Called it long time ago here it is.
- Thread starter Rent Free
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I have worked with 3d printers prototyping some equipment I've designed for work.
I have seen an entire Briggs & Stratton 2 cylinder engine printed in one pass with all parts assembled and color coded by type - i.e. rings red, pistons gray, connecting rod bolts black, etc.
Babbit type bearings and you could unscrew the connecting rod bolts. Rings were free on the pistons. All parts were there in one printing and all could be disassembled and reassembled.
Now this was just a prototype - i.e. non durable parts - but it proved the printers' function and it is a short step to switch to sintered metal type printers and make a running engine.
I have seen an entire Briggs & Stratton 2 cylinder engine printed in one pass with all parts assembled and color coded by type - i.e. rings red, pistons gray, connecting rod bolts black, etc.
Babbit type bearings and you could unscrew the connecting rod bolts. Rings were free on the pistons. All parts were there in one printing and all could be disassembled and reassembled.
Now this was just a prototype - i.e. non durable parts - but it proved the printers' function and it is a short step to switch to sintered metal type printers and make a running engine.
The GE 3d printed Jet engine project is way ahead of this........
But yes as you point out it really wouldn't be that hard to actually do.
Agreed! It is so convenient for me to just whip a prototype up in Solidworks real quick, export to STL file, upload to Shapeways, and receive the printed part that I designed a week later!
Here soon I plan to purchase my own 3D printer, but it will have to be capable of outputting professional grade items. The consumer units just aren't quite up to par just yet when it comes to outputting parts in a high enough resolution using durable enough materials. In time, I will eventually add a CNC mill and CNC lathe to my workshop collection. Making things is just too cool.
This was a topic a couple years ago already. It has been done and done well....
3D-Printed Stainless Steel .45 Caliber Handgun - Business Insider
this is why its stupid to go to mars instead of building a toehold on the moon, which would actually do something for humanity.
there's no cheap way to do it fer sure but it'd be cheaper if the moon was our orbiting industrial park.
1/6th G and fantastic seismic stability means you could build a large relativly lightweight 3d printer and print a spaceship, boom, we go'n ta maws
there's no cheap way to do it fer sure but it'd be cheaper if the moon was our orbiting industrial park.
1/6th G and fantastic seismic stability means you could build a large relativly lightweight 3d printer and print a spaceship, boom, we go'n ta maws
AGREED! There are so many things that additive manufacturing can do that subtractive simply cannot. I know it is pretty good so far, but I really look forward to the time when items can be printed with perfect resolution on end user machines.
I'd like to see us make it to mars eventually but I also think it's a better to start with a colony on the moon first.
Send a couple robots like from the movie interstellar, some 3D printers and solar panels and have them build a base before humans arrive.
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