Folks Of Interest any interest in 3D printing

I've been entertaining the getting a 3D printer and doing some design and part making. I have AutoDesk Inventor on my laptop already and a background in CAD and design. I'm not going to limit my self to just car parts, but also prototyping, model car parts etc....Right now I'm putting my feelers out to see what market there is for this kind of service.

 

Check out the thread on the guy making 35/36 Ford waterfalls

 

There's been discussion here about it.

The funny thing is, I still haven't ever made a 3d printed part. My kids and brother have, but not me. Maybe it's because I mess with old cars? There just always seems to be a "better" way to do what I want to do, than to have to use a computer to make it.

 

That's the way we built hot rods in the old days !!! " right " ?

 

I've been watching a guy use one on a speedster forum and I have to say it's impressive. It might not be what you want for an actual part, but for making the blank for a plaster mold for casting it's great. He also makes the plastic part before he starts machining one since he can actually try it for fit before he starts milling. He says it saves him hours of machine time and fewer castoffs since he doesn't have to make Plan B out of steel or aluminum. Is it the traditional way? No, but most of us aren't painting our cars in cellulose lacquer either.

 

I have access to commercial-grade 3D printers at work.

I can print in PLA, pull a mold, and cast any aluminum part that you can imagine. Not cheap, though.

Mostly we use them for trim pieces in prototypes, or proofs, before machining.

 

There is definitely a market for the right part(s). I would concentrate on small parts no longer available. A few years ago, a guy at work retired, and took it up. I was amazed at what he was creating in a short time.

 

I have a 100 dollar bill that you can make me a pickup truck load of.

 

I also have access to a few at work and some guys I work with have used it for misc. prototype parts prior to paying for tooling on production parts to check fit and function. I have yet to think of any hot rod parts I need from it, but I’m sure there could be some. A couple guys I work with bought smaller ones and are making a few gun-related parts they are selling which quickly paid for the investment.

 

I'd say that it is all about what you are used to using and how far your imagination runs.
Some of us scavenge up pieces of MFD board and then shape prototype piece out of it before figuring out how we are going to make it out of metal. Some guys just whittle it out of metal and toss the rejects in the scrap bin and now some will do a cad program and 3D print the piece and go out and test fit it and then either machine it out of metal or in some cases use the printed piece.
Guys tend to scoff but wouldn't a hot rodder right after WWII have used the latest and trickest tools he could get his hands on if he had them available rather than using basic tools. We as rodders have always taken advantage of what we had access to to build or hot rods. That might have meant using your granddad's belt driven drill press rather than a 1/4 inch electric drill or doing some favors for the guy with the gas station down the street so you could use his hoist when he wasn't busy with it rather than rolling around in the dirt in your driveway.

 

Make me a 1/8 scale 324 Olds Rocket please.....

 

Doesn't 3D printing cost more to make the part than buying it?

 

Possibly. If the part that you want is available, otherwise, not an issue.

 

Here's a couple of examples of some solid models that I put together from some old drawings that I found online.

 

I would need the rest of the parts that go with your bottom picture , topher5150 .

 

I would like to know if it is economical to do, or have done. I have a 51 Henry J marker light I would like to replace, but it is not reproduced.

 

I started using AutoDesk/Fusion 360 a year or so ago, and was amazed at how easy it was to use. There are some good vids on YT to get you started. I just wish I had the time to pursue it further.

 

I was thinking about doing large scale model parts too.

Now I just need to figure out rates

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Plenty of market for obsolete tail lights and marker lights. When Ya Gotta Have Em, You Gotta Have Em!

 

I need some 1/8 scale ‘47 Chevy tail lights pleeze.....

 

I'm thinking it might be nice to make intake manifolds...........

 

I agree that it's great for making moulds, but actual parts like plastic tail lights can't be made from what I've seen.
The parts produced are kind of porous and translucent, not clear and sharply defined. Of course the technology continually improves.

Years ago I read how Jay Leno had plastic patterns made for an intricate steam car engine part which were then used to cast a part in iron. The car had been "waiting" for this obsolete part for a century or so, so it was quite exciting to get the new casting and have the old beast run again.

 

It's a market that is getting easier to get into and at the same time much more competitive. You have to have a big and accurate printer that is able to shoot many different materials if your going to do work for John Q Public....the home based printers are OK to play with but you're going to have a pretty good investment in one that will put out good parts quickly.

We have a couple large printers at work for our prototypes, proof of concept designs, etc.

For more precise parts, production work and metal (we do a lot of 316 stainless) we use these guys.

https://www.protolabs.com/services/3d-printing/

It takes a lot of time to make one part with a middle of the road printer....hours....a day sometimes with the home grade equipment.

My son has one he picked up for a few hundred bucks and is playing around with it. Can do trim parts, doo dads and odd ball items that dont need to be strong or super pretty. The materials have their limitations....but if you work within them the parts do OK.

Get one....play with it and test it out see what you can do and see who wants to pay cash for your time and work.....ita the American way!







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Spoiler-not a car part. My son was in Key West with his buds (bachelor party) and they had miniature models of themselves made with a 360 degree camera system and then laser printed. Wife's first view when he sent a picture of them-she didn't get it. "Why are they just standing there?" not realizing it was the 4" high rendition of them right down to the matching Hawian (sp) shirts. Detail was fantastic!

