Posted on 11/16/2017 11:42:02 PM PST by fireman15
For the last decade, the 3D printing sector has been dominated by closed systems, in which 3D printers could only be used with the manufacturer’s resin and software. The trouble with closed systems is that they limit innovation. One printer manufacturer alone cannot offer the variety of materials needed for the thousands of potential 3D printing applications. As a result, the development of new end-user applications and materials has stalled, and growth in 3D printing has plateaued. To break out, the industry must reinvent itself and become open.
There has been progress in that direction. Players from adjacent industries have recently started to move into the sector. They have tended to bring a more open approach.
Consider HP. It has recently entered the world of 3D printing, but it has done so through an open platform. Rather than having a proprietary closed system with its own materials, HP is open to third-party material development. It is offering a 3D printing industry materials development kit (MDK). This is like a software development kit in open platforms for new apps, such as the Apple Store. The MDK enables companies interested in certifying their materials to quickly test the compatibility of 3D powders with HP Jet Fusion 3D printers before submitting them to HP for certification. Other pure digital players like Autodesk are also pushing for an open approach.
Shifting from a closed system to an open one has many advantages. Open systems tend to be more innovative, and we expect to see more material innovation and applications for 3D printing in the future. But open systems also have some drawbacks. The most glaring one is cybersecurity. Once introduced into an open environment, a virus can spread faster through multiple parties and flows of information than in a closed system.
(Excerpt) Read more at hbr.org ...
We had a wind and rain storm here this last week and our power was out for a full 24 hours. We live in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains so this is a fairly common occurrence.
Normally, I have had to make trips to the gas station to keep our generator fueled. The first truly useful thing that I designed and printed was a flange that enabled us to mount a special adapter to use natural gas to fuel our generator. Mostly because we are able to more precisely control the gas to air mixture... a "therm" of natural gas actually produces as much electricity for us s a gallon of gas, but costs only a dollar.
So this not only is far more convenient and less dangerous than handling and pouring 5 gallon containers of gasoline into our generator... we also save a significant amount of money.
Our 3D printer is a derivative of an open source design so we can print using many different types of filament and have many more options available to us than most of the name brand 3d printers. This is addressed in this article. The security concerns expressed are almost completely bogus. The article seems to have been written by someone who has little or no experience actually using a 3D Printer; but other than that it has one of the best explanations of the current state of consumer level 3d printers that I have read recently.
Currently there are no real security concerns with objects that are downloaded. They are mostly merely 3D objects. You have to open them in software that converts them to "gcode" that the printer understands. At present I have never heard of a file that has been intentionally designed to fail as mentioned in the article. On the sites that I go to many people leave reviews on the projects and files.
The problem with most articles on 3D Printers is that they are over-hyped and claim that they have been advancing quickly. This article mentions the plateau in development of consumer 3D Printers that has taken place for the past couple of years. I hope that new advances do start to accelerate... 3D Printing is still much more difficult to master than it needs to be to appeal to people who are not technically proficient hobbyists.
Many 3D Printers which are actually amazing machines get negative reviews from people who have unrealistic expectations. This also results in a high return rate which makes it difficult for manufacturers to make a profit.
ping
Thanks for posting the article and the additional information. I hope to own a 3D metal printer sometime soon.
Research 3d metal printing a bit. GE is printing turbines. It is coming to the consumer market. You print your part, stick it in the side oven to sinter it and you have something better than most machined parts. Also there are cad and solid model converters to GCode that optimize for 3D. Pick a metal from copper to steel to titanium if you want. Lab machines are about 130K with the sintering oven. Costs are rapidly dropping. It is coming. I would say 10 years and you too will be able to print your lowers.
They are here. See previous post.
PFL
I have a few on my Amazon wishlist.
As you mention there have been recent breakthroughs in 3d metal printing using the laser sintering process. But as you mention the price for “printers using that process is still cost prohibitive for consumers.
http://www.zdnet.com/article/3d-printing-makes-stainless-steel-three-times-stronger/
However there are currently relatively inexpensive filaments available which have a high metal content... typically bronze or aluminum that can be used in “open source” consumer grade 3D Printers. They are used for producing objects that have a metallic appearance. They are typically used for making jewelry or small cast looking busts or sculptures. Some of these filaments are designed to be placed in an oven or kiln later for a sintering process to take place.
