Dockside Chat - Anyone ever see a 3D printer, amazing for sure.

I wouldn't have believed it if someone would have told me this could be done.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8aghzpO_UZE

Yup, very very cool tech. They're becoming more reasonably priced as well for the entry/hobby level ones. Wonder how viable it would be for making lures and trolling heads.

Awsome!

I know I'm being critical here but, that adjustable was not the mirror image of the tool that was scanned. Either way cool stuff!

Pretty crazy stuff once they nail it down. Think of the ability for little he parts world. You only need stock material and print up what is needed on demand.

I know I'm being critical here but, that adjustable was not the mirror image of the tool that was scanned. Either way cool stuff!

more than likely they had the quality turned down a lot to save time and fit the filming schedule of the program.

We have a ZPrinter 650, its pretty neat. I make lots of prototypes on it

That is just beyond belief.

We have a ZPrinter 650, its pretty neat. I make lots of prototypes on it

Now I'm not saying your 650 can do the wrench, but if it could what do you estimate the cost of the finished product would be? ;?

They printed a titanium replacement jaw for an elderly woman in New Zealand over a year ago.

Now if they could only replicate about a million Angelina Jolie's that would make a lot of us very happy.

It's well-established technology, been in commercial use for over a decade.

Here's a site where you can upload a solid model and they will print it and ship it to you. Or to anybody else that wants one (and you get a cut of the profit). Just like a photo print site or Cafe Press (shirts, etc..).
http://www.shapeways.com/

Here are two desktop do-it-yourself printers:

http://store.makerbot.com/replicator-404.html
http://reprap.org/wiki/RepRap

The RepRap is partially self-replicating. It will make some parts needed to build a copy.

Amazing!

The printing is nothing, its the Design the part which had a huge learning curve for me. I've been using Solid Works for about a year now and sometimes it still difficult.

My son's school just had a Makerbot donated to them.

The fact that they start with a powder and create it rather then a solid and remove the area not needed/wanted is amazing.
The uses for this is endless.

http://www.3dprinter.net/professor-starts-3d-printed-custom-guitar-business


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I'm a mechanical engineer and we have had these printers at the last two companies I've worked for. They are really impressive and are great for creating mock ups and proto types. They allow you to test and check out your design, witout having to pay huge machine shot costs.

There are several different technologies for these printers, some of them use powder and some inject a thin line of molten plastic. In the later type, your "ink cartriage" looks like a spool of 2 pound test fishing line. The cost of a 3-D printer can be anwyere from $5-50k.

It's well-established technology, been in commercial use for over a decade..

X2

Had a 3D in a custom mold shop I ran until '02. Used it to make miniatures of molds to prototype before sinking a great deal of time and effort into final product. No color change back then though...


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I saw this machine on a segment at Jay Leno's shop... he has one there to replicate parts for his older cars. Pretty amazing.

Believe it or not, I saw a video of a VERY large machine similar to this that made a full size concrete house! It was in Europe. I'll see if I can find it.

We've had Stereo Lithography here for years. Another type is one that shoots a laser into a tank of resin and the image is formed from the bottom up on a plate in the tank. We even use it to creat fixturing with hard points installed after it's formed. It's a pretty amazing technology.

Believe it or not, I saw a video of a VERY large machine similar to this that made a full size concrete house! It was in Europe. I'll see if I can find it.

This is?

http://www.gizmag.com/d-shape-3d-printer/21594/

This is?

http://www.gizmag.com/d-shape-3d-printer/21594/

No, it actually looked like a regular home. It did the walls, stairs floors and roof.

Invisilign makes a replacement for traditional wire braces. They claim to be the worlds largest user of stereo lithography, making over 40,000 parts per day. This video provides an overview of their manufacturing process.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bj5qABR7nks