Woha!!

[len19070]

3D copier!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZboxMsS ... r_embedded

[toypusher]

Yeah, but what must it cost???

[GRUMPYBAGDER]

Some how it feels like april 1st.
Is that for real?

[LDK]

Yeah, but what must it cost???

The cost will come down after it's been on the market for a few years.
Even then it would probably still be too expensive for the average joe.

[jss06]

Some how it feels like april 1st.
Is that for real?

Yes, its for real. Its a rapid prototyping machine.

[mikeschn]

We typically call that sterolithography. It's been around for years, but it's prohibitively expensive. Last year I printed a rack and pinion gear and it was something like $12K.

I also like LOM. I thought I might be able to do that at home someday. So far, not yet... But the example I saw at the trade show used butcher paper.

Mike...



Laminated Object Manufacture (LOM)

Laminated Object Manufacture (LOM) cuts the component slices from thin layers of material using a CO2 laser mounted on a 2D plotter. The system most commonly uses sheets of paper stacked on top of another automatically and bonded together using an adhesive. The parts of the sheet outside the model provide support. These unwanted areas are marked with intersecting lines, which forms cubes that can be broken away from the model once complete.

[dh]

As Mike said, these are not new. There is at least one company out there doing rapid prototyping, or as they called it, 3D printing, out of mobil set ups. They'll come to you to do the printing in your shop, so parts can be tweeked and reprinted right there. They stopped by when I was in college. I printed a tiger (school mascot) that I did in CAD class, then coated in polyester resin in plastics class, then cast out of AL in metals class. Yup, I got a BS in shop (technically called technology studies,)

[Mojave Bob]

Unfortunately, this technology is not what the video represents it to be. I know you can 3d print a part, but an assembly of moving parts? Hmm...

As to the content of the video itself, it is a crock. The two wrenches are not remotely similar. One has a hanging ring in the handle, the other has a D-ring. One has a 5-tooth adjustment screw, the other has a 3-tooth screw. On the debossed profile in the handle, one is squared and the other is rounded. These two wrenches are not related.

It's fun to pretend, though.

[mikeschn]

Unfortunately, this technology is not what the video represents it to be. I know you can 3d print a part, but an assembly of moving parts? Hmm...

As to the content of the video itself, it is a crock. The two wrenches are not remotely similar. One has a hanging ring in the handle, the other has a D-ring. One has a 5-tooth adjustment screw, the other has a 3-tooth screw. On the debossed profile in the handle, one is squared and the other is rounded. These two wrenches are not related.

It's fun to pretend, though.

I didn't pay real close attention, but my feeling was after they did the scan, they turned around and modeled it up from scratch in a cad package, and did the 3d print from the clean solid model. How else would the 3d printer know what the geometry of the parts, not visible to the scanner, looked like?

Mike...

[dh]

I've heard of CMM data being taken directly into CAD programs. So, theoretically, using a CMM as a scanner and a 3D printer, 3D copying wouldn't be that far fetched. Even then, an assembbeled part would not be possable, and costs of equipment would be prohibitive to all but the largest of corporations for a pretty mutch useless 'toy'.