Using Google SketchUp and printapart.com

[Chuck Doan]

My Dad has a ball bearing assembly, inner race, outer race and balls trapped inside that were printed maybe 15 plus years ago. They roll like gravel, but its still kind of neat! Jay Leno was hawking some system on a U tube video a while back that looked like this is becoming a well refined thing.

[Fred H.]

Guess what I did last weekend?

HINT:

[Fred H.]

More photos...

[Fred H.]

Last of batch...

[Fred H.]

Doesn't THIS caboose part (sink in C&S 1009) just cry out for this methodology?

[Malachi Constant]

Yes (on the sink) ... and looks like you've got a great opportunity to do the "footwork" on your project ... have fun!  -- Dallas

[Gordon Ferguson]

Don't think this will print parts to the standard we require at the scale most of work to but its worth keeping an eye on because its under constant development.

http://www.youtube.com/user/adrianbowyer

Looking up RepRap via google gives lots of links to forums, parts suppliers etc. Have not had a chance to cost up the parts but you can get a ready made one for about $1100

[eTraxx]

Interesting. Version II .. named Mendal, lists the price of all materials at $520. The 'build envelope' is 8" (W) x 8" (D) x 5.5" (H) .. Speed is .92 inch3 per hour solid .. and the resolution is .. Diameter of nozzle 0.020", 0.080" min. feature size, 0.004" positioning accuracy, layer thickness 0.012"

http://reprap.org/wiki/Mendel

[DaKra]

Not sure where to post this, but here's something from todays NYT front page.  Looks like this technology is growing, spreading and getting cheaper.  Now there's even something to "print" a 1/1 scale house using a concrete "ink jet"   

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/14/technology/14print.html

[finescalerr]

That is yet another exciting example of where the technology is going. If you can conceive it, you can create it. Just as metallurgy has improved vastly in the past half century, so will the development of synthetic materials such as plastics (resins?). What we must now injection mold we someday may simply print. Fascinating article. -- Russ

[BKLN]

But no matter where technology takes us, it will still take the eyes and skills of an artist to bring a model to life.

[JohnP]

DaKra Dave need to buy a 3D printer that's all there is to it. Artist and machine master in one. Let's start sending him lottery tickets.

John

[DaKra]

In all seriousness, when the price of a high-resolution 3d printer goes below 10K, I'm buying one.   It won't be long.

[finescalerr]

Let's say the price drops to $9500 and you buy one. Do you think you'd be able to earn back the investment in a reasonable time? Or would you consider it a "present" to yourself?

I'm also interested in the speed at which the technology is developing. Is it likely a printer you buy today would be superseded by a higher-res, higher quality model at a lower price within three or four years? That's what happened with laser and inkjet printers.

Either way, I would think that over four or five years the guys on this forum alone would help you recover some of the cost.

Russ

[DaKra]

Hey Russ, it would be a business investment with benefits.   On something as versatile as that, I have no doubt it would earn its keep.  Its really just an issue of the operator getting past the steep part of the learning curve.   I guess it would be obsolete by the time its paid off, but I'd have the experience.     

There are actually machines currently in the 10k range, but they lack the sharp resolution I'd want.   For the model work I have in mind, I'd need one that could at least match injection molded plastic.