 

I got into Solid works and 3D printing in college. I work for the Navy as a machinist, but there are some opportunities on the horizon to get into 3D printing. Needless to say, I've been networking like crazy to position myself for that, especially as they are getting a 3D metal printer soon

 

My son is printing a flathead....

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Let me qualify my opinion with a statement that I have absolutely no experience with these printers.
On an aviation website a fellow was lauding the benefits of 3D printing and how he was going to use computers to cut all the precison tubing lengths and angles to build a fuselage from chromemoly tubing......rather than the time consuming practice of cutting and fitting each tube by hand.
He was going to make plastic collets and fixtures to hold the tubing while attempting to machine the steel tubing with a high speed computer controlled router spinning at 10,000/24,000 rpms making many multiple small cuts.
Several other guys were into the printing thing and as it went on, it turned out that for a home hobbiest, it was going to be quite an involved process and a fair amount of financial outlay. Anyway, last time I looked he had made a lot of plastic stuff to hold the tubing and programmed cuts, but after 6 months he hasn't displayed any completed parts.
Others that know more about this process should chime in here and tell us if there are easier ways to learn how to do all thats required to be proficient/quick at getting this stuff to fruition. From what I saw, it required an extensive investment in time to learn the CAD programming and then design and program even reasonably simple parts. Its like having an additional full time hobby that overides your real hobby.
I know there are some people that have the inclination to pursue this stuff and do well and enjoy doing it. Its probably cheaper to have one of those people make what you want than to try to do it yourself.

Note: As for the technology needed to cut air plane tubing accurately, thats a technology that is doable with the right equipment.....and there is at least one company that does so. The problem with the hobby guy I mentioned was that he wanted to locate and restrain the metal tubing with plastic holders mounted to plywood......and do it with a cutter that had to spin way too fast because he was going to use an underpowered router. I think all he will accomplish is to dull a lot of router bits and workharden the metal. I could be wrong, but so far he hasn't produced anything. So whatever your goal might be, realize that learning and applying this technology will be a long term learning curve.

 

As it now stands there are many restrictions on consumer 3D printers with daily polymers. The components are not solid enough or consistent enough to be used for anything more than decorations and prototypes, and rarely do you see a 3D printed product in an article that is available in the sticker printer reviews.

It makes a perfect addition to the toolbox of any hobbyist. In order to develop my printer and make additional printers, I've latched to Reprap's movement. Many people make models for other activities, such as tabletop sports. Perhaps they can also do useful stuff for personalized storage or maintenance around the building. Thingiverse has several big versions, such as the jet motor or the heavy falcon, which have fun mounting and showing projects.

 

I'm an architect. On this, I agree with you. The only applications for 3D printing in construction that I can see are complex facade designs or internal walls with a lot of curves or blobs, but mostly for non-load bearing items. The only advantage is that it makes it easier to produce complex and non-repetitive forms, implying that it will mostly be for aesthetic purposes.

 

I'm an R&D engineer and use 3D Printing quite a bit. I'll call it Additive Manufacturing or AM for short.

Most people when talking about 3D printing are talking about Fused Model Deposition (FDM). This is a process where a spool of plastic based filament it fed, melted, and deposited into a 3D geometry. Its fairly fast and very cheap to do. There is a wide variety of materials available and that list grows on a daily basis - but not all machines can print all materials. I personally have a small fleet of these machines that make production end use parts that are quite durable and structurally sound. These machines can be had for a couple of hundred bucks and get really good results. As a side note.... welding with a filler material is kind of a non-automated FDM process... just food for thought.

The next most common machine uses UV cured resin in a vat using a process called Vat Photopolymerization. Typically much smaller build areas than FDM, but much faster and higher detailed parts. Materials are much more selective and the end use range is much narrower. I personally have a pair of these machines that make parts from time to time.

Material jetting is yet another process - it more or less sprays material in 3D space much like an inkjet printer to build the parts up. This is probably the process that I farm to the outside the most. Extremely high detail parts that can be used for prototyping and early testing.

Powdered bed fusion - this process takes small grains of material and melt it with a laser in layers - add a thin layer - and go back through and melt it again. This is how most direct metal printing is done. I've had parts made in stainless, titanium, and even silver using this process.

Binder jetting - its a combination of the previous two processes - a material is built up in thin layers and a binder is sprayed on using an inkjet type process. I bring this up because it is an excellent way to direct print sand molds for casting metals. I have some sample molds here for some parts, but I have never used this process beyond getting some samples.

There are even more unique processes beyond these. I'm not going to cover them as they get more exotic and specific with use cases. My point in this small book is that AM is a wide topic with tons of variation within it. You can and will start seeing pieces in production that use these processes and more - and that goes for both end use as well as tooling and fixturing to assist more traditional processes along the way. I started playing in the early rep-rap movement days as I saw this as a great way to build prototypes as well as tooling for doing low volume items - but in my day job I now have several sets of vice jaws printed in FDM machining castings with hundreds of hours of machine time on them with no issues.

My next step personally is to start sand casting with using the technology as an aid. I have the first few pieces of equipment already and am just weeks away from my first attempt at a simple part that will grow over time to much more complex parts. It will all be faster, cheaper, and more robust thanks to the addition of AM into the process combined with more traditional processes.