Jonathan Strain's Public Library

3-D printing is a very good example of the age we live in. In the past, it
could conceivably take months to prototype a part -- today you can do it hours.
If you can dream up a product, you can hold a working model in your hands two
days later! In this edition of How Stuff Works, we
will take a tour of the stereolithography service bureau at PT CAM (Piedmont
Triad Center for Advanced Manufacturing) so that you can understand
everything involved and see some actual 3-D models that this technology has
produced!

So how does the carbon fiber go from its cloth-like state in a mold into
becoming one of the most solid materials fabricated by man? John Howett, the
president of the Toyota F1 team, explains. From the design room the carbon fiber
moves into another room where it will spend many hours transforming into that
rock hard substance:

"It looks a bit like a bank vault but it is actually an autoclave,” John
said. "After the parts are completed in the lay-out room they are placed in a
bag, the bag is placed under vacuum and they are then baked under high pressure
and temperature in an oven. These ovens work 24 hours a day, seven days a
week."

That's right, it is a little bit like baking a cake - except that the carbon
composite components that emerge are so hard that while they may be quite
inedible, for an F1 team serve a much better purpose: they are almost
unbreakable. There is little better to ensure the safety of the drivers.