The design of the Mini 650 on a 3D printer, started in 2014 by Italian studio Livrea Yacht Francesco Belvisi and Daniel Cevola, has reached the final stage. Both the right material and the necessary precision equipment are available. And that means that Livrea Yachts' plan to make it in time for the 2019 Mini Transat has every chance of coming to fruition.
As part of the project to build the Mini 650 on a 3D printer, Livrea Yachts has agreed with Levoss Group, a German company specializing in chemical and mineral materials. For this project, Levoss Group has developed a special group of 3D printing materials under the Luvocom 3F brand. Luvocom 3F is based on thermoplastic polymers such as polyamides and polyetheretherketones reinforced with carbon plastic. The new materials make it possible to print strong and at the same time lightweight parts.
In parallel with the design of the printed Mini 650, which involved engineers from «the America's Cup» and Volvo Ocean Race, Belvizi and Cevola worked on the development of specialized direct extrusion printing technology within their other company, Ocore. They were able to improve the accuracy of the printing equipment - robot, extruder and nozzle - as well as to patent a new technology for spraying material using an algorithm based on fractals.
«Yacht will be very competitive thanks to its lightweight and durable 3D printed parts. 3D printing significantly reduces the assembly time and cost of the yacht. We are looking forward to the start of construction and believe that the first 3D-printed yacht will not only be able to compete but also win in 2019»," said Francesco Belvisi, Chief Technical Officer of Ocore.
As a reminder, three athletes from Russia - Pyotr Lezhnin, Fyodor Druzhinin and Irina Gracheva intend to participate in Mini Transat 2019.
