New item for the boat

I want one of these!

Want!

I wonder what it would cost to print me out a nice new Fleming 55??? :cowboy: That thing is crazy!

It is hard for me to understand how they can make separate moving parts like the turning gears on a shaft, or the jaw and adjuster of the crescent wrench assembled in one operation? Any ideas?
Steve W.

I suspect that is IS one piece but with a very thin connection between the pieces that breaks away during the first use. That's only a guess though.

Whoever gets one - make me a copy of the 3d printer!

I was wondering about the moving pieces too.* Maybe break-away.* But, when I saw the guy reach into the powder to remove the wrench I was surprised.* The wrench was not on top of the powder as I expected.* Does the formation process take place inside the bin of powder?* If so, I can visualize how the moving parts can be formed as separate pieces.* The gaps between pieces are just unprocessed powder.*

My Classic Car tv show had a part about Jay Leno's 3D printing machine. Watching it makes it look like there are two kinds of material "printed" out. One becomes the hard item shaped as the pattern or CAD drawing and the other material is disolved when put in hot water. He talked about the "printed" pieces being a fast and easy way to make foundry patterns for obsolete parts. I think he said 2-3 hours on the printer was equal to 50 or so hours of a patternmaker at the foundry.

Ken

Here's a follow up on the moving parts issue. It can manufacture the part, but not from the depicted scan without some data manipulation in a CAD program.


Either way, cool stuff!

I'm still not sure of what happens. I believe they have to make, print, the parts separately in their machine (which is amazing in itself) and assemble them. But that is not what the video implied or showed.
Steve W.

I'm sure the wrench*is still much less expensive*at Harbor Freight or wherever.

Regardless, it looks like the next generation will be making many purchases/acquisitions using*their own machines at home.

BaltimoreLurker wrote:
I was wondering about the moving pieces too.*

Click to expand...

*You need to not think of this process in conventional machining terms.* The wrench is defined digitally, and the definition includes the spaces, however small, between the moving parts.**(This may be the data manipulation that has*to be done separately, I don't know.)* So the spaces between the moving parts are part of what's "made." This is why the parts can move--- the spaces between them are part of the overall manufacturing process-- the spaces are "made" just as the solid parts of the part are "made."* Nothing needs to be broken away because the spaces are already there.*

It can be a challenging concept to grasp but it's basically the material rendition of what has been done in 3D digital design since the early 90s where all aspects of parts, subassemblies, and entire products are defined digitally in three-dimenions, and this definition includes the spaces between them.* It's how we determine that all*the parts of our airplanes will fit together properly.* The 777, which was the first Boeing plane to be designed using this technology, and the 787 can be completely assembled from nothing on a screen and the fit, clearance, and interference of every single*part can be determined, illustrated, and the design of the parts*adjusted if necessary.* All digital, all on a screen (in reality a whole*lot of screens).

This printer device simply takes it to the next level.* Since the object is being created from a powder that is being positioned by the digital definition of the component being replicated-- a wrench in this case-- it is "easy" to simply not put any powder where there is*a space between the parts.* My employer has been using similar technology to this for awhile now.* It's pretty cool but it does require a somewhat different mindset to grasp how it works.

*


-- Edited by Marin on Friday 15th of July 2011 07:21:11 PM

So, the dimensions and data of the internal parts like the slot the jaw slides up or down in or the knurled adjuster are not scanned in but entered by some other means as they would be on a CNC machine. Which seems like what the guy was trying to clarify on the second video clip? Very much different from what the original clip implied.
Steve W



-- Edited by Steve on Friday 15th of July 2011 07:43:09 PM


-- Edited by Steve on Friday 15th of July 2011 07:45:33 PM

Steve wrote:
So, the dimensions and data of the internal parts like the slot the jaw slides up or down in or the knurled adjuster are not scanned in but entered by some other means as they would be on a CNC machine.

Click to expand...

The external scanner that they showed would not seem to be capable of scanning the internal parts, spaces, and dimensions of the wrench.* So this would be the portion of the process that was missing in the first video.*

For this to work, every single aspect of the object has to be digitally defined, not just the external surfaces.* So the knurled adjustment knob would have to be digitially defined in its entirety, which includes the "axle shafts' that are up inside the holes in the body of the wrench.* Likewise, the holes in the body of the wrench*where the axles fit have to be digitally defined.

Only when every single surface of every single component of the object is digitally defined in all three dimensions to the exact measurements can the process move on to the manufacturing stage.* Presumably, from what the person said in the second video, this total digital definition had already been done for the wrench.

It is truly amazing what can be done in terms of 3D digitial design.* The design of a component*consists only of points in space that together define every surface, every curve, even the properties of the material the component is made of.* Because this design is defined only by points in space, you can turn it in any direction, fit it to other parts that are defined the same way,*see how it will react when subjected to heat, stress, etc. and so on.*

We even have 3D digital mechanics who can be placed inside a 3D digitally defined space in an airplane with all the structure, components and fasteners*installed.* The "mechanic" is then given a 3D digitally defined tool--- an open-end wrench, a socket wrench, power wrench,*screwdriver, whatever--- and then he is manipulated just like a real person to see if he can reach the fasteners that hold a particular component, remove them, and then*remove the component.* All this is done in real time and* it's one of the tools we use to determine how maintainable an airplane will be.* If the digital mechanic has a tough time getting the component removed maybe*the design engineers*need to re-think how it's mounted.

As you can imagine, when*this technology is applied to something as complex as an*aircrfaft it takes massive computing power to make it work.* The basic design programs we (and Airbus) use are both from Dassault in France.* The design program is CATIA and the assembly and fit program is DELMIA.

It's too bad the NatGeo segment didn't include the digital definition aspect of the process.* I think it would have been fascinating in itself and would not have detracted from the impact of the pretty amazing manufacturing*technology that was illustrated.


-- Edited by Marin on Friday 15th of July 2011 09:54:15 PM

The "gee wizz" factor is high, but why I posted the clip here is because of the potential utility this technology may some day have.* Say you're in a remote location, you're working on an obstinate piece of equipment and you drop that left handed, metric, flanged spline screw over the side, never to be seen again.* No problem, just download the specs to your smart phone and send to the 3D printer.* You won't have to carry every piece of spare equipment with you, 99% of which you never use.* Just a few buckets of the powder and* you have a nearly infinite set of spares.

Marin: "it is "easy" to simply not put any powder where there is a space between the parts."

The way they presented it, it looked to me like the entire bin is powder and the resin is precisely injected, layer-by-layer, in the areas where the solid matter is to be built up. No resin is applied where there is a space. Then the powder is removed, or blown, from the 'spaces' to create the cavity.

This is incredible technology. I suppose many manufacturers already have the digital definition of their products from their cad/cam systems. The question is how many manufacturers will be willing to give that away to allow multiple users to make multiple copies without regard to trademark, patent or license. Much like the way the music industry today struggles with the unauthorized copy, use and distribution of their protected property.

As soon as the print outs can be larger and use mixed materials , a printed boat might be cheaper than a chi com slave made boat.