3D Printer...wow

[BoomerD]

Here's a practical application:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmijRV-qlvc

 

[NuclearNed]

Can it make me a LeeLoo?

 

[soulcougher73]

Can it make me a LeeLoo?

Probably. Just wont be breathing

Or maybe that is your thing..i dunno...

 

[yh125d]

We had one in 2005 in my pre-engineering class in HS. Pretty fucking badass to have one at your disposal. It was an earlier generation though I guess, cause it didn't make stuff strong enough to be used as a tool, not accurate enough to make the wheel in the crescent wrench turn. What it made was kind of rough textured too, so it'd be catching all the time


I never saw anything official, but our instructer said that the machine cost about $25k, a 5 gal bucket of the powder like 5k, and like a pint of the binder like $2500 of something ridiculous

 

[Jeff7]

RepRap is far from being capable of printing itself. That is just the goal for the project. If I recall, it can print about 50% of the parts necessary to construct another.

I'll be more impressed when it's able to print out functioning circuitboards and ICs.



Does anyone know how much this kind of stuff costs? Like if I have a part that's 12x2x2, roughly like a hollow tube, how much would that cost to get a rapid prototype? Am I looking at $20, $200, $2000, or what?
(I've tried contacting various places, whose business is nothing but rapid prototyping, for pricing quotes, but never hear anything back.)

 

[Cheesemoo]

I am trying to create a 3d printer that can not only print another 3d printer but also print up the powder and binder required to make the end result. It will be a self-sustaining, self-perpetuating printer.

Step three in creating Skynet........

 

[Josh]

 

[rh71]

yeah well I'm still waiting for dual layer discs to get cheaper.

 

[CZroe]

It would be cool to be able to print a dock or dock insert whenever you get a new phone or case / protector.

Or your inkjet could print flexPCBs with components and this could print project housings and there's be a big repository of printable gadgets ala like a physical version of YouTube.

 

[reallyscrued]

I have a suspicion there is a conspiracy to stifle technologies like these to keep consumers buying screwdrivers and shit.

Imagine if this became widespread and eventually, cost effective. If you broke a key off your keyboard, you could just download the data needed to recreate that key instead of buying it online. Then pretty soon, Dell will claim they own the rights to the data of how to make keyboard keys, or other plastics that go on their laptops, and copyright them.

All of a sudden warez and torrent sites have large accumulations of copyrighted data that could help people print anything and everything they want. It'd be a whole new kind of piracy, and people will suggest that by printing your craftsman wrench instead of buying it at SEARS, you are STEALING!

That's a future I can't wait to live in.

 

[Leros]

I'll be more impressed when it's able to print out functioning circuitboards and ICs.

I personally think that CNC engraving is the way to go for PCBs.

Something like this would work well: http://www.zentoolworks.com/

 

[thecrecarc]

For anyone that's interested, the cheapest 3d printer you can get is for $550. http://www.indiegogo.com/eMAKER-Huxley-3D-printer-kits
Assembly is required however.

The "ink" runs around $30 a pound depending on what type of plastic you want.

 

[SKORPI0]

Can it make me a LeeLoo?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipDwcCUbd9M :awe:

Or maybe your own copy of a supermodel (sex slave). :sneaky:

 

[Mxylplyx]

i don't understand how the scanner can see underneath sheilded areas of complex objects.

it looked like just a top visual scan, how does it know the size of the shafts which the wheels circulate around?

This.

One of the images they show where the adjustment screw is colored red shows the end of the screw where it is held in place inside the wrench. This clearly would not have been picked up by a surface scan. I also find it hard to believe that the finished tool could come out of the machine with the moving parts freely able to move.

Impressive nonetheless.

 

[Born2bwire]

For anyone that's interested, the cheapest 3d printer you can get is for $550. http://www.indiegogo.com/eMAKER-Huxley-3D-printer-kits
Assembly is required however.

The "ink" runs around $30 a pound depending on what type of plastic you want.

Yeah it can be actually rather modest in cost. I worked with a group that made use of a a few 3D printers maybe 5-6 years back. We used them for fast prototyping or to just do a one run of some brackets or mounts we needed. The cost of the parts in materials would run us just a few bucks. We even ended up printing our own fan ducts for a few bucks each to replace these $50 carbon fiber ducts that kept breaking on us. Just realize that a part that is oh say half a foot by a few inches weighs fairly little.

EDIT: One of the best things about this stuff is that there is very little waste. You only use up what is needed to make the part.

 

[TridenT]

It's not a true 'scan and print exact replica' type tech. They cheated in that video for the wrench. They might have scanned it, but it required significant toying with to get the insides properly done (With a 3D modeling program). You can't scan the insides with the way they're doing it and that is essential.

Anyway, this tech is interesting, but not that interesting.

 

[marvdmartian]

Where I work, we do 3D models (different aircraft, satellites, EOD training devices, etc), with fused deposition modeling.

It has the capability to build some fairly cool stuff in plastic. I've heard, from our fabrication shop foreman, that there's technology out there now that does this sort of modeling in metal, though I'm not sure exactly how it does it. To me, that has the potential to be much cooler.

Also, there was recently a story in the news, where they made a new human kidney. Imagine, "printing" replacement organs in a matter of hours or days!

 

[KaOTiK]

damnit wrong thread