda Fireblade CBR900RR

by timking17

on Sketchfab

Sunday 10 April 2016

on the Verge of the Future

Sunday morning with a 3d
printer - I get a kick out of
making things work.

One of the best parts of my job is that I get to lay my hands on leading edge technology in order to figure it out so I can teach it. I've always been an early adopter, if no no else has it I'm interested - more so if everyone else is afraid of it. When most people didn't know that TVs had alternate inputs I had a home computer with a printer. When everyone was crying about how fuel injection meant no one could customize their vehicles any more I was hacking the on-board computer and using it for diagnostics and more horsepower.

Nowadays it's all about how digital tools are making micro/bespoke manufacturing more possible. Where once you needed an engineer, some machinists and a couple of hundred thousand dollars to build complex components, now you need twenty grand and a willingness to pick up some very easy to manage software. The entry into machining your own, custom components has become much easier.

Not only are digital tools handing back basic production to individuals, they are also allowing companies to explore levels of precision in manufacturing that seem almost science fictional:

We've had 3d printers in the classroom now for a couple of years, and we find them invaluable for prototyping and even developing 3d thinking (not something students take to naturally).

I suspect the wedding-cake style melting-plastic-through-an-extruder 3d printer is an evolutionary dead end (there is only so much you can do to speed up a printing process that works around cooling plastic). Fortunately, the next step has already happened:

... I'd love to get my hands on one of those.

Another building tool I'd like to try is a digital laser cutter. Like other manufacturing tools, digital laser cutters have been tumbling in price. Coming out this year is a desktop laser cutter called the Glowforge that'll introduce laser cutting, etching and fabrication to many more people. At only about $4000, this undercuts previous industrial units by tens of thousands of dollars.

With this kind of technology available to many more people, I get the sense that the garage of the future will allow us to build things that only get churned out by factories at the moment. When I'm at the point that I can custom manufacture and laser etch bespoke motorcycle hard parts and print my own fairings, I'll feel like my garage can keep up with my imagination.

A good guess might be the garage scene from Big Hero 6:

We're on the verge of escaping from the mass-production Twentieth Century. One day you'll be telling your grand kids that we had to buy shoes that weren't custom printed specifically for your feet, and they won't believe you.

Recent advances in processing power and
optics mean VR is finally (after decades of
promise) arriving at a consumer level.

Last week I discovered that I'm going to be able to set up an HTC Vive in the lab. We're doing it so we can better craft the 3d models we're building in Unity and Blender, but immersive simulation could offer a lot of opportunities in the classroom beyond 3d modelling. The emotional impact on a student walking across Vimy Ridge the day after, or walking through Cambodia's killing fields, or standing on the Moon and looking back at the Earth, get me revved up about making VR work in the classroom.

From a motorcycling perspective, an immersive simulation of the MotoGP circuit on Valentino's bike would offer fans a new level of appreciation for the sport. Preparing for an overseas ride by tasting the trip virtually first offer opportunities for safety preparation that simply don't exist right now, especially if you're trying to wrap you head around new signs and riding on the wrong side of the road.

We're on the verge of the future, and I get another taste next week, I can't wait!

3D printing

motorcycle 3d printing: http://3dprintingindustry.com/2015/08/03/motorcycle-3d-printing-picking-speed/

https://3dprint.com/65937/3d-printed-motorcycle/

http://www.stratasys.com/resources/case-studies/automotive/klock-werks

https://all3dp.com/3d-printed-motorcycles-know/

https://grabcad.com/library/128705

Virtual Reality

https://youtu.be/-Sd3wXNjLtk

http://motorbikewriter.com/victory-motorcycle-virtual-reality/

http://www.lifebuzz.com/virtual-motorcycle/

http://mashable.com/2015/03/13/oculus-victory-motorcycles-sturgis/

http://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/skully-opens-pre-orders-for-high-tech-helmet/

Sunday 6 June 2021

3d Scanning a Motorcycle

Using a Structure Sensor I 3d scanned a 2010 Kawasaki Concours14 and cleaned it up in Meshmixer:

Kawasaki Concours14 3d Scan by timking17 on Sketchfab

The Structure Sensor is an old generation 1 device and isn't as high resolution as I'd like, but it gives you a general sense of shape and proportions. Meshmixer is free from Autodesk and does a good job of fixing up voids and missing bits in the scan.

This is the model in case you'd like to mess around with it.

