Wayne77
06-05-2012, 02:09 PM
3D Systems (stock symbol is “DDD”)
Anyone here heard of, or done any 3-D printing? 3-D printers that “print” actual objects from a 3-D file on a computer. Rather than traditional machining or forging processes which leave a bunch of waste material the final product, sounds like 3-D printing has little waste because it's an additive process, rather than subtractive.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3D_printing
Do you need a one-off metal thingy that no one makes to attach your Berthoud handlebar bag to the aero bars of your Specilized Shiv? Download the software that will help you design the 3-D model, email the file to http://www.shapeways.com/ (or there are a few other companies), tell them what material you want it in (plastics, composites, metals, etc), they’ll print it up for you and send you the part, **with no gaurantees that it will be structurally sound I'm sure.... :rolleyes:
Sounds like there are scanners too. Scan in an existing part and reprint the same thing in a material of your choosing. Supposedly Jay Leno has one of these 3-D printers in his garage. When a part from one of his rare cars breaks, and he can’t source it, he can scan it in and print it up himself (he just needs the raw material “ink” for the printer...not sure how all that works..this is second hand info). Another cool thing - if a part is printed with some incorrect tolerances, it’s not necessarily a throw-away. Just stick the part back in there, and add to it / “enhance” it. I'm sure I'm oversimplifying the process, but it sounds very interesting. Think about all the re-tooling required in manufacturing when doing a new model line. All the old molds that are thrown away, all the new molds and tooling created, and all the raw material overhead from the new machining process, etc. In the future it’s conceivable that a lot of that goes away because molds may be a thing of the past (only for those parts that fit within the constraints of this process...). Could a company adjust their 3-D models and re-use “old” spare part inventory by re-imprinting those spare parts with the additional materal to bring them up to spec? Not sure what structural constraints there might be, but cool all the same…
Maybe when someone can print me up a nice Rib Eye, medium, I'll get realy interested...
Anyone here heard of, or done any 3-D printing? 3-D printers that “print” actual objects from a 3-D file on a computer. Rather than traditional machining or forging processes which leave a bunch of waste material the final product, sounds like 3-D printing has little waste because it's an additive process, rather than subtractive.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3D_printing
Do you need a one-off metal thingy that no one makes to attach your Berthoud handlebar bag to the aero bars of your Specilized Shiv? Download the software that will help you design the 3-D model, email the file to http://www.shapeways.com/ (or there are a few other companies), tell them what material you want it in (plastics, composites, metals, etc), they’ll print it up for you and send you the part, **with no gaurantees that it will be structurally sound I'm sure.... :rolleyes:
Sounds like there are scanners too. Scan in an existing part and reprint the same thing in a material of your choosing. Supposedly Jay Leno has one of these 3-D printers in his garage. When a part from one of his rare cars breaks, and he can’t source it, he can scan it in and print it up himself (he just needs the raw material “ink” for the printer...not sure how all that works..this is second hand info). Another cool thing - if a part is printed with some incorrect tolerances, it’s not necessarily a throw-away. Just stick the part back in there, and add to it / “enhance” it. I'm sure I'm oversimplifying the process, but it sounds very interesting. Think about all the re-tooling required in manufacturing when doing a new model line. All the old molds that are thrown away, all the new molds and tooling created, and all the raw material overhead from the new machining process, etc. In the future it’s conceivable that a lot of that goes away because molds may be a thing of the past (only for those parts that fit within the constraints of this process...). Could a company adjust their 3-D models and re-use “old” spare part inventory by re-imprinting those spare parts with the additional materal to bring them up to spec? Not sure what structural constraints there might be, but cool all the same…
Maybe when someone can print me up a nice Rib Eye, medium, I'll get realy interested...