Check out this video, wouldn't it be surreal to pull an intricate carbon fiber component out of your 3D printer?

http://blogs.forbes.com/richkarlgaard/2011/06/23/3d-printing-will-revive-american-manufacturing/

Nosedragger wrote:Check out this video, wouldn't it be surreal to pull an intricate carbon fiber component out of your 3D printer?http://blogs.forbes.com/richkarlgaard/2011/06/23/3d-printing-will-revive-american-manufacturing/

Structural performance of materials often depends on grain structure or fiber orientation. You may be able to print a 3D connecting rod out of 5 million layers of plastic "ink", but printing a metal rod that will take the stress of running in an engine is another thing. It is not understandable to me how they can get strength out of a material that is deposited in zillions of little pieces.

3D printing rocks - a friend of mine is a photographer, who often gets non-functional prototypes to create the marketing images before production starts. He got a pistol a couple years ago with the warning to load no more than 10 rounds at a time in the magazine, because it was a 3D-printed proof of concept, and they didn't have the tooling to make the actual magazine finished yet. When firing it, I had a few grumbles about it - and two days later, a next-day FedEx package arrived with new 3D-printed parts to swap out and fix the few issues I and more experienced shooters reported. The responsiveness to our reports impressed me, but the speed of turnaround impressed me a whole lot more.

As for producing a connecting rod using material additive manufacturing, it's already being done with silicon carbide. Just very expensive as yet (for tooling and energy). The class of materials is called a metal-metal composite.

But you can do a version of this on your own coffee table:

http://reprap.org/wiki/Main_Page
http://www.makerbot.com/

The Z-printer is also a great tool. You make the parts you want out of a bindable powder using inkjet technology, use it as a scaffold to infuse with resin, and you have real-world parts.

Jr.CubBuilder wrote:
the guy from Autodesk is talking about is visionary.

The idea of making manufacturing cheaper and bringing it back here, rather than farming it out to China, is going to be a key part in the future independence of this country.

Absolutely agreed! I just do not have an understanding of how they will spray or deposit a carbon fiber spar cap with a continuous fiber running lengthwise.

(lengthy rant on protecting American manufacturing deleted)

Six years ago my son and I visited Embry Riddle to see if he would like to go there. One of their labs we toured was already teaching how to do 3D printing. It was one of the reasons leading to his decision to attend. Remarkable technology!

Our company, Leptron Industrial Robotic Helicopters, has a 3D printer. We use it to prototype new parts and also for many production parts due to the strength and light weight of the parts. There are several types of material that can be used including plastics, fiber carbon/plastic combo, pvc and titanium. We use mostly pvc with added strengtheners. The material looks a lot like weed wacker string, comes in just about any color and is extreemly strong. Yes, we make helicopter parts from it.

A 3D printer bearing:

Parts? Heck, I'm going to print me up a carbon cub!

GroundLooper wrote:Parts? Heck, I'm going to print me up a carbon cub!

Yep, I'm already printing up a new 470 Oh wait...... make that a Pponk