Amazing 3D Printer in Action-makes a wrench: (truly the future will change fast)

Originally posted by NoSoup4U

Originally posted by wigit
There was a story done recently about a woman's new jawbone done by printer too.

Yep, I heard a story about a man having this done with a part of his skull after an accident. It shortend the surgery from 10 hours to about 2 hours. That means the brain was exposed for significantly less time. This technology looks very promising indeed!

That is True that technology is used for that purpose. I would not want my head worked upon though with what everyone get's all excited about in threads like this...

Did I ever Tell ATS the Time how I left a out a Bone that was supposed to be in someone's head who was facing major, major Cranial surgery? Nope and I wont.. All went well (PHEW) but it's freaking alarming all the same

Originally posted by djmarcone
3D Printers HAVE been around since the 90's, but at the time it was a technology called Stereo Lithography. If I recall correctly it was a vat of goo and intersecting lasers that solidified the resin.

The parts were plastic and weren't perfect but it was imminently useful for testing a molded plastic part before investing thousands in a mold. Very cool and VERY expensive, the large multinational corporation I was working for at the time had exactly one.

3D printers have come a long way, today's tech is far beyond the SLA days.

Have you had a part made from an SLA Machine from Either the OLD Days or the New Days ?

Ask Engineers what they like to work with

Granted though mate some Machines which deposit material layer by layer have incredible resolution compared to other machines

Originally posted by St0mP121
reply to post by choos

 

I read about this device a wile back. You can put in a select few different compounds. Like to make a wrench

That would be Objet Machines you talk of that can layer different materials to create an "over-mold" effect. UV Cured Resins (EDIT) Rubber Like Resins really suck though for any functional testing

Originally posted by clearmind
wow! and after reading the thread, hearing that this tech as been around for many years, i'm surprised we dont hear or see more about it. this is the first ive heard of it

amazing...but of course i sit and wonder how far this tech has gotten behind the closed doors...

'cup of earl gray, hot'

Well we could speculate how much the behind the doors stuff goes on.. I sure do

At the same time I know the US Navy and Boeing use machines of the professional nature supplied with permanent techs from the machine manufacturer and They have REALLY Tight Tolerance's. One Machine gets out whack by a whisker and they shut it down till its Bang on Tune again

THATS as much as I will Post about this ATS.


Have a nice day

I can't help but laugh at the cynics who say stuff like, "Until I can't print [whatever], I'm not impressed."

Really? Not impressed? Yeah, okay. It prints 3D objects. Enough said.

40 microns? Woooo! Amazing! That's a whole thousandth and a half of an inch! Too bad things like bearings and other "precision" type parts require fits in the ten thousandths and even smaller range, which is an order of magnitude or two better than the capability of this kind of process.

Don't get me wrong, it's definitely cool tech which has come a long way since it first appeared in the 90's, and has multitudes of valuable uses, but we're a LONG LONG WAY from printing real machines with the same capabilities as the ones we currently manufacture "old school", yo.

Did you watch the link I put up of the fully 3D printed turbo-prop? It's 10'x10' and has 188 parts. And it works. At full speed? Perhaps not. But it uses engineering thermoplastics - it's the real deal. So.. no, I don't think they are a "long long way" from printing usable machines.

Perhaps a long time before we can print out a new fuel pump for our car at home, sure. But tech improves at an amazing rate - it might be sooner than you think.

S&F op I read up about this an tried to relay it to friends but the could not grasp it lol the vid should help them

reply to post by anon72


So, I gotta ask...what's the point?

I mean, great, it replicates things, so why isn't this mainstream. I mean, what would be the point of all the complex machinery and manufacturing (and jobs, unfortunately) if a machine like this can do the whole kit, cat and caboodle?

Seriously though, what is the difference between this machine and a factory floor full of assemblage machinery? They're framing the whole thing within the terminology of printing, but what they've really done is created a mini, complete factory.

Originally posted by fleabit

40 microns? Woooo! Amazing! That's a whole thousandth and a half of an inch! Too bad things like bearings and other "precision" type parts require fits in the ten thousandths and even smaller range, which is an order of magnitude or two better than the capability of this kind of process.

Don't get me wrong, it's definitely cool tech which has come a long way since it first appeared in the 90's, and has multitudes of valuable uses, but we're a LONG LONG WAY from printing real machines with the same capabilities as the ones we currently manufacture "old school", yo.

Did you watch the link I put up of the fully 3D printed turbo-prop? It's 10'x10' and has 188 parts. And it works. At full speed? Perhaps not. But it uses engineering thermoplastics - it's the real deal. So.. no, I don't think they are a "long long way" from printing usable machines.

Perhaps a long time before we can print out a new fuel pump for our car at home, sure. But tech improves at an amazing rate - it might be sooner than you think.

