3D printers - our Star Trek replicators? (photos)

Talkback

• No yet there!

  These printers can contruct 3D objects but cannot duplicate material properties. They have been common in engineering departments for years. They ARE neat (but expensive) toys!

  

  kd5auq

  5 October, 2011 08:08

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• 3d printers (laser sintering) can make stainless steel parts

  we use them in our business. definitely not toys.

  

  stevey_d

  5 October, 2011 14:42

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• use solidworks or pro/engineer (now called creo) to design your part

  you can also get a 3d scanner to capture a part - these are quite cheap. You could capture - edit, print of course. (repair that old worn part). can't make everything - you probably wouldn't want to make a bearing surface that needs to last a long time for example. But some of the shapes you can make you can't make any other way. (eg: parts completely contained by other parts).
  And you get color plastic 3d printers.

  

  stevey_d

  5 October, 2011 14:46

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• the food printer - very interesting (coke freestyle)

  I guess you could flavour different parts of say chocolate using something like the coke freestyle flavour engine:
  http://www.springwise.com/food_beverage/cokefreestyle/

  

  stevey_d

  5 October, 2011 14:58

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• ModelMaker

  A 3D printer option out of the market that I recently came across is a machine called the ModelMaker. The machine has two target markets, education and geo. I haven't done much research of the company, 2BOT, but this is the basic information on the ModelMaker: www.2bot.com/product-info

  

  bcarl1

  6 October, 2011 10:19

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