Structure.io came out with a higher resolution second generation model that they offer a discount on if you send in your old one. It might be time to trade up. My dream is eventually to get a 3d scanner that is accurate enough to scan and reproduce old motorcycle fairings that are out of production in order to produce millimetre accurate OEM replicas to keep old bikes on the road with new plastics via 3d printing accurate reproductions.

The next step would be to scan a customer's fairings and offer customized options based on 3d modelling. It would be relatively easy to reproduce high quality copies of fairings with some interesting variations in design. Alternate cooling, MotoGP style wings and even craziness like a motorcycle fairing redesigned with dragon scales of made out of feathers are well within the realm of 3d modelling/3dprinting.

The customized fairing/3d printing direction hasn't been explored yet. Accurate 3d modelling would also allow a micro-manufacturing concern to reproduce the old plastic bits that are wearing out on bikes from holders and brackets to dash pieces. Because they're 3d modelled, this would eventually build a library of out-of-production parts that could keep a wide variety of bikes on the road.

I've been dreaming about this kind of digital forge/micromanufacturing company since 2015: http://tkmotorcyclediaries.blogspot.com/2015/11/iihtm-digital-workshop.html

Disney's Big Hero Six garage is part of the inspiration:

Wednesday 31 May 2017

Custom Motorcycle Digital Art

What I've got here is a photo of my Triumph Tiger 955i taken as near to fully side on as I could manage it. I then photoshoped into a outline (trace contour and some negative inversion along with some line cleanup did it). I saved that image as a vector and shared it with my trusty technology design teacher at work. She cleaned up the lines a bit (mainly simplifying them) so they could be cut into perspex using a computer controlled router.

I then got an Arduino micro-controller and cut a length of Adafruit neo-pixel leds to fit the length of the perspex. I soldered some wires onto the neo-pixel led strip and wired them up to the Arduino. I then installed the libraries to run the neo-pixel strip and ran the basic test pattern code on the Arduino.

This is the result:

https://youtu.be/NAQBZQhmcgI

With a bit of coding you could colour code the display to something specific or make different patterns. The strip along the bottom is 9 leds long, so you could get pretty fancy with patterns if that floated your boat. I've also seen Arduinos run like graphic equalizers, responding to music with different colours and patterns, so that's another option.

Metres long LED strips can be gotten cheap. An Arduino can be had for less than $10 if you're cagey about it. Three wires and a bit of perspex and you're ready to go. I'd guess in raw parts it cost all of about ten bucks to put together, and that includes an Arduino that could do a lot of other things. If you've got a customized bike, a clean photo and a bit of prep and you'd have a disco light version of your specific machine.

***

I 3d modelled the Tiger a while ago using a Structure Sensor. It snaps on to an ipad and is very straightforward to use. Once you've 'painted' in your 3d model using the lasers on the sensor you can clean it up in something like the 3d modelling software that is included in Windows 10. Here is what an upload of that looks like on Sketchfab:

Tigertester by timking17 on Sketchfab

I used Meshmixer to clean up any missed pieces in the original scan and then dropped it into a Dremel 3d printer. This printer is fairly cheap and low resolution, but the model came out ok. What I'd really like to do is try and print it in something like the FormLabs Form2. Their terminator style resin based laser prints are way higher resolution, so you don't get the blockiness that you see in the additive 3d print process.

You can see how blocky the print is on the clean / top side of the print (the Dremel printer makes up the plastic model like a wedding cake getting layered). The bottom side with all the extra support pieces that I had to cut off after is much rougher. Another benefit of the Formlabs printer would be no annoying structural supports to cut off.

Like the disco light above, what's nice about this is that it's a direct copy of my specific bike. If you've got a custom ride, scanning it with the Structure Sensor and then printing it out on something nice like the Formlabs printer would mean a smooth, accurate scale model of your particular machine.

What would be even cooler would be getting my hands on a large format 3d printer, then I'd be making accurate 3d models of fairing pieces and going to town on them in 3d design software. I still want to remake a sports bike with textured dragon scale fairings!

Monday 11 April 2016

Tiger Tales in a Never Ending Winter

It's been an icy, crappy spring, but it looks like the end is nigh!

Tiger tales on a wintery April Weekend. Last year at this time Max and I were out doing a 300km+ run to Blue Mountain in some fresh Ontario spring air. It was cold, and even flurried in places, but it was doable on dry roads with winter well behind us.

After another round of freezing rain last night we were up to ten degrees today. Over the next few days it looks like riding season will start officially. The Tiger is at my local mechanic getting saftied. I should be on the road and ready to go by
Wednesday, the day everything starts to get better. In the meantime, while waiting for the ice age to end, I've been playing with some digital imaging:

Tigertester by timking17 on Sketchfab - a 3d model of the Tiger

Soon enough I'll be able to stop looking at it and starting to ride it!

