Amazing Printer?

[5Toes]

What do you think?

[mcskibadee1]

Those are so cool, I know Jay Leno owns one to reproduce pieces for his classic cars that can't be found.

[dothadance]

holy shit. i knew about 3d printing but with the moving parts, it's on a wholenotherlevel!

[TurboJake]

They're fun. Greatest thing in the world for rapid prototyping.

Last one I had access to was too small for what I wanted to do with it though... We'll see what/if MTU has at their disposal.

I have a few E30 things in mind for it, ready to go ;)

[gearheadE30]

Those things are great. Made a badass intake manifold for an F4i with one of those.

[e30jake]

He hardly twisted that nut at all... Anyone know how strong this stuff actually is? Or how heavy?

[TurboJake]

Depends on what type you go with. There's:
The powder you saw in the video above. Lots of different types, but when infused with resin it's actually really strong

Fused deposition. Basically printed plastic. Solid or honeycomb.

Stereo-lithography. A resin that is exposed to UV light to harden it in layers.

Selective laser sintering. Melting powder together with fuckin lasers. You can even do metals with this. Titanium, Steel, Aluminum, Alloys... Typically much stronger than cast parts, as there's no unequal cooling, contraction and expansion, and surface defects. Very intense stuff.

[Thizzelle]

it's just for show, my company has one. shit breaks super easy if you put any kinda torque on it. More of a sales tool or probably could make molds for casting from it too.

[CabbE30]

Generally 3D printers are used for prototyping before an actual product is produced using the more expensive materials, so in this case it wouldn't be that strong.

EDIT: ^You 2 beat me to it.

[5Toes]

Jake.. what type of degree do you have? lol

[e30jake]

Jake.. what type of degree do you have? lol

Still workin on it. Because obviously it was me you were asking haha

[TurboJake]

Jake.. what type of degree do you have? lol

Associates of Applied Science in Electromechanical technology. Robotics, PLC's, Industrial automation and automation processes, basic electrical and mechanical engineering and computer programming. Continuing at Michigan Tech for a Bachelors in Applied Science for Electrical Engineering Tech this fall. While in my last school I took a hard liking to Kuka robotics and KRL language, Allen Bradley PLC's, And Mach 3 powering home/custom built/upgraded CNC machines.

And a lot of experience in mechanical engineering. Just no real tangible proof of it.

As it stands, here's a pretty basic rundown of my degree and what can be expected of me.

http://www.onetonline.org/link/summary/17-3024.00

[JamesE30]

Selective laser sintering. Melting powder together with fuckin lasers. You can even do metals with this. Titanium, Steel, Aluminum, Alloys... Typically much stronger than cast parts, as there's no unequal cooling, contraction and expansion, and surface defects. Very intense stuff.

This is the shit.
SLS allows for a use of a huge range of materials and composites that posses very impressive qualities. For example Carbon infused Nylon (NyTek 1200CF), possesses equal or higher tensile strength than steel, however is 65% lighter! It also has a much higher Thermal resistance. Materials such as this have already seen use in mass production, infact Boeing have been known to use SLS parts in the manufacture of their aircraft for some years now. I also recall one of the polyamides being used for a SLS Intake manifold that was used on a WRC rally car. Pretty cool stuff..

The great thing about SLS is that the only limitation as to what you can print, is the size of the print bed, it is the most effective way to rapid prototype parts with complicated undercuts and cavities due to its powder support material that can easily be brushed off. Even More impressively, more than 50% of the support material can be reused..

My Honours year Industrial Design project proposed SLS as a key manufacturing process for my 'near future' Rocker motorcycle concept..

[JamesE30]

While in my last school I took a hard liking to .../custom built/upgraded CNC machines.

Hahaha I was literally looking at DIY CNC machines on instructables yesterday.
I love that sort of shit

[m73m95]

That is the coolest thing I have ever seen. My life is now different.

I must have one.

Even if it took 10 years to print, I'd print a Veyron :D