How 3D Printing will Bring us the Hendo Hoverboard

In 1985, Back to the Future got our collective hopes up for 2015: the year of the hoverboard. It seems those hopes might not be pie-in-the-sky, though, thanks to Arx Pax, the parent company of Hendo Hoverboards. Marty McFly's might not be there, but on October 21, 2015, Hendo Hoverboards will have their launch date for the world's first real hoverboard. And it's thanks in large part to 3D printing. Greg Henderson, CEO and Co-Founder of Arx Pax, told 3DPrint.com about some of his team's experience with 3D printing and how much the technology helped in the on-schedule development for the Hendo Hoverboard. With in-house 3D printing capabilities, Hendo has been able to speed up their prototyping process for their hoverboard engine. Check out more about the hoverboard's progress and use of 3D printing -- as well as a video of Tony Hawk riding a real hoverboard -- in the full article: http://3dprint.com/40393/3d-print-hendo-hoverboard/


Below is a photo of a Hendo Hoverboard in use:
http://3dprint.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/h5.png

After reading the Arx Pax patents, there have been several folks who have duplicated their results to check the viability of the hover engine. Not only does it work , but it actually works the way they say it does, which seems to be a rarity these days on crowdfunding. The magnetic array it uses is actually pretty brilliant.

That said, it's not energy efficient, it only works on copper and aluminum, and it has some very loud motors in it. You might have a pretty good chance making a quadcopter that can lift a person more quietly than the Hendo... But where's fun in that?

One thing I do love is that this can be scaled down quite well, leading to some very interesting little levitating toys and other neat stuff if Arx Pax isn't stingy about licencing out the hover engine tech.

Yes it was a pleasure talking to Greg. You could tell he was extremely enthusiastic about not only his technology but that of 3D printing as well. The hoverboard is just one small area they are using these engines for. Can't wait to see what else they end up developing with these things.