3-D printers

Fixing and making things, what tools to get and what skills to learn, ...
anomie
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Post by anomie »

Motley Fool Stock Advisor

http://www.fool.com/fool/free-report/18 ... 181284.asp

Long winded video to pitch you the $99 Motley Fool Stock Advisor

The topic: 3D printing is the next BIG THING. They claim 3 companies are poised to capitalize on it, and give 1 name to the patient listener. "dassult systemes". The other 2 companies you have to subscribe to their letter. The 2 companies have 80% of 3d printing market, one focuses on high-end and one on consumer -end markets

They do convince me that 3D printing is really exciting groundbreaking stuff.
We have PirateBay offering liberated digital plans of 3D objects for printing -- aka Pirate Bay 'physibles' ... http://thepiratebay.se/browse/605 -- (does not look like much is there yet ..)
... Market opportunity of lifetime?
.... The end of physical want, and the beginning of the era of Star-Trek 'replicator'?


anomie
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Post by anomie »


altoid
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Post by altoid »

Today 3D system fell like 7%, is it a good time to buy ?
3D printing-- the next great invention?


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Chris
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Post by Chris »

3D printing may well be the Next Big Thing: desktop printing => desktop manufacturing. Have a plastic doohickey that breaks? You can hope the original manufacturer sells replacement parts... or print it yourself. Self printing solves the availability, time, and cost problems. Solving such problems usual leads to good things: think of the Internet, which also solved all three.
That said, it can be tricky to invest in a new technology area. Realizing in the early 90s that PCs would be a big deal would have been a good observation. But cashing in on that would require picking the right company to invest in, and many failed. Buying a basket of companies in a nascent technology area might be a safe way to play it. Buy five: maybe one becomes the industry leader, two do ok, two fail.


anomie
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Post by anomie »

Hi,

If helpful, there are 2 other threads on this topic:

"3d Printing Exhibit"

viewtopic.php?t=2192
"3-D Printers And Implications"

viewtopic.php?t=2790
Exciting stuff! And check out these news items on 3d printing:
http://www.kurzweilai.net/3d-printed-rocket-parts

http://www.kurzweilai.net/worlds-first- ... n-in-japan


George the original one
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Post by George the original one »

Apart from lower initial cost of equipment, I don't see an advantage over a computer-controlled milling machine?


rube
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Post by rube »

A 3D printer is able to create shapes which can't be made by a milling machine (out of one shape). Think about cavities and such.


George the original one
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Post by George the original one »

Ah, yes, good point. Cuts out a fabrication step provided one wants the original to be made of plastic.


anomie
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Post by anomie »

Looks like they are moving into 'printing' with lots of materials:
" Thermoplastics (e.g. PLA, ABS), eutectic metals, edible materials, Almost any metal alloy, Titanium alloys, Thermoplastic powder, Thermoplastics, metal powders, ceramic powders,Plaster, Paper, metal foil, plastic film,photopolymer, liquid resin"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3D_printing


jacob
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Post by jacob »

Yes, they're cool ...
But, does anyone here actually own one and have you found it useful?
Is it cost efficient to buy the plastic (which seems expensive to me) in order to repair existing things?
I'm holding out to see whether it's smarter to wait for cheaper 3d printers or whether to just start going down the (CNC) lathe/mill path.


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Ego
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Post by Ego »

Funny you should mention this.
Makerplace opened here recently. http://www.makerplace.com/
I was just on my way out the door now to check out their grand opening. The membership fee is high but look at all of the machines and tools they have.


m741
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Post by m741 »

I don't see a use right now. The things you can print are going to be made out of a fairly flimsy material. So this is a way to inefficiently fabricate things that are currently produced in China.
That said, I foresee 3-D printers becoming viable in 5-10 years. Particularly if there's some way to make cheap printers that can fabricate both plastic and metal, I think that will be a game-changer.
CNC seems more interesting to me currently.


