On 7/6/2011 9:15 PM, jim wrote:
Phil Kangas wrote:

I never thought I'd see the day when something
like this could be done! Amazing, to me anyway...
phil k.

http://www.wimp.com/functionaltools/

I think they are overstating the strength of material

With the Zcorp process, that wrench would be about as strong as if it
were made of wood. And that is the strongest and most expensive
material. The typical Zcorp printed material is similar to styrofoam.

They do have another process that will print out sand molds that are
then filled with molten metal to make metal castings. But then there
would be some machining before you had a finished wrench

-jim

They do play to the audience a bit.

The videos imply that a simple visual scanner can identify moving parts,
such as the separate parts of a wrench. I'd have to think there was some
CAD editing done in there, off-camera.

Also they like to overstate the use of print-on-demand as a method of
mass-production manufacturing. This mthod is fantastic for prototyping
and mold-making but it's a very slow and wasteful method for actual
production of identical parts. ...And will be (slow and wasteful) for
quite a while.

Eventually it will happen, but my guess is it will be quite some number
of years before you see 3D-printed items sitting on any store shelves in
your town.

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Also,,, the idea is not quite new.
At least as far back as the 1960's they tried to use MIG welders to do
pretty much the same thing--"draw" 3-D shapes directly with metal. It
worked but the results were not ideal. The only 'common' use that came
out of it was the hardfacing machines used to resurface tracked
bulldozer and crane wheels, AFAIK.