3D Brain gear machine no assembly required...
Posted on 03/03/2013 7:47:42 PM PST by LibWhacker
Ping
3-D Printer ping!
Thanks for posting!
I’m giving a TED talk in three weeks on the 3D printing of simple, affordable village houses. This will be a good addition to my material.
Hmmmn.
the writer forgot the problems:
Lack of accuracy. You can’t deposit “circular” objects like holes, bearings, bearing runs, etc. You can get “close” to a circle but many items need will need extra machining after the 3D printer gets through.
Slow speed.
One part per 3Dprinter per time .... (Did I mention they were sloooooooooooooooow?)
Sure, they can make different versions of different parts. But their size range is limited by the size of the printer. Want a 2 foot long thing? Can’t do it unless you’ve paid 200,000.00 for the extra-big printer.
Want a 4 foot long item? Pay even more.
you need a complete and explicit and completely correct 3D compatible-printer 3D model of your gadget - and ALL of the parts that go into that gadget. So, for example, if you want to add a screw-hole to the side of your 3D gadget, you have to either have a 3D “exact” model of the inside of that screw hole AND its threads and gaps and tolerances, or be able to tap a screw hole conventionally.
one material per printer. One material per part. One material per “assembled” complete gadget, unless you pass that 3D part back to a conventional assembly line. Did I mention that 3D printers are SLlllllllllllloooooooooooooooowwwww compared to assembly lines?
So a vacuum cleaner for example, still can’t get its (cheaper) aluminum tube and plastic handle built in the same 3D printer as the casing and motor - which can’t be built of insulation, copper, and steel in a 3D printer, nor can its beater bar and flexible brushes be built in the printer.
See my comments below.
Hmmmm .... yes. I suspect that some of these 'principles' will always be three decades in the future.
the way i understand it they work the same as a color printer, so why can't you print multiple materials in the same part like multiple color printers as in the 3D Brain Machine example in post#8 it should just switch orifices as other materials are needed, yes?
Threaded holes and fasteners can also be made in situ, class 1 and class 2 fit, in common pitches.
Of course very fine threads and watch parts are not yet doable, but that is clearly the direction the industry is heading.
Long parts can be closely approximated by making smaller ones that snap together.
Multiple parts can be made in the same pass, there is no requirement that the build platform can't have multiple parts side-by-side, nor that they can't be stacked in layers in the build volume.
Note also that the BossPilot is giving a TED talk on printing houses. That's an application where the build volume is bigger than the printer!
the future is now... 8^)
I’ve seen the future, I can’t afford it
Tell you the truth sir, someone just bought it
Larger than life and twice as ugly
If we have to live there, you’ll have to drug me
Got my prototypes printed up in ABS, Nully. Made a change from the original design (a minor tweak) amd had the finished design in hand a day later. ... And it works!
Actually, the machines use a neutral filler to fill in holes which are then flushed when the entire object is finished. My protos have ‘voids’ ...
Some day you must tell us what you’re building...
I would like to be able to print myself into the bizarro parallel universe world where things are normal.
Bump for later.
3D printing competes successfully with whittling a part out of wood with a jacknife but cannot compete with normal manufacturing processes. And the quality of parts I have personally seen made with low cost 3D printers (one you might afford to own) don’t even compete with whittling! Frankly, I’m not sure about the general usefulness of crudely made plastic parts.
Surely someone will bring up printing AR-15’s and magazines!
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