IDstudent
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Post by IDstudent »

I've used a RapMan before in Uni. We built one between a couple of students and were able to use it for our projects.
It was an open source model with a kit costing upwards of $2000, but if you were able to build the main structure yourself it was substantially cheaper. I think there are plans available online for lasercutting parts or even 3d-printing corner joints.
It took a lot of effort to get it printing decently especially for your first machine. Spools of plastic cost $80 here in australia last time i checked and would last quite a long time. Right now, it's mostly useful for prototyping and other suitably crude applications. Buying a printer to make parts for repair work certainly won't save you any money at the moment. But its fun if you want to explore 3d printing for its own sake.
You'll also need to do CAD modelling. We used Solidworks and that certainly was powerful and flexible. I'm not sure about the open source alternatives though.


jacob
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Post by jacob »

To go the CNC route,

http://littlemachineshop.com/

http://www.cncfusion.com/
(If only I felt comfortable installing 200 pound machinery in a 1bd/1ba apartment ;-P )


Scott 2
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Post by Scott 2 »

There is a sub-culture of people into twisty puzzles (think rubik's cubes taken to an extreme). They do a lot with 3D printing. From what I've seen, the most economical route is to pay a company like Shapeways to print your design. Some guys even open stores selling their designs through the site:
http://www.shapeways.com/shops/oskarpuzzles


Seneca
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Post by Seneca »

CNC is still going to lead on cost for at least a generation. It also allows you to work in various materials more simply. It still requires machining knowledge though, much more than 3D.
I have a RepRap kit I plan to start on when some of my other big projects calm down. This is more a toy/learning instrument than productive machine.


Tyler9000
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Post by Tyler9000 »

I'm a ME and have used various 3D printing technologies for about 15 years and have one at the office.
The new desktop "consumer" models are mostly of the FDM variety. The limitations include::
- Affordable 3D printers only print plastic. Metal ones are amazing, but cost several thousand dollars per part.

- while the plastic materials are the same as what you'll find in normal consumer electronics, there is a "grain" to the printed parts. So they'll be strong in one direction, but brittle 90-degrees from that. Thus orientation is very important when making parts with snaps.

- there is a finite print resolution for layer thickness. That means that a curved surface will have steps and will not be perfectly smooth (although you can sand parts afterwards if you like).

- the print size is limited to about 12"x12"x12" depending on the printer
For our larger in-house machine, we track material cost at about $5.50 per cubic inch. (YMMV with different machines). The build base costs about $1.00 for each print, the cleaning supplies are about $1.00 (you have to soak the parts in hot soapy water to wash away support material), and the machine itself also obviously draws power and may require occasional maintenance.
So IMHO, a consumer-level 3D printer could be suitable right now for small, non-load-bearing parts (like a replacement remote control housing), but the parts may end up costing more than simply buying a new product. That said, technology is advancing very quickly so the prices will certainly fall. And if you're entrepreneurial, you may be able to keep the machine running as a small business to pay for your own needs and experiments.


Tyler9000
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Post by Tyler9000 »

I second the MakerPlace suggestion. There's also a similar place called TechShop in some cities.


JohnnyH
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Post by JohnnyH »

What's the learning curve for making dimensionally accurate CAD models?... I would love to make small plastic replacement parts, but I imagine it's easier said than done.
... I'm holding out for one with integrated 3D scanner. ;)


Tyler9000
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Post by Tyler9000 »

I've used both Pro/engineer and Solidworks over the years (the two most prominent "professional" systems). If you start with one, Solidworks is supposed to be easier to learn from scratch. Perhaps you can find a student version to play around with - a full license (especially for ProE) can be quite expensive.
You may also search for industrial design software packages like Rhino. They aren't as powerful as the two above, but are also (I believe) less expensive (and in some ways more forgiving).
Simple rectilinear parts are pretty easy to pick up. Complicated curvy ones will take quite a bit of training.
3D scanners are pretty cool. Just be aware that many scans still need to be imported manually into CAD to get useable surfaces.


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