Strati, the World’s First 3D Printed Car, Created by a Diverse Team

In early 2014, a group of companies gathered around a technology being developed at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory Manufacturing Demonstration Facility (ORNL MDF). They had a plastic extruder from Lockheed Martin on a development gantry, and they could 3D print large, durable parts. They used plastic pellets as the raw material. Commercial printers could print a one-pound part in about a day with about $100 of material. Their prototype could print 18 pounds an hour of material with a large nozzle. The material was only $6/pound. Everyone involved knew they were onto something big.

Brian Post, Mark Ferneding, and Rachael Smith printing a prototype robot frame on the Blue Gantry at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory Manufacturing Demonstration Facility.

One of those gathered that day was Jay Rogers, today the CEO of Haddy Inc. He was running a startup innovation company called Local Motors. He was looking for ways to shake up manufacturing. Cars had been made the same way for years. What if we could 3D print a car? We could mass customize it. He wanted to figure out how to use this printer to make a car. Rogers had worked with AMT – The Association For Manufacturing Technology to assemble a customized car called the Rally Fighter at IMTS 2012 in the AMT Emerging Technology Center. Rogers asked Bonnie Gurney, AMT vice president – strategic partnerships and content, “What if we could 3D print a car at IMTS 2014?” She said if we could do that, we would be invited back to the ETC at IMTS.

In 2014, I was the manager of market development at Cincinnati Incorporated (CI). We were interested in finding new markets for its technology. CI had developed a linear motor laser cutting system that had shown the world that a laser cutting system could compete with a turret punch in producing holes in sheet metal. CI could use the foundation of the laser system as a base for a giant 3D printer. They liked the nickname for the system, “BAAM,” given to it by Lockheed Martin. While the origin of BAAM is “Big Ass Additive Manufacturing,” it was cleaned up to mean “Big Area Additive Manufacturing.”

Rogers’ idea was alluring. People printed lots of small parts and put them together into something like a car, but nobody printed the main structure of a vehicle in one piece. Rogers’ leadership in selling his moon-shot idea started the ball rolling. He convinced Lonnie Love of ORNL MDF and me (at CI), who went back to our respective organizations to sell the idea.

Local Motors had a crowdsourcing software platform to execute a process they called “co-creation.” This allowed hundreds of designers in their community to contribute to the design of the Strati. Local Motors had a diverse team that included automotive designers, mechanics, engineers, and investment experts, as well as a marketing team that furiously worked behind the scenes to get the word of the feat out to the world.

Initially, the team at ORNL MDF was recruited to help with an extruder on a robot. As it turned out, programming a robot to do 3D printing was difficult. Printing became much more straightforward once the extruder was put on a gantry. Besides the mechanical engineers and technicians, teams of materials engineers helped with the characteristics of reinforced thermoplastics. Simulation capabilities were used to optimize the process. And one secret weapon at ORNL was a group of interns who found innovative ways to do things that seasoned engineers might have missed.

CI found the possibility of putting an all-new machine in the atrium of the North Hall at McCormick Place, while 114,000 IMTS attendees observed it, very attractive. The CI team of machine tool engineers, software engineers, technical service, and marketing worked with the team to bring an incredibly robust technology and mate it with 3D printing expertise from ORNL to build an industrial system.

Local Motors and CI signed a “Cooperative Research and Development” contract with ORNL in early 2014. A motion system was delivered to the MDF in March, and parts began printing in May. A graphic design of the Strati was selected in June, and three months later the team was able to produce the car in six days at IMTS 2014 and even drive it off the show floor onto McCormick Square.  The world’s first 3D printed car had been completed.

The success of Strati’s creation in IMTS 2014 was underpinned by the diverse expertise and backgrounds of its team members. Their collective ability to tackle seemingly insurmountable challenges in parallel — developing both a revolutionary machine and an innovative car — within a compressed timeframe of less than six months was nothing short of remarkable.

For those who witnessed the Strati’s debut at IMTS 2014, it was a moment that epitomized the convergence of advanced technology, creative collaboration, and visionary leadership.

To learn more about the journey and meet the individuals who made it possible, visit IMTS 2024, Sept. 9-14, at McCormick Place in Chicago. Explore firsthand the magic that unfolded in Chicago in a special 10^th Anniversary exhibit of the Strati and extensive wonders of manufacturing technology from subtractive and additive to automation, software, workholding, and tooling.

Make your plans to attend IMTS 2024, Sept. 9-14 at McCormick Place in Chicago. Register at IMTS.com/Register.

And, mark your calendar for Formnext Chicago, April 8-10, 2025, at McCormick Place in Chicago.

About IMTS 2024

IMTS – The International Manufacturing Technology Show is where the creators, builders, sellers, and drivers of manufacturing technology come to connect and be inspired. Attendees discover advanced manufacturing solutions that include innovations in CNC machining, automation, robotics, additive, software, inspection, and transformative digital technologies that drive our future forward. Powered by AMT – The Association For Manufacturing Technology, IMTS is the largest manufacturing technology show and marketplace in the Western Hemisphere. With more than 1.2 million square feet of exhibit space, the show attracts visitors from more than 110 countries. IMTS 2022 had 86,307 registrants, featured 1,816 exhibiting companies, saw over 7,600 people attend educational events, and included a Student Summit that introduced the next generation to manufacturing.

Author: Rick Neff, Contributing Writer for AMT – The Association For Manufacturing Technology, which owns and operates IMTS – The International Manufacturing Technology Show

Be the change at IMTS 2024, Sept. 9-14, 2024. Inspiring the Extraordinary.