On 26/12/2014 17:58, Theo Markettos wrote:
polygonum wrote:
On 25/12/2014 20:09, Brian Gaff wrote:
The thing is though, How does one get the data about the part into the
system? Is there a 3D scanner as well?
Brian

There certainly are 3D scanners. However, I suspect that a lot of items
are designed in software and that design simply put into a form that a
3D printer can use.

True. But what's the chance of getting the CAD file for that thing in my
20 year old dishwasher? Or the 'funny clippy bit' on my bike? Call up the
manufacturer and ask?

CAD is the biggest problem IMHO. It's fine to design simple objects, but
most of the things I want to build with a 3D printer aren't simple. The
'funny clippy bit' has a particular rounded shape in order to clip, and I
can't just duplicate that with cubes and spheres and extruded outlines.

For 2D stuff I've had good results by flatbed scanning the thing I want it
to mate with (eg the holes on a PCB) and dropping the output PDF (which is
correctly scaled) into my design for laser cutting. But getting complex
curved surfaces 3D scanned, and then turning them into printable meshes, is
somewhat trickier.

Theo

I think there will probably be a lot of informal swapping of "drawings".
Let me rephrase that: I hope there will be a lot of informal swapping...
Doing the 3D design of everything I might want to 3D print would be a
big overhead. But contributing back the odd one to the pool would be
within reach.

I worry about the various intellectual rights issues that will
inevitably occur.

--
Rod