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3D Printing

jade1955

By jade1955,
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Colored Guy Champion

Colored Guy

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Most of them do plastic parts and have been around for 20 years, used to be known as Rapid Prototyping.

The newer ones do much finer detailed work and they're fast. We have one at work that gets a lot of use. There are also ones that make parts out of metals, known as Selective Laser Sintering. They make parts from steel, titanium as well as alloy blends, as well as green sand used for making molds.

But, you need to have the part geometry in a certain format that the machine will accept. Any glitch in the 3D CAD file and it crashes in the middle of the part. So these will be pretty much limited to industry for quite a while. I'm sure when they are available to the public, they'll come with simple canned geometry to make simple parts to amuse yourself.

Rob

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slayer9019 Autobot

slayer9019

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Most of them do plastic parts and have been around for 20 years, used to be known as Rapid Prototyping.

The newer ones do much finer detailed work and they're fast. We have one at work that gets a lot of use. There are also ones that make parts out of metals, known as Selective Laser Sintering. They make parts from steel, titanium as well as alloy blends, as well as green sand used for making molds.

But, you need to have the part geometry in a certain format that the machine will accept. Any glitch in the 3D CAD file and it crashes in the middle of the part. So these will be pretty much limited to industry for quite a while. I'm sure when they are available to the public, they'll come with simple canned geometry to make simple parts to amuse yourself.

Rob

The one thing I would find one of these at home infinitely useful for would be stupid plastic car parts. I would be printing all kinds of gauges, dash pieces, various interior doo-da pieces (clips, molding, etc) and maybe and custom airbox.

When I was in college we used the uber-expensive 5-axis CNC to mill out skateboard trucks. I think the school got a bit upset at the waste involved but it was cool!

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Colored Guy Champion

Colored Guy

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The one thing I would find one of these at home infinitely useful for would be stupid plastic car parts. I would be printing all kinds of gauges, dash pieces, various interior doo-da pieces (clips, molding, etc) and maybe and custom airbox.

When I was in college we used the uber-expensive 5-axis CNC to mill out skateboard trucks. I think the school got a bit upset at the waste involved but it was cool!

If you are the least bit handy in 3D CAD, you can generate the geometry to make your own simple parts. If the program lets you export it in the STL format, you're in. I can do pretty complex part modeling, so its easy for me, but I have access to expensive CAD "seats" that many do not.

Lots of equipment in school was used and abused, from making hash pipes in 8th grade and so on as our skills improved.

Rob

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slayer9019 Autobot

slayer9019

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If you are the least bit handy in 3D CAD, you can generate the geometry to make your own simple parts. If the program lets you export it in the STL format, you're in. I can do pretty complex part modeling, so its easy for me, but I have access to expensive CAD "seats" that many do not.

Lots of equipment in school was used and abused, from making hash pipes in 8th grade and so on as our skills improved.

Rob

What's shop class without someone (or everyone) making a bong or pipe?

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slayer9019 Autobot

slayer9019

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On slow days, we would heat things in the oven until they glowed. Then put them on benches and see who walked by and tried to pick them up.

Rob

Actually in High School I remember having a ton of fun in welding class making all sorts of trouble. Ever weld a shop stool to a table? My High School was stupid enough to let a bunch of teenagers have access to plasma cutters, oxy-acetylene torches, mig/tig/arc welders and all other types of goodies. Man did I have fun! If it wasn't for that class and auto class I would have never gotten interested in fabrication and car/bike modification.

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Colored Guy Champion

Colored Guy

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Actually in High School I remember having a ton of fun in welding class making all sorts of trouble. Ever weld a shop stool to a table? My High School was stupid enough to let a bunch of teenagers have access to plasma cutters, oxy-acetylene torches, mig/tig/arc welders and all other types of goodies. Man did I have fun! If it wasn't for that class and auto class I would have never gotten interested in fabrication and car/bike modification.

There were a couple of guys who would neatly braze things to the welding tables. But at the end of each class, everything had to be accounted for and if you got kicked out.. it wasn't a good thing.

Rob

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