Ivan
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| posted on 24/4/12 at 10:40 AM |
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Printed metal - how strong is it?
Saw this - and wandered just how strong in bending the aluminium and stainless steel is or would it be brittle - could dream up a thousand uses for
it.
http://www.shapeways.com/materials
A wonderful service with endless possibilities - wish it was available in SA
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SeaBass
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| posted on 24/4/12 at 10:56 AM |
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As it is sintered it basically made up from a powder that's fused by laser. How successfully is not clear.
They probably have material specs for it somwhere.
I would think it was very brittle and subject to fracturing in a similar fashion to cast iron etc.
JC
[Edited on 24/4/12 by SeaBass]
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Mr Whippy
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| posted on 24/4/12 at 11:05 AM |
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They make gas turbine blades this way so it must be extremely strong
the future of manfacture, fantastic stuff like something out of startrek right now, there are youtube vids of the process
[Edited on 24/4/12 by Mr Whippy]
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SeaBass
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| posted on 24/4/12 at 11:32 AM |
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I've just looked at the site again...
It gives you the material specs on the page.
Compare those to a piece of the solid material.
JC
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Ivan
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| posted on 24/4/12 at 11:36 AM |
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I think the first thing to make would be Aluminium gearshift lever with Cobra engraved in it and layered black ceramic and polished aluminium knob.
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Slimy38
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| posted on 24/4/12 at 12:41 PM |
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A nice bit of text at the bottom;
quote:
Warning: Please note that the 3D printing materials we use for manufacturing the designs make the products suitable only for decorative purposes and
they are not suited for any other purpose. The products are not suited to be used as toys, to be given to children. The products should not come in
contact with electricity or food & drink and should be kept away from any heat sources.
Although that may just be a standard 'get out' clause?
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loggyboy
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| posted on 24/4/12 at 01:11 PM |
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A320 Airbus's engine bay hinges must be pretty structural:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmxjLpu2BvY&feature=related
Mistral Motorsport
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D Beddows
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| posted on 24/4/12 at 01:33 PM |
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I think the dire warnings are mostly because they're selling things to Americans 
Give it a couple of years though and I think it will have come on leaps and bounds in terms of what you can afford to get made on a DIY budget! If I
had a fair amount of investment capitol I know what I'd be doing with it at the moment though, 3D printing is going to be absolutely HUGE.
You also wonder what it's going to do to the Chinese as well, no matter how little you pay someone you still have to pay them something/let them
sleep/eat at some point, plus there's changing tooling etc etc - a 3D printer on the other hand...
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