The first ever entirely 3D-printed kayak isn’t just an impressive feat of engineering — it’s adorably child-like in its rainbow colour scheme, too.
Made up of 28, 3D printed sections, each has brass threaded inserts so neighbouring sections can be screwed together. A little silicone caulk is used to keep things watertight, and the result is a 16ft 8in craft that, amazingly, only cost around $US500 to make. Jim explains where the design came from:
This design was initially based on the Siskiwit Bay kayak by Bryan Hansel, but heavily modified for 3D printing. The shape of the kayak was tweaked to optimise performance based on my height and weight. To reduce print time and material usage, the kayak is printed at a 0.65mm layer height. It features a 6mm thick hull with a built-in, internal rib/support structure to give it strength, yet be lightweight and use less ABS plastic. On the bow and stern of the Kayak I added attach points for cameras, handles and future add-ons.
The good news? It floats! You can watch a full making-of video below if you want to see just how much effort is required to make one yourself. [Grassroots Engineering]