FLYING MACHINE
MANUFACTURING to energy , metals to medicine and sustainability to food . CSIRO also works at the forefront of emerging sectors such as gene technology and nanotechnology .
With the significant impact that CSIRO has on so many sectors , Flying Machine is therefore quite enthusiastic and appreciative of the opportunity to work with them . “ We ’ ve been working with CSIRO on 3D-printed titanium parts ,” said Andrew . “ The titanium products are our highest end items with the highest degree of potential customization — they ’ ve been one of the most significant factors behind our recent growth spurt . The key to our titanium products is their ability to be flexible . Every time we make a set they can be changed . Literally every bike we ’ ve made has been a slight design improvement on the one before it . We thought were going to have to wait years for the price of this technology to come down . But it just came down to meeting the right people and the right technology .
“ The key element of this process from a customer point of view is the custom fitting . The 3D-printed parts allow us to really tailor the bike frame exactly to someone ’ s size requirements as opposed to having to buy a bike off the rack ,” said Andrew . While the company ’ s standard size bikes obviously deliver solid performance , customers can expect a truly exceptional ride from their customised models .
Andrew went on to point out the cost savings benefitted by the company . For example , the tooling to make one set of parts for a bike in production might have been in the $ 20,000 to $ 50,00 range to make , whereas , there is no tooling required using the 3D printing process . The 3D printing process allows the company to make the smallest of changes whenever they want without the extreme cost of retooling . “ We can do it with complete flexibility . No tooling needs to be changed . There are far fewer limits . For example , we ’ ve made 12 different versions of a particular model within just this last year . From a manufacturing standpoint , that would have required each version to have its own tooling and would likely take years rather than months . From a development point of view , it is very quick ,” said Andrew .
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