3D Printing is a great invention, but is it really being used to create commercial products today, not in some far off time in the future.
What are some of the not too distant future plans for this technology?
Making models and molds that are used to make real products from. Also some decorative and novelty items. It’s not a very practical production method so far. We’re a long way from using it for any kind of mass production.
It’s being phased in to replace wax modeling by hand to make prototypes for jewelry casting. I know of several workshops who use this for their mass produced items.
You design the ring/pendant/whatever as an electronic model, print it, then use it to create molds for casting. Brilliant for mass produced items, or really special things.
I think some museum copies are made this way too, now. You scan in the ancient metal artifact, and then repeat the process for the computer designed item.
A bit of googling gets me the information that it was used in repairing Rodin’s Thinker, which was stolen and hacked up. And I see a company that makes synthesizers is telling people with access to a 3-D printer to just make their own replacement knobs & dials, and has posted the design specs for them so they can be replicated.
Mass production isn’t really the strength of the technology; creating one-off or small run objects is.
Figureprints. You can get your World of Warcraft character made into a 3-d figurine. They’re pretty cool, although way far out of my price range.
We use it to speed up the design cycle. I am the 3D printing guy at our company, and we use it to nail down the ergonomics of a product before we ever have to spend the time and money to have a mold machined.
We have a concept, model it, print it, look at it and go “f**k! that’s not what we needed!” Then within a few hours we can run through that whole cycle again at a tiny fraction of the cost of sending it out, and a tiny, tiny fraction of the time. 3D printing allows you to be really sure you mean it when you sign the PO to cut steel.
It’s not going to be used for simple shapes that can be made in one or two pieces by stamping and molding, but it will be used to make some complex forms at high production volumes eventually. We’re really at the blacksmith stage of production with these things. There will be a lot of integration with robotic assembly using different materials. None of it will happen in the near future except for very low volume.
Making Engine blocks?
I don’t think it is use much other than models and some hand tools it still in the early phases it still be other 50 years or so before it is takes of like the industrial revolution.
Doing mostly models and some hand tools that about all.
I love 3D printing. Before using 3D printing, we would have to cut steel and hope it turned out right. I made a lot of single-cavity tools that had to be modified before going to production.
The last mold I made, I had 3 prototypes printed before we cut. The mold was a six-cavity tool and worked right out of the box, no modification needed.
Saves time and saves money. It certainly speeds up the time from concept to production.
The printing place I use can simulate all sorts of rubber and plastic components.
well in my case, looking into one for game pieces for a game I am designing.
Making little sets of ships or unit markers similar to Axis & Allies
http://cf.geekdo-images.com/images/pic74665_lg.jpg
figuring a decent 3d printer can make most of my parts and with a little preplanning I can make batches of dozens of units in one pass.
People stole a sculpture worth millions in order to sell it as…scrap metal ???:eek:
My invisalign braces. Invisalign.com.
A 3D scan is made of my teeth, a computer models in what twenty stages my teeth can get straightened, and then a cast is made for each of the twenty stages. I don’t know for sure, but I think the braces are printed.
Our school intends to obtain a 3-D printer for the Project Lead the Way engineering classes. In the past, the students have had to design an item (one common early project is a model of a old-style train locomotive), and rely upon the modeling software to confirm that they had done it right. Now, they’ll be able to print out the pieces designed, put them together, and see the fruit of their labors in reality. Trés cool!
The 3D printer we have at the office is being used to make jigs and fixtures for holding parts while they’re being soldered or epoxied, for trays to hold components in our pick-and-place assembly machines, and to make parts to repair or modify production equipment. Basically, anytime we need a custom one-of-a-kind mechanical part in a hurry to keep production going. We also use it to prototype product housings and parts before commingling to mass production.
The 3D printer I have at home is being used for making gifts and toys, and for custom parts for my hobby robotics projects.
My company (two jobs ago) had a very tricky core pin problem. We were able to solve it by taking our 3 best designs and printing them in powdered metal. Of course we had to have them chromed to get them to release, and they would only run a few dozen cycles. BUt it was enough to prove out the design. This was 15 years ago, so the technology was much newer and more expensive, but we had already gone through several designs the old fashioned way and were running up against a promised production date.
What kind of printer do you have?
At work we have a Makerbot Thingomatic, although I’ve completely rebuilt the moving parts to use ball bearings instead of brass and plastic bushings, and made a lot of other improvements for better reliability.
My home machine is scratch-built, based on the Rostock delta-platform design but completely mechanically redesigned myself.
It’s capable of assisting in some interesting repair jobs.