Heavy Bikes, an organization specializing in bike body manufacturing, now provides single-piece aluminum frames made with 3D printed molds. This strategy, unusual in conventional steel casting, combines trendy know-how with a centuries-old course of to ship a disruptive answer for customized, high-performance bicycles. By leveraging superior 3D printing methods, Heavy Bikes is revolutionizing how steel bike frames are designed, examined, and produced—making customization extra accessible and environment friendly.
3D printing meets foundry casting
Whereas many wouldn’t affiliate the foundry business with innovation, Charlie Murray, co-founder of Heavy Bikes and Foundry Casting Methods (FCS), noticed a possibility to carry trendy know-how into steel casting. A seasoned entrepreneur with experience in industrial controls and automation, Murray acknowledged that casting inconsistencies like porosity and shrinkage might be minimized via course of enhancements.
As a substitute of utilizing conventional strategies like CNC machining from billet aluminum, Murray envisioned a extra environment friendly answer: utilizing 3D printed molds to create castings with enhanced mechanical properties. By means of collaboration with foundry consultants, FCS developed the Pascal Course of, a singular technique that optimizes the casting atmosphere utilizing pressurized solidification. This course of ensures that molten steel correctly fills the mould, lowering defects and producing high-quality, repeatable outcomes.
On the coronary heart of Heavy Bikes’ manufacturing course of is the S-Max 3D printer from ExOne, which makes use of sand binder jetting know-how to create exact molds from silica sand and furan binder. The usage of 3D printed molds opens new prospects in casting, enabling advanced shapes and complex designs that will be difficult or inconceivable with conventional tooling.
Binder jetting know-how, which eliminates the necessity for costly, time-consuming laborious tooling, permits Heavy Bikes to iterate designs quickly. For Murray, this was a game-changer: “3D printing permits individuals to discover casting,” he mentioned. “They could have been shunned away due to the tooling prices or due to the iteration prices previously. Binder jetting opens that door.”
By means of this course of, Heavy Bikes can produce single-piece, strong aluminum frames with out welds, a design that gives distinctive advantages in power and sturdiness in comparison with conventional tube-welded bikes.
Reinventing casting
Foundry Casting Methods’ Pascal Course of improves the mechanical properties of Heavy Bikes’ aluminum frames. By pumping inert gasoline into the mould throughout solidification, the method creates constructive strain, which helps make sure the molten steel absolutely fills the mould’s intricate passages, leading to a dense, strong construction.
The important thing to the Pascal Course of is its potential to extend the mass feeding price throughout casting. Whereas a conventional 12-inch riser at atmospheric strain would provide a specific amount of head strain, the Pascal Course of delivers the equal of a 70-foot riser utilizing only a 1-foot riser. This innovation interprets into fewer defects, corresponding to porosity, and stronger, extra sturdy solid elements.
Probably the most vital benefits of utilizing 3D printed molds is the power to customise every bike body to go well with the rider’s wants. Murray, who has a background in aggressive biking, realized the significance of motorbike frames tailor-made for particular physique sorts and using kinds. The digital nature of 3D printing signifies that changes may be made rapidly and simply, with out the fee and time related to conventional mold-making strategies. This flexibility additionally allowed Heavy Bikes to experiment with completely different shapes and configurations.
From idea to actuality: the Hypocrite bike
The primary Heavy Bikes prototype dubbed the “Hypocrite,” was solid utilizing a 3D printed mould from Liberty Sample, a number one supplier of advanced sand casting molds. Liberty Sample operates a fleet of 5 ExOne S-Max 3D printers, making it potential to supply intricate molds with out laborious tooling. This flexibility enabled Heavy Bikes to carry the Hypocrite bike body from idea to actuality rapidly and cost-effectively.
Craft Sample and Mould, one other key accomplice, utilized the Pascal Course of to solid the prototype, pumping inert gasoline into the mould at 150 psi to make sure the aluminum stuffed even the smallest, most detailed sections of the body. The outcome was a single-piece bike body with no welds—eliminating conventional weak factors—and with enhanced power because of the Pascal Course of’s pressurization technique.
With every iteration, Heavy Bikes refined its design, lowering the burden of the body whereas sustaining structural integrity. The newest frames, poured in September 2024 at Denison Industries, weigh roughly 1.1 lbs lower than earlier variations, due to steady enhancements made potential by digital design and 3D printed molds.
Murray believes that Heavy Bikes frames are extra than simply useful—they’re additionally artistic endeavors. The design freedom offered by 3D printing signifies that every body may be personalized with distinctive floor designs, corresponding to dimpling or logos, that will be tough or costly to realize with conventional tooling. Whether or not painted, anodized, or left uncooked, Heavy Bikes frames provide a degree of aesthetic customization that units them aside from different bikes in the marketplace.
The whole case examine may be downloaded right here.
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