3d printer

[Ppd1979]

Wondering if any one has used one, professional or homeade version.

[SLO_Z28]

I have some experience with them from school. I was tossing around the idea of buying one and making copys of peoples cars, boats, and planes for money. They have pretty decent DIY ones in the $2000 range now.

[Ppd1979]

I've seen one called cupcake cnc, was on inside west coast customs.
Was on there website for $750 starting for there base model and going up from there.

[Bryce]

I am getting one at work. Its a FDM machine. I have sent some parts out for SLA and just got a bunch of samples from the FDM.

[pitts12driver]

I have a Maker Bot that I put together to learn. While interesting, the resolution isn't high enough to produce finished parts. I do think the high-end machines (Stratasys, 3D systems) make near-net parts that are usable across a variety of (mostly) cosmetic applications.

[ace_xp2]

I don't have one yet, but it looks like the printrbot guys have the kind of resolution to print near net parts:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyrP4...1&feature=plcp
The new print comparison standard is a female form, so you may want to be careful where you open that link.
One of the things with printing more accurate is it seems to take a lot more time, so machine speed becomes more important.

There was a good example of print resolution up on the reprap site, which I can't seem to find now. here's the site anyways:
http://reprap.org/wiki/RepRap
They've got a few different diy designs going on, the printrbot being basically the wallace.

And it seems like the best of the self assembled systems is the ultimaker:
http://blog.ultimaker.com/
It seems to be the fastest of the group, and thus of course the most expensive.
But they have some great pics of some pretty stunning prints:
http://davedurant.wordpress.com/2011...ity-of-prints/


The coolest thing to me would be to combine it with something like Reconstructme:
http://reconstructme.net/
Which uses a Kinect sensor to take fairly accurate 3d images.

[AllenM]

I've been hearing about the 3D printing this past few days. I guess, it is one of the most essential improvements in living memory. The machines work by building an object from the molecular level up, “printing” tiny pieces of it until the whole is finished. In fact, a group of students from Belgium have “printed” a 3D printer vehicle which not only runs, but hits 60 mph from 0 in 4 seconds. Have you been trying to buy or sell a new or used SUV? If this describes you, don’t go anywhere else before you research Gus Johnson cars!

[astroracer]

I just used a company to make some 3D parts for me. I had modeled up some "pie crust" slicks and they quoted me a very cheap price so I gave them a try to see what the quality was like. I used to be into model cars quite a bit. Had a company making turned aluminum and photo-etched parts.
Here are some pics of the tires.


As you can see they are multi piece. This makes them easier to cast and they can be used to make different widths by simply swapping out the middle section for a wider or narrower part. They also have a "whitewall" section that snaps in.
They turned out fairly well and fit was excellant. Surface finish is rough (as expected) but these will get buried in primer and polished. Readying them for resin casting.

This is pretty kool stuff and I will be getting more parts done.
Mark