Audi just 3D printed a mini 1936 Grand Prix race car

People are 3D printing all sorts of things these days, from cat armor to bikinis. Audi just surpassed them all, though; it 3D printed a replica of a 1936 Grand Prix sports car.

The car is a 1:2-scale rolling model — made from metal — of the the “Auto Union Typ C” sports car that knocked Mercedes-Benz off the winner's podium in the late '30s. That, however, isn't the highlight of this story. Although it's a sweet little scoot-around, to be sure, it's how Audi made it that's remarkable.

With this pint-sized copy, Audi Toolmaking demonstrates the prowess of its new 3D printer. It can laser-melt steel or aluminum metallic powder with a grain size of 15 to 40 thousandths of a millimeter (roughly half the diameter of a human hair). It calls the process "sand-printing." While the new printer cannot, say, print an entire car, it can make forms as large as eight inches cubed. Read more...