3-D printers

[Sclass]

This came up here before in another section of the forum. I made some good returns on SSYS due to a forced sale through their stock merger this year. The technology has a lot of potential. Motley Fool was right about the stock if not about the tech.
I built a 3axis CNC mill a decade ago. It was a small tabletop mill with a 7x12" table. Good for small parts. Mill was from Taig. I got a bunch of servos/encoders. I mated the servos to the Taig and got a decent mill. the mill was about $500. The motors were $2k with encoders but cheap open loop steppers can be had for way less.
I mostly cut 2 d parts because it takes too long to do true 3d contouring. I mostly do tooling so functionality rather than looks decides the designs.
Maker bot is pretty cheap if you assemble it yourself. My second CNC mill was easier because I used the first to build the second. Another thing to think of is starting with a cheap stepper based CNC like John Klienbauer's crank organ plans then converting it to a 3d printer using maker parts...there is a lot in common. I think his 3axis mill cost less than $200 ...it is literally made from junk but you can get soso results with it. Sadly the site is gone but you can find remnants of it using google.
I've been getting back into my mill now that I don't work. I made some custom locks last month. Good to make things that you can't buy. I'll try to post some images up of my gear later.

The Mill.

The controllers.

Switch caps for...,

Vintage Scooter lamp switch which is commercially unavailable.

Plumbing fitting
Edit: just checked out the reprap. Very impressive. Looks like it will require tweaking but looks fun too. I think my info is just too old. Looks like the DIY cnc arena has really made big leaps while I've been sleeping.

[Zoombies]

I own a solidoodle 2 and a cnc router. The router I built from scratch. Both have their uses, although I personally find myself 3d printing more often. I purchased the 3d printer for $660.
In terms of the filament... It does last quite a while, but it depends on what you wanna do. Objects can be anywhere from hollow, to fully solid. You can adjust the infill percentage. Most general purpose items can be made at 20% infill. If you wanted to make a strong part, go for 100 or close to it. Also, these parts are abs, they arent as strong as injection molded abs, but they can generally do the job. Out of the things I have made, only a few have broken and it was due to poor renderings and/or improper fill rate.
If you intend on only using it to fix things... well ask yourself how many things you can fix with just the cost of the printer.... However, if it your intent on making one-of-a-kind designs or selling printed objects, it may be up your alley.

[TheLuckyWizard]

Check this out
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DconsfGsXyA
The guy seems a little bit nuts at times but he does highlight 3d printing being a game changer.

[Sclass]

Ohhhhh man! Just saw this maki bot vid on bloomberg.
http://makibox.com/details/product/A6-LT
This is cheap! There's no excuse not to buy one. But when will they ship?
I think my laser printer cost about this much $200-$300.

[jennypenny]

Staples sells them now.
http://money.cnn.com/2013/05/03/technol ... ?iid=HP_LN
These are really popular with the prepping crowd.

[vivacious]

Is anyone following any 3-D printing companies? Do you think it's stable enough to put a fair amount of money into?

A lot of future technologies will pay off and are already. The key is finding the companies that are going to lead the way though. Also, some older technologies will fight and try to drag against progress etc.

What do you guys think about this?

[Dragline]

I think there is likely a big future in it. But I wonder if the money is not in the machine, but in the substances or programming that go into the machine (like ink in ordinary printers -- or Microsoft vs. PC manufacturers).

But right now its seems like its mostly at a novelty phase. People are too lazy or not skilled enough to actually program the things when they can buy a better trinket on-line. That could change quickly, though. There is probably a huge opportunity for someone with the right business creativity. Then we'll all say -- "I thought of that -- I just didn't think it would work."

I'll be curious to see how companies like "Shapeways" do in the interim, who focus on the consumer end. See http://www.shapeways.com/

[jacob]

Well, Makerbot recently got bought out for 600M. That's pretty impressive for a company which has only been around for a few years.

Then again, there's this ...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Gartn ... logies.gif

The hype cycle is essentially what you get when you add a sales speech to the front end of an S-curve.

[JasonR]

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[Felix]

Brilliant!

Who needs a 3D printer when you can repurpose an embroidery hoop and a washing machine:

[vivacious]

@bigato, ah thanks I'll look it over. Sorry, didn't see some of this older stuff.

