Builder Extreme 1500 3D Printer Inspires Lay3rs to 3D Print a Full-Sized Ducati Motorbike

In November, Dutch company Builder 3D Printers introduced the Builder Extreme 1500, one of the biggest FDM 3D printers in the world with a print volume of 1100 x 500 x 820 mm. The 1500 was the followup to 2015’s Builder Extreme 1000 and 2000, and continued the company’s pattern of releasing bigger and bigger 3D printers. Extreme really is the best word for the giant-sized printer, and I can’t help but wonder how the company will follow that one up, if they do decide to go even bigger. What comes after extreme? Ludicrous? Inconceivable? Gargantuan?

Anyway, that’s projecting into the future a bit – the Builder Extreme 1500 isn’t even six months old yet. Ironically, one of the reasons that the 1500 was created was because the Extreme 1000 and 2000 models were too big to fit through every door, so the company designed the 1500 to be both smaller and larger – more compact, but with a longer print bed. To promote the new model, Builder 3D Printers loaned a 1500 to fellow Dutch company Lay3rs 3D Printing, a reseller of Builder’s products.

Lay3rs is run by motorcycle fans who, in the past, had 3D printed a miniature model of a Ducati bike. As soon as they received the 1500, they had one thought: “Let’s print another one, but bigger!” Life-sized, as a matter of fact. Immediately, the Lay3rs team began preparing a 3D model using Simplify3D, and printed it in a massive 780-hour print job using 0.4 and 0.8 mm nozzles. Once the print job was complete, Lay3rs had a striking, bright red bike that required no painting – every part from the red chassis to the silver tire rims to the gold gas cap was printed as it appears now, with just a few stickers added to enhance its appearance.

The Ducati was finished just in time for the RapidPro Conference, which took place in Veldhoven earlier this month. The bike was a hit with attendees, who were invited to guess its weight for a chance to win a Builder Premium Small (yes, Builder makes small 3D printers, too, or at least as small as 210 x 210 x 200 mm). The actual weight of the 3D printed Ducati is 38.9 kg. It drew so much interest, in fact, that Lay3rs is now renting it out to other companies for trade shows and events; it was a hit yet again at the biggest auto show in the Netherlands.

In addition to Builder 3D Printers, Lay3rs is also a reseller for Ultimaker as well as a large selection of industrial 3D printers. The technologies they offer include:

• FDM
• PolyJet
• SLA
• Laminated Object Manufacturing (LOM)
• SLS
• DMLS
• EBM
• Direct Part Materialization

Lay3rs also sells a selection of 3D scanners, printing materials and software. There are a lot of retailers of 3D technology out there, to put it mildly, so it’s difficult for an individual reseller to stand out – which is why projects like this one really set a company like Lay3rs apart from other retailers. They may be known among many now as “the company that 3D printed the Ducati,” but I suspect that many of those people who were so impressed by that particular print are now likely to check out what else Lay3rs has to offer. Discuss in the Ducati forum at 3DPB.com.

Check out a look at the 3D printed Ducati and more photos of the build: