On Thu, 28 Feb 2013 12:30:38 -1000, dsi1
wrote:

On 2/28/2013 12:08 PM, Ed Huntress wrote:
On Thu, 28 Feb 2013 11:07:55 -1000, dsi1
wrote:

On 2/28/2013 10:56 AM, jon_banquer wrote:
On Feb 28, 12:49 pm, dsi1 wrote:
On 2/28/2013 10:31 AM, jon_banquer wrote:

Your guess would be wrong. 3D printing is the most over-hyped
technology I know of.

My guess is that your guess would be wrong. 3D printing is going to
change our relationship to manufactured objects. All of a sudden we'll
be able to create things ourselves. We won't have to hire guys with
hammers, saws, and chisels. So there! :-)

I'm not wrong. It will be many years before 3D printing can print
autobody panels.

Like I said, 3D printing is the most over-hyped technology I'm aware
of. Suggest you start doing some investigating and read what those who
have been in 3D printing business for years have to say about all the
over-hyped bull****. 3D printing certainly has its place. Printing
autobody panels isn't one of them and it won't be anytime soon.


I'm willing to wait to see who's right. This discussion is over. BTW, I
never said that mass produced objects will be manufactured with 3D
printing. That's an idiotic notion.

Where the technology stands now, is he You can make plastic parts.
If they have extremes of thickness (or thinness, actually), they
aren't very good. That includes body panels. It's just not suited for
those radical differences in dimension, from one axis to another.

You can make metal parts. I have one that I photographed for a
magazine cover over ten years ago. They involve using powdered metal
in a polymer matrix, and they then have to be sintered. The same
dimensional issues apply, and the nature of the shapes make it
impossible to get good density without (a) losing accuracy, and (b)
using special alloys that give you good densification but high cost or
low strength, or both.

You can make casting models, mostly out of plastic. These serve as
patterns and cores for investment casting, which you're not going to
be able to do on your kitchen table. g

Where is it going? I don't do a lot of predicting, but I think it's
hit a plateau in terms of dimensional and strength capability. From
here, we need some kind of breakthrough. Prices keep falling, but
capabilities haven't moved much.

If you read the general-press articles, you'd think you can
manufacture anything in your spare bedroom. Even the trade press that
covers the subject writes about it in what I would call "intoxicated"
terms.

It just ain't there yet, and there's no clear path showing how to get
there.


I agree, we ain't there and it's gonna take some time to get up to
speed. What I don't understand is people that can only see things within
their very narrow frame of reference. They can only see the things the
new technology can't do.

Nobody could have imagined the possibilities of the aircraft and the
automobile at the beginning of the 20th century. Those early developers
had their detractors too from people with small imaginations. It's the
story of new tech.

Ok, but remember you're ralking to some people here on RCM who have a
good knowledge of manufacturing engineering, and who probably have a
broader view of "additive manufacturing" (the broader category of
which "3D printing" is a part, at the low end). We've followed it, and
we understand materials science, and some have good knowledge of the
related computer technologies, including CAD and CAM.

They're the ones who tend to be skeptical about the gushy enthusiasm.
There are physical and cost limitations to the processes involved. We
may know about flying-beam 3D laser sintering. And we know what it
costs.

We're also wary of anything that sounds like the inevitability of
having a helicopter in every garage. d8-)

--
Ed Huntress