3D printing - Stereolithography

[DefiantDad]

http://www.wired.com/design/2012/07...mpaign=Feed:+wired/index+(Wired:+Top+Stories)

Thoughts? Ideas?

This should open up a whole new world of possibilities.

 

[B!ngo]

My son wanted me to buy one for us to experiment with last year. He's a bit of a boy genius who recently graduated from college. I don't think it is yet time to use it to build anything that I or a market needs, at a price that's reasonable.
But for some prototyping needs, it's amazing.
I can imagine it's use already for 'furniture' and other low-stress accessories for firearms.
Hmmmm.
B

 

[hso]

Threads on 3-D printing have pointed out that the materials strengths aren't sufficient for much more than grips/stock (if that).

Remember that the materials have to be low temp fused to build up the object and strength isn't their...strong point.

 

[Zumet]

I saw a piece on the web a yr or so ago. they can do this stuff in the Space Station. showed 'em scanning a crescent wrench in a lab on earth, and then making it out of a plastic like material at a remote location.

 

[tlatoani]

We have one at work. It is pretty nifty. My boss wants to get the one that prints using chocolate.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using Tapatalk 2

 

[DefiantDad]

I just got another idea. Use this to make a positive mold, then you make the negative mold for casting metal.

 

[bergmen]

http://www.wired.com/design/2012/07...mpaign=Feed:+wired/index+(Wired:+Top+Stories)

Thoughts? Ideas?

This should open up a whole new world of possibilities.

Been around for a long, long time. I've used this method many times to model injection molded parts prior to commitment to hard tooling. Very useful but limited as to strength (brittle) and resolution (stair-steppy).

Dan

 

[bergmen]

I just got another idea. Use this to make a positive mold, then you make the negative mold for casting metal.

This is a very good method for making patterns for investment casting. The SLA can be generated straight from a 3d CAD model and is very accurate (within limits). Post process curing can affect sizing tolerances (shrinkage) and straightness (warpage).

Dan

 

[SilentStalker]

Old news. Its been around for a good while now, at least for the general public, but its still cool as hell.

 

[FIVETWOSEVEN]

I would have fun making plastic replicas of real guns with those machines. At my Security job, I noticed last weekend that one office cubical has some things on the desk that come from a 3D printer. Doesn't seem that bad.

Threads on 3-D printing have pointed out that the materials strengths aren't sufficient for much more than grips/stock (if that).

Remember that the materials have to be low temp fused to build up the object and strength isn't their...strong point.

I am pretty sure that the tech will evolve into something even better. Might see metal printing. You never know.

 

[russ69]

We set up a lab in the mid eighties with an SLA machine. It's been around a long time. Many many uses and many types of machines. It might be a long time before a consumer version is viable. The cheapest charge for a small model is in the 600-1200 dollar range for labor and materials.