The Possibilities of 3D Printers

[kunkmiester]

FDM produces a more stable print though--STL machines have to deal with resin setting over the lifetime of the part, causing warping and such.

Some of those things are at the low end limit of the resolution of FDM machines, honestly where they weren't intended to go.

The other revolution is when you can expand by a few machines and recycle materials in shop--a few old toys becomes new filament for your machines, a little harder to do with the STL resins.

[kurt9]

Cut from the Mach-Effect thread on the News sub-board:

. . .THIN layers imply vapor-deposition - a somewhat different process than using ink-jet heads or laser sintering. OTOH, vapor-deposition should be integratable into an all-up fabber.

That was the conclusion I came to in a white paper in 2008. There's no reason to not combine laser sintering with CVD. The problem is that CVD relies upon the proper chemical affinities between materials in order to work at all, so you're restricted in the kinds of materials you can use. However, in order to push the boundaries of what is possible so far as thin layers and high frequency, CVD is likely the answer.

I take it you are referring to atmospheric pressure, thermal CVD. Not plasma CVD, which must be done in vacuum.

[kunkmiester]

Just looked up ball bearings. Wikipedia has a table which shows a 1000 grade bearing with .001"(.127mm) as the lowest tolerance. Doesn't show a surface finish standard for that grade either. Finer bearings go lower, and the surface finish can get below a single micrometer, but it puts a good lower limit.

Cast surface quality that needs some machining to finish would still be incredibly useful, and bearings aren't that big of a deal to get separate. I'm not aware of anything besides something like microchips that needs lower than .0001" tolerances though, so if you can reach that, you have a full industrial revolution.

[paperburn1]

Does anyone have any thing relating to material spec of this stuff. temp range hardness durability ductableity......

[choff]

I've worked in business where very small plastic parts are often required, things like levers or gears that rarely ever break, but when they do might have to be shipped in from Japan or China.

With enough companies in the same boat, this could be a good way to avoid international shipping costs for tiny one off items, it would take a large customer base of international companies to be viable, but might save them enough overall to be worthwhile.

[choff]

If large scale international manufacturer's consortiums could become interested, this could take off, what it needs is a good business model.

This might already be behind the curve, but if industrial working groups incorporated the idea within the SDLC of customer machinery, that small one off repair parts/subassemblies would be manufactured by local 3D printing companies, they could provide a combined pool of products to make small scale 3D printing companies viable. They don't have to stock small obsurce parts and ship them all over the world, customers don't have to wait for them.

They would then have a large enough market to sell the very small cheap 3D printers that these companies really need, the kind that can do the holy grail of the hobbyist. Then it gets like the PC revolution where every home has one, very soon whole machines with hundreds of parts could be made locally by 3D printers and manufacturing it completely turned on it's ear.

[kunkmiester]

I can't see a 3D printer in every house. How often do you use your inkjet? How often would you use a 3D printer? I can't see an ordinary household needing to use it often enough to make it worthwhile.

I can, and have seen local fabshops, that wind up much like the local blacksmith or carpenter, where the local fabber can make anything, and it's just like going to walmart. Stop by, place your order, they call when it's ready.

This is especially true with the larger, more complex machines used for big items and things like microchips. Bloody few people will be printing microchips or engine blocks often enough to justify a machine like that in every house.

You also have to look at specialization of labor--not everyone is going to master the design and production to the point where people want to buy their products, so aside from hobbyists, most people are just going to go to the local fabber whom they know can design something useful and aesthetically appealing.

[djolds1]

Latest efforts:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/for ... 3d-printer

And on the slightly more disturbing edge:

http://defensedistributed.com/

[kurt9]

I can't see a 3D printer in every house. How often do you use your inkjet? How often would you use a 3D printer? I can't see an ordinary household needing to use it often enough to make it worthwhile.

I can, and have seen local fabshops, that wind up much like the local blacksmith or carpenter, where the local fabber can make anything, and it's just like going to walmart. Stop by, place your order, they call when it's ready.

This is especially true with the larger, more complex machines used for big items and things like microchips. Bloody few people will be printing microchips or engine blocks often enough to justify a machine like that in every house.

You also have to look at specialization of labor--not everyone is going to master the design and production to the point where people want to buy their products, so aside from hobbyists, most people are just going to go to the local fabber whom they know can design something useful and aesthetically appealing.

Commercial grade fabbers will always be more capable and more expensive than home fabbers. Machine shops will increase their capabilities and offerings by adding 3D-fabbers along with their CNC tools. Competitive pressure will ensure that machine shops always stay ahead of home hobbyists in their capabilities. Such competition will drive the development of 3D fabrication.

[choff]

My point is that business would like nothing better than to sell cheap 3D printers like PC's, but to do that they have to create a market, and that would mean offering SOHO type franchises for small replacement parts contracts.

Another upside would be that if the large scale factory goes down due to natural disaster hundreds of individuals could pick up the slack in the supply chain.

[quixote]

And on the slightly more disturbing edge:

http://defensedistributed.com/

Related news: 3D printer company seizes its leased unit from the home of a man planning to print out a pistol.

[DeltaV]

Nathan Myhrvold's Cunning Plan to Prevent 3-D Printer Piracy

[GIThruster]

The state of the art--printing metal:

http://gizmodo.com/5959481/how-nasa-is- ... ith-lasers

[paperburn1]

The state of the art--printing metal:

http://gizmodo.com/5959481/how-nasa-is- ... ith-lasers

SWEET!

[kunkmiester]

They're still making pot metal though. Granted it's probably titanium pot metal, but laser fused structures like that will lose on weight and strength to forged and machined parts that don't have to deal with the issues of cast metal.