On Wed, 5 Oct 2011 17:15:23 -0400, "Twayne"
wrote:

In ,
John typed:
I'm about to pull the trigger on getting a 3d printer,
and I was just wondering if any other woodworkers had
used one? I'm thinking it would compliment the woodshop
in that would allow me to easily make those finicky
little things that seem to take forever otherwise
(clasps, pulls, specialized shelf-supports, runners, jig
parts, etc). Of course I haven't gotten one yet, and I
really can't tell how strong/ accurate these things are
but I'd love to hear from someone who's ahead of me in
this

John

What do you mean by a 3-D printer? One that prnts in 3-D or one that will
actually model somethng in real world the object beng printed (sort of an
NCS output bed? The latter are very expensive and the former you still need
the colored glasses to see the 3-D. Or have I missed completely?


3D printers print incredibly thin layers of glue and spread a layer of
whatever "powder" they build with on the laid down glue lines.

This allows you to build something in very thin, finely detailed
layers.

How strong/durable the end product will be is determined by the
materials used (glue and powder).

Never played with one of these, but you can find demos on youtube and
there's a "How It's Made" or "How Do They Do It" episode that shows a
3D printer used to make a model of something (memory is the second
thing to go; don't remember what's first ;-)

John