Variations on a garage photo:

3d printed Triumph logo

I backed the Tiger out while trying to get the carbs sorted on the Concours - 2 hours later is was a white out out here.

3d printed Triumph logo

Triumph logo 3d printed

Dremel 3d printer doing the business

I scanned the Tiger with a Structure Sensor and then printed the 3d model on the Dremel 3d printer - not just a model
of a bike, but an exact scale model of my bike!

Saturday 7 March 2015

3d modelling madness

I got a Structure 3d scanner this week at work. We're using it there for all sorts of educational activities, but I find myself painting the various Kawasaki products in my garage.

This thing costs about $350 bucks and straps on to an ipad. You walk around your target 'painting' it on the ipad screen (it looks like you're covering it in clay) and then you're done. Any of these motorcycle models took about a minute of walking around the bike...

It didn't take me long to get some remarkably detailed images of the Concours...

Because it's so easy to paint an object and create a 3d model out of it, you tend to try all sorts of angles.

The scanner will also take a swing at rooms, though I'm not so good with them yet. This is an image of the garage. The Ninja is on the left, the Concours is further in on the right.

The file generated is basically a list of vertices connected by lines. The sensor measures distances and constructs a 3d mesh out of them. The result is a three dimensional image.

How could something like this be used?

You could scan a fairing or other part, get accurate geometry out of it and then modify it digitally before printing out a replacement.

Connie Fairing Model by timking17 on Sketchfab

Seat Model by timking17 on Sketchfab

I think I'm about five years away from being able to 3d print my own digitally modelled custom fairings for any bike. The hold up right now is a 3d printer big enough to manage large prints.

Wednesday 27 January 2016

Motorcycle 3d Modelling

I'm teaching a class on 3d modelling in Blender next semester, so what better way to practice than on my partially taken apart for maintenance ZG1000?

Naked ZG1000 by timking17 on Sketchfab

The model was made with the Occipital Structure Sensor 3d Scanner. I'm trying different editing programs. I used the 3d Builder integrated into Windows 10 to edit out the extra bits captured by the scanner. It's quite easy to use and has some pretty good editing tools. If you're trying 3d modelling for the first time it's not a bad place to start (and it's included in Windows 10!).

The file is shared on Sketchfab, which I find to be an easy way to do presentation editing and sharing of a 3d model. We're using Blender in class, so I'll be cranking out some Blender motorcycle models in the next couple of weeks. The trick is going to be to get them looking life like rather than digitally modelled. I wonder how you model patina...

Sunday 15 May 2022

Forging Moto-Maker Spaces

As a family we attended a blacksmithing day at Happy Knife Forge last weekend. Highly recommended, it's money well spent. Jason will not only show you the basics, but is keen to get you up and running as a blacksmith. My granddad was a coal merchant back in the old country and the smell of coke burning on the forge prompted a sense memory from the crib; it smelled like home.

I've ruminated on fabrication and micro-manufacturing on TMD before from a digital perspective using the latest techniques. Given the space and tools I'd quite happily spend my time designing and creating using everything from medieval blacksmithing through 20th Century metal working and on into 21st Century digital manufacturing techniques. Connecting these processes separated by time but with the same intent would produce some genuinely interesting and bespoke combinations.

I've had the itch to get back into welding for some time, but a lack of space and gear means I'm not while I'm where I'm at. The blacksmithing experience has me wanting to expand my metal working beyond just welding, which means even more space and kit getting added to the wish list. You can do a lot in a tight space, and I am, but when it comes to storing the chemicals and managing the heat in some of these processes, there is no substitute for space.

A property with an old industrial building on
it would make for a fantastic restoration
leading to a multi-millenial foundry covering
everything from blacksmithing to digital design!

Given the time and resources I'd hit an intensive welding program, then set up my multi-millenial forge/shop/maker space with everything from blacksmithing tools through metal working and mechanical to 21st Century 3d scanning, digital modelling and printing. The forge would be in the corner of a repurposed, old brick building that also includes space for metalwork, all very fireproof. Across the floor in the same open concept.would be space for a paint booth/shot blasting station and plenty of mechanical workspace. Upstairs (open concept, with just a railing) would be digital design and manufacturing in a cleaner workspace. If I could walk out to that every morning to create, restore and repair, I'd hardly care if there were pandemics or anything else. Put it near some good riding roads (ie: not in Southern Ontario), and it'd be just about perfect.