Posted on 02/24/2013 11:20:06 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
JENNIFER LUDDEN, HOST:
Human ears, gun parts, bars of chocolate, musical instruments, robots - just a few of the things that have recently been created from scratch by 3-D printers. Apparently and amazingly, you just put in the materials, upload a design and press start. My printer doesn't even work with just old paper and ink. But we'll hear more about this potential. The possibilities seem endless. Some believe 3-D printing will revolutionize manufacturing, but the technology is also raising thorny questions about copyright and regulation.
If you use 3-D printing, tell us what you make. Our numbers are 800-989-8255. Our email address: talk@npr.org. And if you're on Twitter, here's your challenge. Tell us what you'd like to print on a 3-D printer. We'll ask our guest whether he thinks you'll get your wish. Joining me to talk about the promise and possible pitfalls of 3-D printing is Terry Wohlers, president of Wohlers Associates, a consulting firm that follows the 3-D printing industry. He joins us by phone from Fort Collins, Colorado. Welcome to the program.
TERRY WOHLERS: Oh, thanks, Jennifer...
(Excerpt) Read more at npr.org ...
You can squeeze chocolate into a printer cartridge and the printer will print a chocolate bar? Why not just squeeze the chocolate into your mouth? Is there a government grant involved here or is the Worst Lady involved somehow making a cheesy “Comrades! I have Glorious News for you in the Category ‘Starlets Making Anti-gun Commercials Who Cut Their Teeth In Movies Glorifying Gun Violence”? Do I ask too many ...
How does it works? Or is it only an illusion?
There are myriad material heat treatments for steels and metals such as flame hardening, case hardening, induction heat treatments, nitriding, annealing, normalizing, tempering, carburizing, oil hardening and quenchings.
With those processes being integral to the overall manufacturing processes of machine tools and the parts they’re designed and engineered to produce, no 3D printing process can be employed in the manufacture of those kinds of parts as finished products.
It’s too easy to fall in love with some of the new technology and in the rush to abandon traditional proven techniques and processes, foolish assumptions can easily made.
Metallurgy is a science of its own. It's especially important for high-stress applications, like guns and canons.
Computer. Tea, Earl Grey...Hot.
Tricky making complex hollow forms, I would think....like a one-piece, rifled gun barrel. Can anyone explain how this would work for me?
The author is an idiot.
Seriously. If her printer is really AFU, she should get another one. They're dirt cheap at Wally World.
Instead, she brags about her ignorance and stupidity.
WTF?
Oh ... look at the byline.
It's NPR.
Most of the 3D printers currently in use bulid up the part with layers of plastic material. ABS is a popular material. Complex and hollow forms require a supporting material, which the printer also lays down as needed. When the part is finished, the supporting material is either mechanically stripped away, or dissolved.
A company called ARCAM AB, in Sweden, makes 3D printers that create objects from titanium, using an election beam.
Thank you. I have made a note of it. BTW, you did mean to say electron beam? Fascinating! My one thing to learn today.
Yes, they lay down layers of powdered metal and use an electron beam to fuse it.
Thanks for your comments, AB. I still find it hard to grasp, though. Building up layers by “spraying” or depositing (printing?) liquid-ABS is a far cry from building up layers of S35VN Stainless Steel, for example....wouldn’t you say? Currently, they may be able to laser-trim simple solid parts from lumps of steel, but I believe something as complicated as a rifled gun barrel is a bit of a leap into the future at this point. Being a retired engineer, I have great faith that it will be accomplished. But I wouldn’t want to venture a date as to when.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.