[Sclass]

Wow, this thing keeps on growing. I bought SSYS on the Mötley Fool report. It seemed to have the right mix of hype and misguided hope to drive the stock. It isn't always what is right or what you know to be right that drives price, it's just what everyone else wants.

I still think MF was misguided. But I wish I'd bought more shares.

That being said here are my thoughts on home rapid prototyping machines.

random thoughts on my CNC mill.
It has not paid for itself. I just don't make enough things on it. Don't build what you can buy cheaply. I have two RC cars that break parts but I've yet to make parts because the replacement parts are so cheap on eBay. Same with my real cars. The time to measure out, design, write tool paths, simulate program, setup tool and then cut is long. If you want to save, buy a part on eBay. But...what if the part doesn't exist. This is when the machine is priceless. I've made some replacement motorcycle parts for a vintage bike I own and offered them online for sale to other enthusiasts. A friend of mine makes a minor part on a gun that is offered for some guns but not on a particular model that has a big following. He sells on a user forum.

3d printer. I don't own one. The shapes you can make are far more comples. I find the materials limiting. People talk about sintered metals and fiber impregnated thermoplastic but most hobbyists I see use weak thermoplastic ABS filament that won't make strong RC buggy parts. a mill will cut all kinds of machinable materials that don't get soft with heating. The 3d machine seems to have its place where it is priceless. One app I thought was brilliant was making sintered/fired crowns on site at the dental office while you wait. Here, the part is unique, expensive, and you only need to make one. Another closer to my work is test fixturing for electronic circuit boards, these are odd shaped mechanical enclosures you close around a board to efficiently probe it. Expensive, you usually only need one, and they take a long time to have made if you do it old school.

As for fixing stuff to save money, I've fixed more stuff with the following in descending order
1) superglue
2) wood/drill /bolts (like reinforcing a weak leg on a picnic table)
3) metal plate/drill/bolts (reattach something to car)
4) hot glue
5)...you get the picture

It really depends how good it has to look. How strong it has to be. If I'm going to do it more than once (then I will program cnc), etc.

DDD and SSYS have really moved. As suggested here some of it is hype. I'm somewhere in the middle because it looks like people will find those priceless apps where it becomes the defacto way to make a certain thing.

[anomie]

Heard on NPR radio this morning ---

American public libraries are starting to provide 3-D printers in new maker-spaces in a bid to remain relevant to patron's needs.

Think the case in point was a Houston library.

[workathome]

Libraries... until someone walks in and prints off an AR lower receiver. That would make an interesting news story.

[anomie]

Librarians that I have known are some of the staunchest proponents of information freedom. I wonder if their position will extend to the 3-D realm.

[jennypenny]

The library concept is referred to as tech petting zoos. Pew's research showed 69% of people would be interested.

http://www.pewinternet.org/Infographics ... vices.aspx

(Pew has a whole section on libraries if you're interested and want to poke around.)

[vivacious]

Anomie that's awesome.

[Sclass]

I watched the you tube vid about the guy using 3d printing to make an AR lower. He went to a special job shop that had a very expensive looking printer that didn't shoot the cheesy hot glue ABS that is commonly found in 3d printers.

I'm not sure if it was high strength, high temperature or the ability to inject dissolvable support matrix that made him outsource the fab, but it may have been all of the above.

The zip guns people are printing look like ...well, zip guns. You can do just as well with some conventional tools and pipe from ACE hardware. Check out the Bloomberg article on Egyptian zip guns. Simple single action break barrel pistols. Ahhhh, but you don't need fab skills to print it. I guess that makes it another deal all together. The fear is that anybody who can click print can make a zip gun.

Again I think it is hype. Has anyone seen something like a Glock 17 printed? On a Makerbot? I'd think the stress on the frame, slide and trigger mechanism is just too much for low temperature ABS. Not to mention the dimensional tolerancing requirements. I guess I better do a quick search for printed guns before I run my mouth anymore...these things have a tendency to improve over time.

[workathome]

I agree, it is hype. A combination of two things 1) You've always been able to legally make your own gun in the US as long as you are legally allowed to be a gun owner and keep it for personal use only. You can already do this with a CNC machine or a drill press. This isn't new, and 2) Currently the printed parts are still too fragile.

However, it makes great media fodder. Something like "man prints gun in library", even if it was completely useless would get a lot of attention.

[anomie]

"Man educates self for free in library" is even more revolutionary, but much less flashy headline.

Librarians are some of my favorite people. Glad they are trying to stay relevant.