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3D printing - a home production revolution?


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To be fair - my parts are going on flying models. If anyone can tell the difference between my 150 micron accuracy and 10 micron accuracy when the it's being flown, I'll eat my hat laugh

My radial took less than 15 minutes to design, and less than 10 minutes to clean up with fine paper. Even less than that if I'd have used a levelling agent like XTC3D.

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I am reasonable at CAD and have a reasonable 3D package, although I am looking to get devCAD/CAM at some point, if I can use a 3D printer to make the 4 1930's era Russian MG's for one model, along with custome pilots and other various bits, then its feels worthwhile to me.

I'd even be tempted to challenge myself to building an aircraft entirely out of 3D printed parts, like airfix, but flying.

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Andy - thinking a bit bigger than that - maybe 1/6th scale Lancaster, the internal structure of the fuselage might be ideal to copy over and rework into the wings....

But as I am unlikely to have £200 spare for the foreseeable future then I'm going to concentrate on other projects for now....

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  • 5 months later...

Cost of the raw material is often cited as a reason for not 3D printing, however plastic is not the only material you can use. Wood powder, flour and even sugar can all be 3D printed. It would certainly speed up the manufacture of plugs for vacforming or a fibrerglass cowling. A couple of coats of sanding sealer rubbed down would make a huge difference on most 3D wood parts.

**LINK**

A wooden 'model glider' being printed here:

**LINK**

At my last work they were 3D printing complex air ducting parts for aircraft galleys. These were the final article, not just prototypes or models.

In aviation terms, we are at the 'pre-First World War' stage with 3D printing, so expect massive advances in the next few years.

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I am on the Amazon Vine program. They gave me a Dremel Ideas Builder. I am very impressed with it allthings considered.

I have not managed to get onto pne of the design programs yet and would really like to find someone who could scan ME in my local area. South west Suffolk

This printer costs £850 and looks pretty good.

dsc00290.jpg

Pilots come from the Dremel website

Edited By Peter Miller on 14/01/2016 14:21:05

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  • 1 month later...
Posted by Olly P on 18/06/2013 09:43:10:

OK, resurrecting an old thread, but this place reckons they can make them for $297 US.

I know they are only at kickstarter at the moment, but very, very tempting, resolution of 0.2mm, that is pretty good - how easy would it be to print a detailed scale pilot??

Maybe once they are into production 'properly' I will invest.....

LINK to kickstarter page

Edited By Olly P on 18/06/2013 09:43:36

I'm Quoting myself here, but thought I would let people know that this KS project has not delivered, and a large number of backers are looking for there money back. I nearly invested, and am quite glad I held back.

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I'll be buying a 3D printer sometime this year, there's no end to the uses I hope to use it for, though it will be quite small scale stuff.

As for the future, they will be as common as TVs and microwaves. Instead of warehouses full of physical objects there will be data warehouses frull of 3D plans. When you need something new or to replace a broken part you will donload the data and print it. Of course there will probably still be a cost in the down load but it's an attractive business model.

Ian

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For really small details (3" cube) Hobbyking have one in stock in the UK warehouse for £130.

Ok so this is not going to be aerospace quality, but the prints look useable.

Sure we would all like a sintered metal printer, but for the cost this thermo extrusion machine could be worth a punt.

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BBC - that's what I'm doing already yes I've made detail kits for a Skywalker, B24, A10, Mig3, Me109, FW190, Mig29, DH Beaver etc etc. Doesn't take long to print, but most of the skill and time is taken up in the design stage.

The HK cube one is pretty good for the money, but you don't have to spend a whole lot more to get a bigger print area, more capability, more accuracy.

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I do not envisage that I will ever buy a 3d printer.

The reasons being, the capital outlay, the time required to learn to operate the thing, the space required and the anticipated rate of usage.

On the other hand i can see that some of the items that potentially could be produced are quite significant. Many of which are time consuming to make yourself and expensive to purchase if say moulded.

One of the great advantages of CAM is that changing the size of an object is just a scaler change. Which contrasts with a conventional moulded item, requiring new moulds and all the investment implied, often for a limited market.

There does seem room here for a small cottage business for someone, where items such as Wright whirlwind engines, BMW Radial, and so many more items could economically be produced to a customers specific size. We have seen pilots, yet I think there is potentially much more that is possible.

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Dave, I thought that the very purpose of 3D printing was to be able to design things or share files, and print your own things at home. That 'ShapeWays' web-site you've linked to seems to sell things (at very high prices) that other people have already printed. I thought it might let you download the design/file for a small fee but it doesn't. What's the point of that?

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  • 4 weeks later...

I managed to spend some time last night seting this up (in the kitchen, so it'll have to move tonight). Printed a little stress test to see what the capabilities are and fine tune. next I need to print some upgrade parts for the printer itself as I think it could be a lot better with some minor tweeks and bits, then models and parts for them here we come!

I might even use this as the bass to make a bigger printer as I'd love a larger print envelope.

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