3D Printers and their potential uses

Or a rough draft of a production model.

There have been quite a few threads on 3-D printers.  I got one in December of last year and posted some stuff.  You could look for them with the search engine if you wanted to see what folks have said/done in the past.  

"The father of 3D printing says it’s overhyped". Search for this article on the internet if you wish.

Ah yes, but its at a much more reasonable price point and the prices are coming down rapidly.

I've been R&Ding the Maker-Bot and its possible potential!

I design heart assist pumps for people experiencing heart failure. We 3D print prototype parts. The Bivacor total artificial heart is completely 3D printed out of titanium. It's the future.

maybe I can get those two rail pilots finally!

I think it will be huge in G scale.

There are so many models of engines that have never been made. I may look into one myself. Like so many others I've heard from, we're waiting for the technology to produce finer, smoother parts, in the lower priced models.

I got a Micro Mark catalog a couple of days ago. They have a 3D printer kit for $724.95. Typical assembly time 30 hours. It's interesting. If I was younger, and the eyes, and brain were better I'd probably get one along with that mini lathe and milling machine. But that ship has sailed for me. This one will do 7 7/8 x 7 7/8 x 7 7/8. Layers less than .010"

All this talk about 3D printing, and it's a technology that isn't even on my radar screen.  Perhaps it's a sign of age, but I have neither the time, interest, nor desire to produce my own products with 3D-printer technology.    I'll leave that for other folks to tinker with, as I'm more than content to purchase products that have all the detail I need from today's major importers.

David

Tell that to this guy!  

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/...ident-134100020.html

- Mike

I saw the "overhyped" article and that wasn't actually what he said. He was merely cautioning that the printing is only a part of a much larger process with many aspects, and that progress may come in tiny steps (although most of the steps this year have been pretty darned big if you ask me.)

When we looked at those beautiful night layout shots, and we noticed the stiff pose of the figures, we all had the same thought: how long before someone scans live actors and prints them in natural poses? At this rate, we can have Rich leaning out the window or Hot Water checking the fire.

3D printing is ideal for one-off high cost items, not so useful for 10,000 of a low cost item.  They seem to have found a home in rapid prototyping where the cost is secondary to getting an accurate model so you can evaluate fit, form, and function.

Another point is for those examples that are posted, they didn't do them on a $1,000 desktop 3D printer, but rather on a $20,000-30,000 machine.

I think the breakthrough needs to be made in the area of producing the design of the model, any reasonably complicated item will take a lot of CAD work to create the print image.

One of the cool things down the road in 3d printing is that you don't need to sell 10000 low cost copies--you can sell 10000 low cost copies of the printing file.

Jeff C

Very true, that's likely to be a very fertile market. 

Just think, once you start printing your own trains, you'll have no one to blame for the quality, or lack there of.

Rusty

I would be interested in some 3D figures or people. Can some explain how you get from photo to the item in your paws?

You can practice for "the future" by learning to build your own 3D-printable models in your computer.

If you manage to get good at it but still can't quite swing a good enough printer, there are businesses who have made the investment in high-end printers who can print your design files for you (Shapeways, for example)

If I were to explore that tactic, I'd look at making some O-scale passenger car seats that could be reproduced with rubber molds so I could inexpensively turn out a few hundred copies to outfit the passenger cars I have from the "silhouette strip" era. (and then sell additional copies to folks who chose not to take the initiative ) 

---PCJ

Let me know when your passenger car seating product will be available.

Indeed. Crap, at 2 grams each, you could scale them to the actual seats. No more 8ft giants sitting in your railking passenger cars! And it'd be a lot cheaper.