3d-printing

Topic: 3d-printing (Read 1914 times) previous topic - next topic

3d-printing

March 12, 2013, 01:56:39 PM

So a lot of guys here do a lot of different things for a living; does anybody or has anybody done any work with 3d-printing?

I was thinking about the parts we're all perpetually hunting for, and it seems like most of the ones I could think of were made from plastic. What if we could print these parts?

Clear plastic parts might present some sort of challenge, and so would chrome parts, but if a guy here knew about plating or plastics, we could overcome that.

Just wondering.

3d-printing

Reply #1 – March 12, 2013, 05:32:31 PM

I've got an extruder based 3d printer which has been quite useful so far.
havn't used it for anything on the tbird yet, but i will.

just need someone to do the hard work building the 3d model of relevant parts and away ya go.

3d-printing

Reply #2 – March 12, 2013, 07:03:40 PM

i thought about the 3D printing thing too...then I remembered that my neighbor does plastic work.

3d-printing

Reply #3 – March 12, 2013, 08:36:49 PM

If anyone had some dwgs I could model it in V5.

3d-printing

Reply #4 – March 12, 2013, 09:16:18 PM

Aren't the 3D printed products pretty rough? I thought they need a lot of finishing work.

3d-printing

Reply #5 – March 12, 2013, 10:09:00 PM

Who wants to print me a spare 87-88 LX badge in case the one on my Thunderbird ever falls off?

3d-printing

Reply #6 – March 12, 2013, 10:24:48 PM

has anyone seen this:
http://www.wired.com/autopia/2013/02/3d-printed-car/

or this:
http://jalopnik.com/5938012/first-3d+printed-racecar-is-real-and-real-fast

I would like to be able to 3d print interior pieces for our cars - new dash, center console, etc.

3d-printing

Reply #7 – March 12, 2013, 11:35:41 PM

Quote from: Seek;411091

Aren't the 3D printed products pretty rough? I thought they need a lot of finishing work.

Depends on the type of 3d printer used.

but the typical home use 3d printer needs a bit of finishing work.

3d-printing

Reply #8 – March 17, 2013, 04:29:53 PM

I could see replicating trim pieces, but trim with the fake grain look would be about impossible, even with a .1mm resolution printer. If you didn't need a fake leather grain, though, I bet you could do well. At sxsw this year, the makerbot guys showed off a new 3d scanner for digitizing parts. With one of those, we could really get started.

3d-printing

Reply #9 – March 20, 2013, 04:42:51 PM

Quote from: EFFalcon;411080

I've got an extruder based 3d printer which has been quite useful so far.
havn't used it for anything on the tbird yet, but i will.

just need someone to do the hard work building the 3d model of relevant parts and away ya go.

What kinda printer do you have?

Don't know how I missed this thread...

You can get tiny resolutions for the printer, which will look fine from a distance. But there will be a few small lines that you could sand or even just paint over. With our reprap, i'd call the job fine even for commercial use. Were actually selling some of our battery boxes we made up for model airplanes in a local hobby shop.

What most guys do is just dip the part in acetone for a second, or clean it up with a cotton swab.

3d-printing

Reply #10 – March 20, 2013, 05:47:39 PM

Solidoodle2

if you were serious about reproducting parts, i don't think you'd 3d print them anyway.
you might do a couple as prototypes.

but ultimately the best choice would be to mould & cast the items after the print has been perfected.

unless of course you only planned on doing a hand full, or the part was too complex to be moulded.

3d-printing

Reply #11 – March 20, 2013, 08:50:24 PM

Now that my dads gotten decent at drafting and we have our sizes correct, we can build functional parts first print.

Its nice for little brackets and trinkets for model airplanes. I can go from draft to the part quicker then I could drive to the hobby shop and back. You can build an entire tray (reprap is about 12", about 10" useable) in about 45 minutes. Right now I'm working on some more custom battery boxes and landing gear mounts to slip over a 10mm carbon fiber shaft I'm using as a fuse.

My favorite part is that I can beef up and re-build and re-design parts on the fly that are better then stock. Changing the in fil also allows you to build them light.