PRINT your own 3D tools??? HOLY CRAP...

OK this blew my mind. Just think of the endless possibilities to be able to reproduce parts, tools, or whatever your imagination can come up with. As an artist my mind is going crazy with ideas. Sure it probably costs a fortune now but in the future I bet this technology will be fairly common.


<TABLE style="MARGIN-LEFT: 10.5pt" border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0><TBODY><TR><TD style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 0cm; PADDING-LEFT: 0cm; PADDING-RIGHT: 0cm; PADDING-TOP: 0cm" vAlign=top>Just when I think I know it all, along comes this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZboxMsSz5Aw






</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

 

the possibilities are ennndddlleeessssssssssss-

 

way kool!!! thanx for posting

 

That´s crazy! I bet in a few years these machines are as common as flowjets or Plasma Cutters. But I wonder what kind of material they are using? The gear model and the wrench look like plastic to me. I wonder how a printed out ring gear would behave on a 1/4 mile launch...

 

It's plastic. But you could draw stuff in 3D CAD, "print" it, and use the new plastic part for aluminum casting. No good for ring gears...

 

thats rad!! i want one....

 

thats cool, imagine having one of those in a desktop size, you could buy stuff online and have instant delivery

 

Wow

 

Great, my wife could print out her own "Tools" and have absolutely no use for me . . .

 

One day, we will be downloading everything from groceries to car parts. Amazing..

 

Holy Crap!

 

WTF???........thats crazy

 

like someone else mentioned i think the casting industry would really benefit from this! also engineering, imagine being able to test somethings functionality before making it into metal. no fabrication costs on a test piece, just go back and change some stuff on the computer. where can i buy this places stock!!!

 

Have looked at them before.
http://www.dimensionprinting.com/default.aspx
14,900 dollars

 

We have one at work that makes sample parts in plastic. Great to prove out a concept. I've seen parts made in metal through Sintered Laser Technology. Parts can be made in steel, aluminum, titanium, etc. Look up selected laser sintering or check the link below.

Bob

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selective_laser_sintering

 

the first time i saw this was about 3 or 4 years ago at the art center college of design in pasadena.a friend ran this machine.he kept trying to make me understand it, but it did'ent click in my brain, so he made somethng for me so i could see it go. the ploter moves very fast distributing a catalist like fluid into the box of powder. you cant see what its making and my friend would not tell me ether. it took a long time, but a womans hand holding a rose began to appear.thin peddels, super detail.boy did i feel stupid.who thinks this stuff up? i hope he's on our side!

 

We have a 3-D printer at work and it is great to prototype plastic parts. Ours doesn't really have good enough definition to use for a casting blank unless you wanted to do some finish work on the blank first. It is a very cool tool to have. I am thinking I now have a way to fix all the broken plastic parts on my kids toys...just model them in CAD and print them off...

 

they are getting cheep now $1300 for a diy kit and Fully Assembled for $2500

http://www.makerbot.com/

 

just another Tool..


http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=527696&highlight=flatcad+classroom



;-)

 

so check out this thats amazing to , betweens a step forward or backward what ever. i prints with sand and sun, amazing
<iframe width="560" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/uUEBsd634bE" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

When the CAD file is set up for export, there are mesh settings that define how fine the finish will be. Of course within the parameters of the machine as well. But it adds time to the process. I've seen some parts come off them with finishes = to a machined part.

We have a local college that does nice work and is quite the cash cow. They have students that crank out rapid prototype for local businesses and these guys have nothing better to do that tweak and fuss over the process. We had them make a small batch of parts for us once for $750.

Bob

 

Yea, even at the finest settings, we aren't typically able to get good enough resolution to use the parts for a casting or forging blank. We bought our machine probably 5 or 6 years ago mainly for being able to make rapid prototype parts for our electronics business (housings and such). It has saved us lots of time and money for sure in that world. Every now and then, we come up with a good use for it on the mechanical side of our business, but we use it much less.

 

Yeah, and cars will become obselete because we will have transporters like in "Star Treck," or "The Fly" (that one didn't wrok out so well)

 

I've seem PC board mounts made up, all sorts of brackets and electronic housings as well. We used it last week to simulate a drill jig tool before we committed to some CNC mill time.

When we were shopping for ours, we had a sintered metal machine vendor come in. He was making actual metal parts for production, all odd shapes that would require 5-axis milling. On a few parts made basis, it might compete with the milling process.

Bob

 

I work a foundry and actually do most of the designing and CAD work to print tooling from our 3D printer, it really has revolutionized the tool making industry. here is a tech article i wrote a while back about the exact process of printing tooling out. Im actually printing out the tooling for a carb-blower adapter plate for 671 roots right now.

http://www.diamondp.com/kb_results.asp?ID=3

 

I saw Jay Leno demonstrate the use of his 3D printer to replicate unobtainium Duesenberg parts. Pretty wild, and great for the restoration and custom fabrication hobby/industry.

 

My classmate Gilbert (In the video), is one of the guys who gets to play with our 3D Printer at SMU's Lyle School of Engineering:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjgxjQE5AyY

For the highend stuff, the lab can produce tools/bones (jaw bones and skull pieces) with a titanium powder!

 

Jay Leno has had one of those in his shop for a couple years. There have been a couple posts on here about his.

 

Wow!!!

 

DANG! SNAP! This is one of those moments where it's appropriate to say: Only in America my friend! They are so damn smart!