On the


Fast Track


A mechanical engineer uses 3-D printing to rapidly prototype cast components for one-of-a-kind bicycle designs. NICHOLAS LEIDER, ASSOCIATE EDITOR


The first Fixer prototype featured five magnesium components connecting the frame’s tubes. F


or those involved in met- alcasting, it doesn’t take long before you become acutely


attune to noticing the industry’s impact in everyday situations. You can be walking down the street and point out a metalcaster’s name embossed on a sewer grate. Or you’ll perk up when you see a commercial for so-and-so’s


28 | MODERN CASTING April 2015


heavy duty trucks, wondering if there will be a clip from a casting facility. In short, you start to look for and see metal castings everywhere. Kim-Niklas Antin is plenty familiar with this phenomenon. Only in his case, connections are drawn between everyday life and bicycling, one of his life’s passions since he first successfully


guided a two-wheeler down the street. Once he entered the mechanical engi- neering program at Aalto University in Helsinki, Antin always wondered what he might be capable of doing. “When I first started my studies, I


ran into all kinds of different materials and manufacturing technologies. Every time, I thought, ‘Could this be used to


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