Now You Can 3D Print Your Favorite New Ford

9 years, 5 months ago - 13 June 2015, Autoblog
Now You Can 3D Print Your Favorite New Ford
Ford is letting people build their own cars, offering digital files so people can print 3D versions of their favorite models. This is way cooler than any old Matchbox or Hot Wheels toy.

Ford this week started offering printable files for the F-150 Raptor, Shelby GT350R, Focus ST and Fiesta ST. Folks can order the 3D models in 1:32 scale in plastic (that'd make the mighty large pickup truck about eight inches long) but the digital files let users tweak the scale to the their liking. Once people have the digital files, they can print out their own miniature versions of the cars, made out of soft plastics, sandstone, and even some metals. Ford says it expects demand for such files to grow as sales numbers for desktop 3D printers surges to 1 million units in 2018. That's up from about 44,000 last year.

Ford already offers digital files for its company logo, the 1.0-liter engine block, and two older Mustang models. But these new models take this to a totally different scale.