Sweden has become a topic of conversation as it recently succeeded in printing a boat using 3D printing technology. If boats are able to be made using 3D printing technology, not only time and cost can be saved but customized boats according to consumers’ requests can also be made as well.
RISE (Research Institutes of Sweden AB) and a Swedish boat manufacturing company called Cipax recently succeeded in testing a 3D-printed boat on the west coast of Sweden.
Most of parts of the boat were made through 3D printing technology. The boat was made by stacking short fiber-reinforced polypropylene one by one. It only takes three days to make this boat that is able to easily carry two adults. The research team from RISE that was responsible for making the 3D-printed boat explained that it would continue to work on follow-up studies so that 3D-printed boats can be made even faster.
It cost the team somewhere between $609 (670,000 KRW) and $909 (1 million KRW) to purchase necessary materials to make the boat.
The team explained that there are two big advantages in making a boat using 3D printing technology. One, the technology saves up to one week for boat manufactures to make prototypes so that customers can receive finished products faster than before.
The second advantage is that the technology allows boat manufactures to make customized boats according to customers’ requests. Even when boats are customized, time and cost can be greatly reduced compared to not using 3D printing technology. The research team predicted that 3D-printed boats will be able to target the current boat market and even niche markets within the next two years.
3D-printed boats are being made around the globe. One Italian startup called Moi Composites worked with partners such as Autodesk and KUKA and introduced its 3D-printed boat called “MAMBO”. MAMBO is made using fiberglass and weighs 800 kilograms and is 6.5 meters long.
In 2019, the University of Maine’s Advanced Structures and Composites Center became a topic for making the world’s biggest 3D-printed boat. Its 3D-printed boat called “3Dirigo”, which is 7.6 meters long and weighs 2.27 tons, was made in just three days and set Guinness World Records.
Companies are also making parts that go into various ships using 3D printing technology. An Australian company called SPEE3D has made propellers using its own technology called metal cold spray 3D printing technology and is pushing to supply its propellers to the Royal Australian Navy.
Staff Reporter Kang, Hyeryung | kang@etnews.com