You can also purchase filament with wood powder to make 3D prints that look like they were carved. In the past year specialty filaments such as these have become more inexpensive and available.
https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=metal+filament
My wife and I often make reproduction buttons for old military uniforms. The easiest way we know to do this currently is to make a mold from one of the buttons we do have, press Polymer clay into the mold, add a wire loop to the rear and then bake the clay in the oven. You can buy clay that has a metallic appearance and the results are amazing without having to own basically any equipment. We also sometimes cast small metal objects, but that takes special equipment and knowledge.
We can also print buttons and other reproduction objects with the 3D printer but designing an exact reproduction 3D object file can be very time consuming.
At this point I have actually spent considerably more money on specialty filaments than what it cost initially to purchase the 3D printer. I have filaments which make flexible gaskets, filaments which produce super strong nylon alloy parts which are fuel and wear resistant, and a variety of filaments in different colors and appearance that look neat... its a hobby.
Research 3d metal printing powder. Also research microwave assisted sintering.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-ztpnVgO9o
I have a few on my Amazon wishlist.
I would like to get a large format 3D printer. Mine will do 8” x 8” x 7” but I would like to get one that will do at least 12” x 12” x 16”. This allows one to produce larger objects but also allows one to produce many objects simultaneously. It is very convenient to produce a project by producing a file that prints all of your pieces at the same time. That way you can start up the printer in the evening and have all your pieces completed when you get up the next morning.
I can’t really justify this purchase currently.
I have too many things way higher on the list.
Some specific lenses, pricey parts for the fixer upper vehicles, stuff for the new pad, and maybe some night school.
Very neat video...
Hopefully one of my projects in the near future will be to build a MPCNC machine (Mostly Printed CNC). I torn between doing that or purchasing one of the inexpensive Chinese desktop CNC machines that are capable of machining aluminum. A lot of people purchase the Chinese machines and then customize them with better parts. That is one of the advantages of the Chinese 3D printer that we own... it is based on the RepRap Prusa I3 open source printer, so it can be easily customized with better parts. It came with a broken limit switch, but I was able to go to my neighborhood Radio Shack to get it up and running an hour later.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7OXGwx-O-s
Sorry about that... I should have copied the link instead of typing it in.
bkmk
My wife and I are currently fixing up one house to sell and another to move into which has put most of my other projects on hold. Last night I tore out a rotted bathroom floor in our house from 1900 that hopefully we will be moving into soon. I had planned only on fixing the flooring under the toilet, but unfortunately it turned into a major demolition project.
Our other big project is a 1942 Cadillac which sat out in a cow pasture for many years. It has a very interesting history. We got the seized motor running and it actually is road worthy at this point, but still needs a whole lot of work.
Too many interests... to little time.
The caddie sounds really intriguing. I’d love to see photos. I love old cars in general.
I got a reman q-jet two weeks ago and maybe this weekend, I can get it on the K5.
My Willys jeep has to move to storage. The upshot is that it, the K5, cj7, and 750k will be moments away instead of a few miles.
Two immediate things for the new abode are a good microcut shredder and someone to run some data lines.
The WiFi repeater is being a pain to setup for some reason. I do not trust WiFi security under any circumstances. The repeater would be a short term fix.
We love old jeeps and old cars. In my earlier years I helped keep a bunch of old trucks, forklifts, and tractors running for my dad, not to mention the cars. It seems funny to me that there are not a lot of people who know how to work on the old beasts these days.
We originally planned on making the 42 Cadillac into a replica of one of Eisenhower’s staff cars. But this car has an interesting history. It was originally owned by Winifred Filson who with her husband started the Filson Clothing Company in 1897 to outfit people heading to the Alaskan gold rush. Her husband Clinton died during the flu pandemic during a trip to Oregon in 1919. Winifred ran the company until her death in 1958.
When we sent the Filson company information about the car... they sent us a gift certificate, and with permission used a picture of my wife in one of her WWII Nurse Uniforms standing in front of our 1941 Cadillac in several of their catalogs and claimed the picture was of Winifred’s car.
We previously had a beautiful Series 61 1941 Cadillac, but had to sell it when money got tight. But since that time we have thought that it might be better to do the 1942 Cadillac all original with some expensive re-chroming and paint the car its original beautiful metallic robin’s egg blue instead of WWII olive drab green,
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