[EricH]

Originally Posted by mman1506

SLS my bad. Wouldn't you be able to use less material to make a aluminium wheel than a 3d printed one potentially making it lighter?

It's possible... but unlikely.

Let's say that you have 2 wheels. They're identical in form, but because one is plastic and one is aluminum, they will have different weights due to densities. Aluminum is 0.1 lb/cubic inch; ABS is 0.04 lb/cubic inch. Let's say that both wheels have about 6 cubic inches (that would be a solid 4" wheel, 1" wide, with half its material removed somehow). 0.6 lb for aluminum, 0.24 lb for plastic.

Now, ABS's strength is about half that of aluminum, give or take a bit. So, you beef up the ABS wheel a bit--say you add back 3 cubic inches (which, for a wheel, is probably all you need). Still only at 0.36 lb. Adding back the entire material gives 0.48 lb, still less than the aluminum--I've been assuming that the aluminum wheel is strong enough this whole time.

BUT! 3D printing allows you to build stuff hollow, or with support structure inside--and much of the stress is carried in the outside of whatever you're working with. So you could actually build a pretty strong wheel out of ABS, without simply adding material willy-nilly, and be pretty light into the bargain.