Not Stock Photo posted this today on YouTube. Is this the future of metal shaping ? The narrator said this machine takes a 40 to 50 hour job down to about 45 minutes. I know I was amazed when I watched this.
Not stock Photos posted it. It says it was at Salt Works. ….only 4 machines and they have 2….not sure who did the narration
There’s been a few posts about this. Really the only practical use for this is low production work. You wouldn’t use this is large scale production like ford, but you also wouldn’t spend a zillion dollars on a machine to make something that would take a human one day. I can see it used if someone’s making like a run of twenty cars etc.
I was wondering what the per piece cost would be. My wife owns a flat bed die cutting job shop. I have seen quan***ies like 5 pieces….$300 a piece. I agree, low quan***y stuff for sure. Once the part is made ( machine programming ) does the next order show a per piece price drop ?
I could see send cut send buying one and adding it to their offerings in that sort of capacity. You still need to own the software to model the part you need and know how to actually do the modeling both of which kinda remove it from being an option for a lot of people. Where 3d printers seems to really “trickle down” tech and availability I dont see this doing the same. The muscle and finesse required to stretch like this is unlikely to be scalable like That. Interesting tech either way
Priced at around one million bucks a Figur G15 machine ain't exactly cheap! and these guys bought 2, that's half the machines made according to the video. HRP
For everything we consider as standard equipment now, means someone spent a fortune to make it happen at the beginning. That company, being the owner of 1/2 the world's production of the machines, means they are a huge part of the machine's development process. That company is going to have a huge effect on how the machine fares in the future. If they succeed on being able to develop the programs need to make a variety of different parts, the value of the machine increases. Once the development of the processes and the upgrades to the machines reaches a point of being useful to several companies, more companies buy them, and then the cost of the machines tends to come down. Usually not to the level of being affordable for every small shop, but certainly affordable to larger operations that have a wider range of the products the machines can produce. It is kind of cool to see the in process development of new technology, but I believe some people misunderstand the time frame between the early development and the future's wide spread use of that technology. The early development of the early computers in the 1950s has taken many years to reach the point of being able to wear one on your arm like a wrist watch.
Bryan Fuller got 25 top metalshapers together along with this technology to build a full sized version of a Hot Wheels car. Shows that even with the technology it still requires skilled fabricators to make it all work.
The Jalopy Journal
