3 D Printer?

Check it out,
Take note of the Crower Glide Clutch in the video.
Pause @0.55.
Think this is a scam?

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

 

Not a scam, there are several companys that make them. Every printer uses their own method of getting the job done, and they all have their advantages. I have been getting a lot of stuff done on a similar unit that basicly builds everything out of a thin spool of plastic one layer at a time.

 

Do you think that is the way they make a Glock Hand gun?
if it's real can they use carbon fiber instead of the plastic, and make an engine out of carbon fiber, Then put steel cylinders in it? I see an engine block in the video, is it possible?

 

Yep, they're real. I' ve seen one that is called a laser sintering machine that made 3D parts out of titanium. Pretty neat machines.

 

3D printers

They are very accurate machines, I can think of many situations where I could use one in my shop, it would be really cool to "print" a new rocker arm and related components in a few hours, straight from my solid models!


www.reidmachine.com

 

Honestly I am not 100% sure. *There are a ton of different rapid prototyping machines and they all use different technology. *I don't think carbon fiber would as strong as one might expect. *Carbon fiber gains its strength from the inner weaving of all of the strands, it would be really hard to replicate this process using rapid prototyping technology. *We have played around with injection molding things from a carbon based plastic and they ended up being much more brittle and weaker then Nylon counterparts.

** I have worked a little with a*stereolithography machine before which uses a light sensitive resin that is then hardened by a UV lazier building parts in .003 layers. *The parts once polished are almost clear. *I have heard of engineering teems using this process to create intake manifolds that can then be dyno tested. *One advantage is that you can see into the manifold as it is in operation. * It was my understanding that they worked well in testing but could not be used over and over again,

All of these technologies are very useful for prototyping but depending on the the type can be very expensive. *If you'er looking for a fully functional part you have to step back and analyze if a particular method is really more affordable *or better then traditional manufacturing processes. *The wrench they built in the video may work to hand tighten that nut, but I wouldn't rely on it to torque my rod bolts with.....

If your just looking for a plastic model or mock up to test fit and finish some of these processes are a great way to go.

 

Ditto
For proto-type and fit / motion checks, the technology is perfect, especially when you can do the entire assembly, think: head, valves, rockers, stands, etc.

Then, throw in a variable or three, such as valve length, shaft position, roller/nose position, valve angle, ratio.

Just a few random thoughts.

www.reidmachine.com

 

We have a couple 3D printing machines where I work. I use them alot for hardware development. They will create a part from a CAD solid model. You can also build an integrated assembly of multiple parts. The largest assembly I have done had over 10,000 integrated parts. It prints out with whatever colors you have created in the model and you can also imbed images and lettering on surfaces of the parts that will print out. I have also used it create on time molds with complex surfaces. This process is becoming more prevalent in the industry and the types of materials that can be printed are increasing.

Laser sintering is another exciting process. This process also "grows" parts from a CAD solid model. We have been using this process to develop titanium parts that are virtually non machinable because of intricate and hidden surfaces, imagine hollow parts with no opennings. I have seen titanium rods and rocker arms that have been "grown". They had internal oiling passages in them that could not be conventionally machined. These machines use powdered metal technology. We are doing some testing on material properties comparing this to machined billet parts. Right now there is a size limitation for what you can grow in one of these machines, but one of the companies we spoke to recently is in the process of building a machine large enough to build a single lung engine block.

Greg

 

We have a FDM (fused deposition modeling) 3D printer here at work. It prints in .010 thick layers of ABS material. We use it for prototype parts and custom fixtures for the production floor. It is time consuming, a duplicate of a rocker arm would probably take three hours or so to build. It certainly has limitations, but it one of many options out there, where you can get great accuracy at the expense of strength, or clear or rubbery materials. Our machine will build within a 10" x 10" x 12" envelope, and cost around $35K to purchase. Material runs around $5 a cubic inch.

We have also used the laser sintering process Greg talked about to build a few very intricate parts from stainless, where the sintered piece price was cheaper than machining (we only needed 4 parts). We farmed that work out to one of our injection molders who has a metal laser sintering machine in house. They use it quite often to do impossible to machine parts for use in mold tooling.

Chris Saulnier

Gray, Maine