First I have ever seen of this process: http://lnkd.in/4Axy7x Did a search here and didn't find any links or discussion on dieless sheet metal forming.
Yes that works and what a neat concept. Man that would be so useful at a hot rod shop for restoration and customization. Just imagine the posibilities. Also seems like a pretty simple machine I bet the cost of the technology wil come down in price much faster than say the 3-d printers took.
It's been around but Ford appears to be doing it differently than this: http://www.aminonac.ca/product_e_dieless.asp
Not only are they "out there" but if you don't need great accuracy they are relatively cheap. http://www.nextengine.com/ Scanning and CAD CAM isn't what's holding back affordable sheet metal forming.
sweet. it looks as if its pretty similar to a fanuc-based cnc mill, design and function wise. most decent cnc guys could run and program one of these with very little re-training. looks to have some seriously cool uses. i fear the amount of run time, program time and machine costs will keep it from being viable for a while though.
There are lots of 3D printers available that support additive manufacturing in metal and one of the major players was just acquired: http://blog.3dsystems.com/2013/07/3d-systems-enhances-advanced.html
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