Future of automotive modifications?

[— kung fu jesus —]

I was reading some tech articles on 3D printing over the past few weeks. I started thinking about how that tech would relate to automotive enthusiasts. There are two pieces of 3d printing tech that I found especially interesting; the first had to do with Alcoa ramping up R&D and production of their powdered metals for 3D printing. The second was how Autodesk has started to gang plastic 3D printers together to print very large parts. It's really fascinating stuff, to me, as a designer AND as an automotive enthusiast.

Let me riff on how I see this affecting us. With scanning tech as it is, I can see custom parts becoming easier and eventually cheaper to produce. Let me elaborate by saying if I wanted to make a custom bumper, flares, or maybe even a hardtop, I could collect data points to use for a computer model, by using a hand held scanner, to create what I wanted that could fit exclusively to my car, or others depending on modification. This is the plastic 3D printing. Companies that are 'printing farms' would print out the parts I designed. In the metal printing, I have no experience in it yet, but custom intake manifolds, throttle bodies, maybe internal parts? I don't know because I'm not sure how the printed parts hold up to stresses in that manufacturing method. I know the Alcoa article mentioned the use of aluminum, titanium, and a couple other alloys in the use of 3D metal printing that is already in use in aerospace.

I also thought of the down side, too. It *could* make knockoffs much easier to replicate. Maybe the prints are used as moulds? Maybe they create more options and bespoke pieces? I don't know, but I think it's pretty interesting and wanted share the thought.

http://www.3dprintingprogress.com/ar...er-plant-opens

https://www.facebook.com/futurism/vi...2405592938644/