3D Printers

[Bedfordcrazy]

Hi Guys, this is  for the tech heads on here. The other night i was watching a car show on tv. Anyhow they had this old caddy with rare tail lights, so they used a 3D printer to make an EXACT replica of the lights, down to the little dimples. I was looking at our beddy tail light lenses, and they are getting harder to find, why not someone on here start making and selling them to members who want original looking parts for their van. B4 you ask, i would love to be the one, but i can never work out how to programme the parts into the computer, i would have to pay someone to come out every time i want to make something till i got my head around it. Jaycar are selling printers for $1,200-00 now.

On another note, does anyone know if there is a business in brissy doing 3D printing yet, if so a contact number would be great.

george

[mezzmo]

Here you go George - follow this link, i just purchased a pair of rear taillight lenses and housings complete for $161.00 including postage. and they fit like a bum in a bucket mate - brilliant!

http://stores.ebay.com.au/STREETLENS-low-volume-manufacturer?_trksid=p2047675.l2563

Hope this helps

Mezz

[SkippyThBushKangeroo]

cheers guys  interesting , as  a pair of 69 inter panelvan  lenses are harder to find than  dinosaur droppings  ..   only ones i have  are on 3rd repair, n aussie post lost the only ones i  ever found .. 

[ben]

make sure you do your research before throwing yourself into the 3d printer market.. i was really keen on idea until i read an article from a guy who had a 3d printing business. from memory he was saying the finish on anything he produced wernt great and needed work also the parts were weak because your making something in lots of layers instead of all at once.

im not even sure where i read the article now.

my 2 bob

ben

[Bedfordcrazy]

Hi Guys, not sure about bens article, or how old it was, but from what i understand, the plastics and stuff now are pretty good. The lights i saw on tv could not be picked from the original. This is where the experts come into there own, depending on how good the design going into the pc is, i guess depends on how good the finished product is. As for strength, someone made up a set of mirrors for their car and they  are as strong and steady as the factory ones. I suspect in the next 1 to 2 years every home will have a 3d printer like we all have a paper printer. Interesting times.

george

[Sundownernz]

Hi guys,

3D printing is ripping ahead leaps and bounds at the moment. I have 3 of the cheaper units here at work and have made a few bits for my van out of ABS with no problems. We're also playing around with metal sintering machines, mainly using titanium. But as you're aware there are many types of printers hitting the market and the cheaper ones are limited in what they can produce, the material they run and the quality, mainly finish, that they provide. To run tail light lenses you need to run good quality clear plastics to a very high finish so you're looking at a high end SLA type machine around $100K ish. These could be run off at a 3D printing bureau with the right equipment for probably $100 though.

Apart from machine time you also need to be able to produce a 3D CAD model of the part you want to print so the printer has a part file to work from. I use Solidworks to produce mine but that's another cost to factor in as well, unless you can pluck the correct file off the net somewhere. So far I've produced some interior dash parts, mounts for a roof spoiler, rear reversing light surrounds, front LED running light surrounds and am working on indicator light mounts to fit into my side mirrors. Anything can be done, you just need to know who to talk to. Getting an accurate CAD model is the key.

I'm also working on a 3d surface CAD model of a CF Bedford van and hope to be able to 3d print a body shell at some stage soon.

Cheers,
Garry.   

[Bedfordcrazy]

Right on the money Garry. It's the cad that would tangle me up. you need to know what your doing. Do you have pics of the parts you have printed Garry, be interested to see the end result.

george

[Guyus]

Hey Garry, so, when does Solid Works get easier! farrrout currently doing a course at tafe. love to see some pics of your s.works.

[Sundownernz]

Hey Guyus.

Hope your course is going well. I find Solidworks pretty easy. It's far more intuitive than AutoCAD and is a pretty cool piece of software. It's amazing what you can actually do with it although you come across the odd bug here and there that can be pretty frustrating.

I'll sort out some pics of some of the bits I've made up so you can get an idea of what can be done with CAD and 3D printing.

Cheers,
Garry.

[ben]

hey george i read the article about 9 months ago so i guess things are rapidly changing these days.

if you compare 3d printers to bread makers this is what i think will happen. lots of people will go and buy them and realize that its actually a bit of work to produce nice stuff/nice bread and end up paying someone in the end/ back to buying bread from the bakery again lol.

having said that i have my own bread maker, i make bread usually 3 times a week, its more healthy than the stuff at woolies fills me up and its the same price as the rubbish quality bread:)

ben