Anybody here at SciForums know anything about 3d printing? Preferably someone who's actually done it, but anyone can pipe up in this discussion if they feel like it. Footnote - I think SpiderGoat may know a few things, but after a quick peek at the ban list, looks like he's earned himself some hard time in SciForums Leavenworth (which is kind of odd - he always seemed like the normal friendly non-troublemaker members..... he must have 'dun goofed' at some point). ...at any rate ..... 3d printing stuff. Tell me what you know.
Awwww, bummer for Spidey. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! I read an article last week that said they were going to start selling those 3 - D printers retail now and gave a bunch of suggested uses and a lot of speculation about what they will be able to do in the future. I am aware that they are being used to create blood vessel systems in lab - created meats and for constructing artificial organs as well as some electronic applications beyond the usual plastic hobby item duplicating stuff. Other than that I am just as curious as the next guy as to what all they will actually do in the RW. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
I suppose I'm confused on which type of 3D printer. They developed some form of composite powder printing about 5 years ago for creating tools on the space station. The idea there was having an ability to fabricate tools on the fly, this technology will be available?
I've seen the ones that use powder, but the only one's I've started to get familiar with are the kinds that extrude various types of plastic
Yah I know a lot about it, my University has three 3D printers in my engineering building. Basically it uses an acrylic that is sprayed from a specialized jet onto a non stick surface. It builds up thousands of layers of acrylic to form the model. All the while the nonstick surface is allowed to fall downwards slowly for each successive layer. That's essentially how it works.
One of the science mags recently had an article on a fellow who built a 3 -D 'printer' that made fused sand-glass bowls with solar energy. He tested it in the Saudi desert and it indeed did as stated. There is another type that uses a thermal-set plastic in a tank and 2 intersecting IR laser beams computer actuated to reproduce 3 - D objects. Also the layer - wise thermal set method fedr described with various powders. Considering the ready availability of computer actuated machining as well, I would guess that 3 - D printers are just about to enter our day-to-day lives bigtime real soon here.
It would be pretty awesome to be able to print using materials like metals/alloys, glass, concrete, etc. All the fancy cool stuff seems to still be in the realm of companies with dedicated specialized equipment. This one that can print stuff in titanium...... man - what I would give to have my own titanium printer! A while back, randomly ran into an article talking about printing with chocolate LOL. Apparently, those printers are now being sold (according to this article http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencet...colate-printer-sale-theyve-missed-EASTER.html). To be honest though - I think it it could be done on a smaller scale and for a lot cheaper. I'm guessing this model is probably targeted at commercial entities like restaurants or bakeries.
I'm familiar with several types of RP equipment, and I've attended some conferences on the subject. What do you want to know? There are Stereolithography machines that use UV lasers to selectively cure a liquid material (I haven't seen one of those in a while). There is a machine that uses layers of paper that are each cut using a laser and glued to the previous layer, creating a part that looks like wood (this machine is also rarely used now). There are deposition machines that extrude a bead of melted plastic to build up layers. This type is relatively robust and it's used for some inexpensive printers you can buy for your home (Makerbot). The resolution isn't good though. But there is one (I forget the manufacturer) that is only $15,000, and suitable for home or a small business. SLS is the term for selective laser sintering machines. These are very expensive (up to half a million) but very versatile. Resolution is very good (.1mm). You can print rigid polymers, flexible polymers (made from short strands), or with the addition of metal powder, you can print a composite of plastic and metal. This composite can then be sintered with the appropriate quantity of copper (sintering is heating up to just below the melting point). What happens is that the plastic binder is burnt out, and the copper is wicked up into the material, which becomes an alloy. There is some distortion involved, so printing high precision metal parts is still in the future. The artist Bashsheeba Grossman sells art pieces at her site made with this method. The main obstacle to manufacturing is the speed of printing, but this is addressed with new machines that are similar to the SLS machines, it uses rollers to lay down a thin layer of powder, but instead of a laser, it uses a high energy electron beam. Higher energy means each layer is finished faster. There is also a similar machine that melts one whole layer at a time using a printed mask for each layer. I've also used other machines, not sure how they work, they make very high resolution prints using melted polymers, and it's possible to print a part made up of several different materials with different properties (flexible, rigid, clear, colored). No materials are yet available with this process that match the structural properties of injection moldable plastics. Z-corp machines are unique in that they use a standard ink jet printer head to selectively cure layers of a plaster-like material. They print in full color, so you can apply images to your part. The "green" part in this case undergoes a secondary process to increase strength. They are dipped in a wax or superglue. I've read about machines as large as a house that can print in concrete. Most of these machines break down often, and some require special rooms, with temps and humidity tightly controlled. For some machines, if you don't have a maintenance contract, forget about it, it will break down and be useless in no time.
I believe the 15k Model is from Hewlitt Packard. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzeM71dRYnc&feature=related That's the kind of 3d printing I'm playing around with for the time being. I ended up building one (went with the RepRap Mendel Prusa). It is in the same league as Makerbot/Ultimaker/RapMan/etc. My [potential] questions to you would probably be oriented around working with ABS/PLA and achieving the best results. I remember you mentioning that materials weren't your strong suit, and you were more of a 3d modeller. Got any recommendations on software?
I was thinking of these by Objet: http://www.objet.com/3D-Printer/Objet_Desktop_Family/ Software can be very personal, the best one is the one you know best. I use Delcam's Powershape and more than 14 different other ones where I work. Materialise's Magics is good for fixing stl files.
