A reprint from Additive Manufacturing

New Electric Dirt Bike Is Designed for Molding but Produced Through 3D Printing

Cobra Moto’s new all-electric youth motocross bike could not wait for mold tooling. Parts have been designed so they can be molded eventually, but to get the bike to market, the production method now is additive manufacturing.

Sean Hilbert, president of Cobra Moto, says manufacturers make a mistake in the way they justify additive manufacturing capability. “We cost it wrong,” he says.

If the expense of a production AM system is amortized across the parts it produces — the typical way to account for production capital equipment — then the unit cost of each 3D printed component is apt to be high. Additive manufacturing is often subject to bursts of activity, producing parts as they are needed.