No, I didn't. I'm at work and can't watch the vid yet. Incidentally, one of the things I do on a regular basis at my job is operate a DTM sinterstation SLS machine, so I happen to consider myself somewhat knowledgeable with regards to this tech. In fact, we make plenty of prototype parts with our machine that we run at very high speeds (custom fans and blowers) so yes, I'm aware that the parts coming out of these 3D printers can be used in machines. HOWEVER, they still need bearings, magnets, copper windings, laminations, etc. etc. to operate. Most of these precision components can't currently be printed, and very few if any of these precision components can be printed to the degree of precision necessary to be considered viable in the long term.

As far as the turboprop goes, I would ask "which" engineered thermoplastic? Our machine uses a nylon based material. Again, suitable for prototype "lab" work, but absolutely not suitable for "the real world". There are literally thousands of engineered plastic formulations available for conventional manufacturing processes. Know why? How many do you suppose are available or even capable of being sintered? Not many.

Yes, we're getting there, and yes, we have a long long way to go. I stand by my previous comments.

How did it know the screw part of the wench moved and left / right of it was inside the frame?

Does see through metal? no can't do.

Originally posted by OrphenFire
I can't help but laugh at the cynics who say stuff like, "Until I can't print [whatever], I'm not impressed."

Really? Not impressed? Yeah, okay. It prints 3D objects. Enough said.

Your keyboard you typed that from is more amazing from a manufacturing perspective than some grand ideals this thread and your comment is based upon.

People Take STL files and then CNC Machine Metal to create a Negative which you then Type on.

This has Happened for years...

Absolutely amazing!

That is a very efficient method of making concept models.

Hasta La Vista Thread

Have fun

Originally posted by fleabit

40 microns? Woooo! Amazing! That's a whole thousandth and a half of an inch! Too bad things like bearings and other "precision" type parts require fits in the ten thousandths and even smaller range, which is an order of magnitude or two better than the capability of this kind of process.

Don't get me wrong, it's definitely cool tech which has come a long way since it first appeared in the 90's, and has multitudes of valuable uses, but we're a LONG LONG WAY from printing real machines with the same capabilities as the ones we currently manufacture "old school", yo.

Did you watch the link I put up of the fully 3D printed turbo-prop? It's 10'x10' and has 188 parts. And it works. At full speed? Perhaps not. But it uses engineering thermoplastics - it's the real deal. So.. no, I don't think they are a "long long way" from printing usable machines.

Perhaps a long time before we can print out a new fuel pump for our car at home, sure. But tech improves at an amazing rate - it might be sooner than you think.

Ok, now I'm home and watched the vid you posted.

The tech shown in the vid you posted, Stratasys, is FDM tech, and probably the least capable of all the 3d printing processes. FDM inherently has much worse surface finishes than sinter type 3d printing, is very prone to "delaminating" (the layers coming apart) and the turboprop "model" is exactly that. A model. If you could hold the parts in your hand and look at them closely, you'd see the layers stacked on one another similar to a rope basket. Saying it's "the real deal" is like buying a plastic airplane model, snapping it together, and claiming it's the "real deal" as well.

We sometimes run nylon SLS impeller fans up around 20,000 rpm. A stratasys model would fly apart at that speed.

Again, I'm not "dissing" this technology at all. It is truly amazing. I still feel like a kid on Christmas morning when I break open a part cake and start dusting off the components I grew overnight. It's even sweeter when they get assembled into a working prototype!

But for anyone to look at this type of tech and think "OMG, we're soooo close to being able to print out any machine!" is just plain wrong. It's like someone looking at the first Model T off the assembly line in 1908 and thinking "YES! We'll be flying to the moon in these within a decade!"

3D printing has it's niche, and that is prototyping and very low volume, specialty production such as surgical implants.

Components of a single (very limited choice) material. That's it. Tolerances are typically +/-.005" (pretty coarse)

Assemblies of varying materials, electronics, ultra precise surface finishes and tolerance, all the things required to make real "machines" cannot and will not be printed in a single step until we're able to do said printing on a molecular level with all available materials. It's just that simple. I'm sorry if that salts anyone's cheerios.

Printer for buildings

www.shapeways.com...

Human body parts

www.organovo.com...

Food printer

web.media.mit.edu...


all of them amazing.

This is is really cool for it being at it's new stages of development. Give it a few years and this will get better and better. There is material out there that is strong as metal. I imagine that there will be medical uses too. Need a hip replacement? Here let me print you a new hip lol. Oh you shattered your ankle bone? Here let me make you a new one. This reminds me of the movie 5th Element, where they printed that chick. We already can grow flesh, like ears and things, imagine this machine printing you a new hand or something crazy like that.

holy crud that is amazing you know what this can lead to if you configure some atoms and other powders and residues you could copy a gun and bullets and it would shoot or you could make a bomb steak and eggs this is awsome to see thank you mad my day

have gold colored lead powder and have an american eagle coin made....go online and sell away!! tahiti here i come

But I want one now!!!

Replicating replicators...
This could end this whole economy farce.
But real replicators would transform energy directly into matter - not in this Universe.