442much

Imagine wanting to make that rare part just in case you needed it down the road.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZboxMsSz5Aw

jensenracing77

that's incredible. in another 100 years of revisions maybe they can use aluminum and steel. hard to believe it has moving parts right out of the machine.

Dapapadon

All I can say is..... "Wow!"

Don

jpc647

The link doesn't work for me.

Oldsmaniac

My pea size brain says this isnt for real. I mean how could it be, a working part molded but working..... "does not compute" If its legit I am amazed and befuddled.

Allan R

That was actually a feature that recently ran in Jay Leno's garage on an episode of My Classic Car. Jay was using it to create hard to find or impossible to find parts for some of his antiques. He said that if he had to send out to a machine shop to make a die, it would cost about 6 or 7 large. Using this technology it costs him 200.00 for a die. Gotta wonder though how much does a printer like that cost?

pcard

They use this to print models used to create structures for bodyparts that can be coated with a patient's stem cells, put in a special medium and then transplanted with no rejection issues.

442much

And if anyone would know about Star Trek technology, it would be pcard.

allyolds68

It didn't for me either. I think this is the same one:

http://www.wham1180.com/pages/bethadams.html?page=2

joe_padavano

This bit has been all over the automotive forums in the last few weeks (after the Jay Leno feature). Sorry, but it's old news. Stereolithography has been around since the mid-1980s. The difference is that the cost of the units has dropped by a factor of 10 or more. And as for making metal parts, that technology already exists too. The DoD has been developing a system for "printing" metal parts for a couple of years now. That technology uses a laser to sinter powdered metal into a solid part. Also, you can use the plastic parts as a core to make a mold for a metal part. Finally, the electronics industry uses the plastic parts with aluminum plating (think plastic "chrome" parts) to simulate metal parts in prototype cell phones and similar devices.

lweinmunson

Check out http://www.fabathome.org/. You can get a whole 3D printer kit for about $2500 or just some of the parts to make one yourself. It's just an inkjet with a movable tray that shoots resin instead of ink. The parts typically don't come out as smooth as a commercial product, but a little sanding and they're good to go. I know that they've done some ceramic clays through these so you could probably do a mold for casting pretty easily.