tech geeks 3D Printers - My Inner Geek Wants One

[Myr]

I'm an engineer and I tend to keep current on technology.  I've been watching 3D printing for the last few years.  I can tell you that we have 3 massive 3d printers at work that are basically running 24/7.  The amount of stuff we can do with them would blow your mind.  But the interesting thing is that there is a company out there that brings the power of this stuff right to your home.

https://www.prusaprinters.org/

 

The guy in charge of our industrial grade machines has one of these at home.  As do 3 others that also use work's 3d printers.  That's a pretty big ringing endorsement for me.

 

Of course, the fact that the demo picture is printing a dragon helps

 

I plan on picking up a Prusa printer when I have completed stage 2 of my mancave project.  I need a nice temperature regulated place to keep my new printer before I go and buy it.  I figure putting it in the new workshop I'm designing and building would be the best bet.

 

Is anyone here playing with 3d printing yet?

[FormerMember4]

I personally would have little use. It’s amazing technology though. Replicating limbs at an affordable cost. A friend replicated a new part for a machine he had, long discontinued. The technology is also becoming much more affordable. Uses are endless.

[Myr]

2 minutes ago, BlindAmbition said:

Uses are endless.

They sure are.  for games like @BHopper2, you can print your own miniatures.  In fact, there is a company out there that specializes in selling you 3d models to print for gaming.

Just one of many:

http://www.fatdragongames.com/fdgfiles/?page_id=2567

 

[Brayon]

56 minutes ago, Myr said:

They sure are.  for games like @BHopper2, you can print your own miniatures.  In fact, there is a company out there that specializes in selling you 3d models to print for gaming.

Just one of many:

http://www.fatdragongames.com/fdgfiles/?page_id=2567

 

Thanks for the Head's up... I've got to check them out.

[Myr]

Now that I'm getting closer to my move, I'm looking more and more at what I want to put in my workshop.  I'm planning on renovating/building said workshop this summer and ordering a 3d printer by fall.

[Palantir]

I don't use a 3d printer myself but because I have a suspicion that with a few more advancements they will revolutionize engineering and industry, I used the idea of a future 3d printer giving an AI independence from human support as a tenet in my Mparntwe story.

[Palantir]

Good Grief! The capabilities I posited in my Mparntwe story for 3D-printers 100 years in the future are evidencing here and now.

I think this article about 3D-printing being able to reach molecular limits, as of right now, might be of interest - it sure grabbed my attention.

 

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/06/180620162430.htm

[Myr]

Yeah... science fiction is starting to get too much like work for me. lol.

[W_L]

On 7/6/2018 at 7:04 PM, Myr said:

Yeah... science fiction is starting to get too much like work for me. lol.

 

We bought 2 3D printers back in 2017 and 2018 at my work respectively, along with several metal/pastic mold attachments.

 

Like you @Myr, my context is an industrial use 3D printer, but it's more for engineering pieces than mass production.

 

An issue with mechanical parts is that you won't know how specs would operate in live environments for small runs, like say a key or piece for electronic devices. A few micons could make the difference between years of use or a few weeks of frustration.

 

I am a finance guy, but I also respect engineers for what they do. In the old days, these pieces would go out to machine shops and be tested, but in New England and many parts of US, we no longer have active machine shops with technicians, who know how to do small sample testing.

 

Yes, it is true, you can mass manufacture with a prototype piece, but getting the right specs out is much more difficult.

 

A holy grail I think in 3D printing to make it an alternative to automated assembly line production is going to be concurrent process management, if you can have a 3D printer work on many pieces at the same time, assemble at different points of completion into subassemblies, then configure sub-assemblies to be put together into assemblies, and the shell mold is seamlessly integrated, then the idea of Star Trek like "Replicators" would be possible.

 

(I glossed over the deeper concepts in my 1st book of 0's and 1's, but basically that's what you need for more advanced items)

[Thorn Wilde]

3D-printing is really cool tech. My former school has a maker space with 3D-printers and other cool stuff that I sadly didn't use enough while I went there... I'd really love to design and print my own minis for my tabletop gaming, but being able to print them isn't really enough; I'd need to learn some kind of 3D modelling software, too. So in the meantime I just use Hero Forge and they do it for me and send me the result in the mail. 

[Myr]

3d printing is fun

I have my own now.  Prusa Mk3S shipped straight from the Czech Republic.  other than an initial hiccup, it's run like a champ.

 

[W_L]

On 3/16/2019 at 12:22 PM, Myr said:

3d printing is fun

I have my own now.  Prusa Mk3S shipped straight from the Czech Republic.  other than an initial hiccup, it's run like a champ.

 

 

Cool, I'm just playing around with the Zortrax M200 at work, they're Polish 3D Printer company.

 

It's a little older now, but still usable

[Thorn Wilde]

As an aside for anyone who's into tabletop gaming and also has access to 3d printing: Hero Forge, whom I mentioned before, now has an option for just paying for a 3d model of the mini you designed and printing it yourself.