Well I just thought some of you guys might be interested in some rapid prototyping stuff.. I guess it has to do with fabrication. Its not car related but the process could be used to prototype car partsup to a certain size only limited by the machine being used.

Heres somthign I designed in CAD then transfered it into an STL file and printed out in our machine at school. It is made through the FDM process. Fused deposition modeling. Its pretty much a big printer that lays down molten ABS plastic, layers at a time along with a breakaway support material.

CAD drawing..



After it came out the machine..





Now with the support material removed..





What it's going into.


-James-

 

How easy does the breakaway come off? Also, how long did it run to make that piece. I think alot of firms will be looking to invest in these types of printers within the next few years, could be very valuable to some customers. I'd like to see the finished product once it is done.

 

We use those all time for engineering classes. Only useful for a protype though. Can't really make anything to large at least with the machines i've seen

 

Nice part, can you post pics of the finished product later?

Another issue is strength. The various processes are awesome for generating a physical part to check for fitment and such, but they do tend to be weak. you could always use the prototype for an investment casting I guess.
There are some sophisticated machines that can actually prototype assemblies, the clearances are part of the program, its really an amazing technology. however, Much like wind tunnels in the past decade, rapid prototype machines are usually always busy, and so often expensive.
I hope snootchandhootch is right and more places get them, how great would it be to protoype a part from a CAD design, make a jig from the prototype, and then just punch out your final product?

 

Niles like you said they are great for prototypes. I do intend to test this piece out to see if it could work. If not I will be machining it on our CNC. It is great to actually have an object in hand to give a better idea of the characteristics of some parts. Already I have made some changes, but thats what the prototyping stage is like. In the futur maybe in our time there will be rapid manufacturing processes similar in nature. There are places that can make ceramic molds for cast metal parts. Just send them the part file and they make the mold and pour the metals. I'll have some finished pics when it's done, whenever that is..

-James-

 

These machines are awesome if you aren't paying for the machine or have to pay for the usage.

I am guessing your classes don't CNC urethane or wood blocks for prototyping?

 

I saw that the other day on TV, (the prototyping) its amazing! It blew my mind!

Almost like a 3d printer!
Nice Gun, P90 from FN, what the hell does that part do tho?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by memoryfab.com &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">These machines are awesome if you aren't paying for the machine or have to pay for the usage.

I am guessing your classes don't CNC urethane or wood blocks for prototyping?</TD></TR></TABLE>

We could. I've discussed the idea of that with my professor and that is how we are goin to make the bigger parts of the gun. We are going ot machine them out of plastic.

-James-

 

p90.... i want one so bad...

 

That is WAY too cool

 

We have two of these in our lab http://www.dimensionprinting.com/

One a little under 30 G's, the other a little over. One has a support media that dissolves in an ultrasonic cleaner. It's amazing what the guys have made on them over the years.

 

Sweet!

 

A friend has a small short run/prototype shop.More than half of his customers supply him with prints and a rapid prototyping abs part now.There is a local company that specializes in only this process for local companies.Like a 3 dimensional Kinko's.I also saw a tv show that produced an intake manifold and actually bolted it on an engine and dyno tested it.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by BigMoose &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">We have two of these in our lab http://www.dimensionprinting.com/

One a little under 30 G's, the other a little over. One has a support media that dissolves in an ultrasonic cleaner. It's amazing what the guys have made on them over the years.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Those dimension printers are spectacular. I live how the support media dissolves, much better idea than having to break it away. You pay for what you get though.

 

i was lookin at it tryin to think of what it reminded me of, and it struck me that it looked like the internals of an airsoft gun (used to play and always did my own work on the guns). you tryin to build your own gun from scratch?


Marcus

 

Yup, but using paintballs.....mmmm

-James-

 

speaking of paintballs... anyone know how paintballs are made?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by BigMoose &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">speaking of paintballs... anyone know how paintballs are made?</TD></TR></TABLE>

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> Paintballs are made by dye encapsulating machines. These machines, worth a considerable amount of money, also are used to make encapsulated drugs such as gel-caps and even bath beads. It is not surprising, then, that most (if not all) paintball manufacturers are pharmaceutical companies.

The actual process is rather involved and technical, but in a nutshell here it is. Two wide ribbons of softened gelatin are fed into the machine. These two strips are joined by two counter rotating drums that have dozens of concave 'pockets'which form the paintball. At the same time the drums also inject fill in between the gelatin strips and seal the seams thus forming the paintball. The paintballs are still very soft because the gelatin of the shell is still warm, and are placed in a tumblers (to ensure roundness) until they are cooled and hardened enough for the next stage. They are then set on trays and left out to continue hardening. A special machine packages the paintballs by weight, although a case of paint is sold by quantity. In a case of 2500 you will get, on average, from 2490 to 2510 paintballs.

The paint used is both biodegradable and water-soluble. Basically it is mineral oils, food colouring, calcium, ethylene glycol, iodine and other harmless chemicals. If left in clothing for a period of months, it will stain otherwise it just washes out.</TD></TR></TABLE>

 

And they don't taste all that great either....

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by BigMoose &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">We have two of these in our lab http://www.dimensionprinting.com/

One a little under 30 G's, the other a little over. One has a support media that dissolves in an ultrasonic cleaner. It's amazing what the guys have made on them over the years.</TD></TR></TABLE>

yeah i was gonna say there are some that dissolve small parts so you wouldnt have to break them away like the original poster...i have seen a few products but never the machine, the machine shop teacher at my university is in the process of trying to get one

 

If anyone is interested, you can go to dimension's website and they will send you a sample piece out of one of there machines. I got mine a few months ago and It was very cool, I was impressed by the quality.

 

We use ZPrinters here at work and what you model in cad is exactly what you get printed. No need to clean up any breakaway support or anything like that. Print in color too! Final cost is around $2 per cubic inch.

http://goengineer.com/products/61200581700PM.aspx

All very cool machines.




Modified by JamesS at 9:10 AM 5/9/2006

 

anyone have a video of that kind of printer in actioN?