3D printer - Not just for looks....

[MarineUS]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZboxMsSz5Aw&feature=youtu.be

this is pretty freaking awesome.

[F22RaptorDude]

Can be as strong as steel, man I saw this back in 2009 and knew they were working on it, but had no idea it was actually functional now!  Thats beyond awesome!

[Stoney]

Had a friend who worked for a motorsports team that made transparent valve covers so they could film the valve train while doing dyno tests on the engines they made.  The valve covers were made this way...  They even made intake manifolds to test this way as well.

[Sonicblu]

I was able to see one in action it used some kind of plastic, and printed in layers for prototypes. You could see the layers in the object though. This looks like star trek compared to what I saw..

Very nice

[Shuffler]

Just so you know..... these have been around for years.

I watched one in action at a machine show in Houston Texas back around 2000.

[Megalodon]

I occasionally work for a upcoming laser company in Orange County, Ca. and they bought 1 a year ago a ZPrinter® 150. 1 of the cool things about is ..when it prints color it only uses the color on the outside of the part..the inside is the same color as the medium. The machine we have uses 3 types of medium and there are 2-3 ways of strengthening the part. The amount of time saved is incredible. The also make full on prototyping machine printer as well.

[Tac]

They need to price it down for the consumer and they'll make a revolution in the market.

How much that 150 cost? 10 grand?

[Stogie]

Timberland Corp has been using these for years for boots

[Belial]

They've been around a long time....   I run a cnc lathe so I follow this stuff



But the new thing that is REALLY amazing is Direct Metal Sintering

They take metal powder and melt it with a laser...basically how the plastic printers work..
Gonna revolutionize the industry

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DW-2xaIDtMk&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTutyVxbOXk&feature=related

[F22RaptorDude]

They've been around a long time....   I run a cnc lathe so I follow this stuff



But the new thing that is REALLY amazing is Direct Metal Sintering

They take metal powder and melt it with a laser...basically how the plastic printers work..
Gonna revolutionize the industry

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DW-2xaIDtMk&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTutyVxbOXk&feature=related

Takes the cake, now products can be made cheaper

[ink]

that stuff is crazy I never saw it before...wow

[Jayhawk]

Was very specialized at first, seems to be making a strong thrust into the commercial industry.  Won't be long before these will be cheap enough for the average family.  Will have to get a whole new set of copyright and patent laws to cover stuff like this.

If someone could explain to me how they can make the wrench with moving parts I'd appreciate it, that confuses the heck out of me!

[Pigslilspaz]

I'm guessing after the scan, they go through it and edit the 3D model a little, putting in small gaps to allow movement. You can see that they did tinker with the shape a little, if you notice that the threads on the wrench's wheel were a lot fewer and thicker on the copy.

[Jayhawk]

I'm guessing after the scan, they go through it and edit the 3D model a little, putting in small gaps to allow movement. You can see that they did tinker with the shape a little, if you notice that the threads on the wrench's wheel were a lot fewer and thicker on the copy.

Yeah, I kind of figured that, still doesn't really take away from the significance of it, there would be no need to scan the wrench every time you needed a copy, the printable version would just stay on file.  What I'm confused about is how the printer is actually able to print those gaps into the wrench.  I guess it's just a matter of as it works it's way up it leave a small gap there to allow movement.  Pretty impressive stuff.

[Megalodon]

They need to price it down for the consumer and they'll make a revolution in the market.

How much that 150 cost? 10 grand?

Yes that will help.

Well  it came with a few other things like the recycle/cleanup station, mediums etc. I think it was almost triple that.