I have read and seen the new generation of 3D printers that can make a plastic gun that actually will shoot. Now over coffee this morning I read that this type of on the spot computer assisted production is coming to sheet metal too. When this is developed, it will open the door to all sorts of custom one-of body work. http://www.macsmotorcitygarage.com/...prototyping-for-sheet-metal-parts/#more-23061 The two minute video in the article is fascinating. While it might be years before it is available to the local custom shop, it still represents the future of computer and robots in automotive sheetmetal fabrication.
Amazing what can be done but can you imagine the cost? This very well may be part of the future,although I would think cost will be prohibitive for all but huge manufacturers. HRP
Very cool. Sure it will be expensive for a while. But the price will come down eventually and we'll start to see more of it being used. Give it about five years.
IIRC, hydroforming was supposed to be the 'next big thing' with promised low-cost machines for use in the third world and for low-volume/one-off parts.... Where are those?
Coming from a sheetmetal fab background that is going to be a game changer. Look at where 3D printing is now as compared to 15 years ago. You can buy one now for home use.
the size of the machine for a 1/4 panel will be huge. but you will still need a 3d model and that software is expensive and the time to create the design is expensive. a good metal guy with a power hammer and english wheel will still have lots of work in the resto shop and it does not replace volume production. the prototype costs for the auto industry are huge for them it makes sense. the ems guy
All that's left is for one of our own to figure out how to do it with a sewing machine motor and an air chisel and some C clamp Vise Grips.
I got to see one of these machines in action and being an instructor at Techshop I was talking to one of the members who also researched, read, studied, and learned about it as much as possible...he's a smart guy and builds robots for industry and is working on making a small scale version to figure out the mechanics and see what he can harvest from other machines to scale up his desk top version. Basically this is two robotic arms working in conjunctions to shrink and stretch the metal so it's plausible that it could be done by a hobbyist....Ok I'll stop nerding out now.
Imagine having a car we wont actually have to drive. Things that take no actual human pysical force to create We will have lost all connection between the metal and our hands Not a world I'd want to be part of
That's some very cool new technologhy. Looks like it has its limitations such as not being able to trace/carve out a part that has deep compound curves and finished edges that would normaly be done in several different staged die stamps. Great for prototype work though. Wonder how easily the finished/approved part could be helpful in the making of male and female tooling dies?
By one and make your own machines to sell That would be like watching yourself on TV it just keeps on going deeper and deeper Scary isn't it Have you driven a Ford lately ?
Someone will do this soon. That happened pretty quickly with the CNC wood routers. There's a pretty big robotics group up my way working out of the Artisan's Asylum. I may put a bug in someone's ear and see if someone takes up the challenge. Hand forming is always going to be where it's at for me but I can see wanting access to a machine like this for things like complex floor pans and factory style parts that can't be had reasonably.
i forget to say it will be on sale at harbour frieght next fathers day, watch for the coupon in your mail box
The remarkable thing is the way Ford's engineers and related geek-corps don't understand how Ford's business works! Your and my inability to press sheetmetal panels is the basis of Ford's capital. It is the reason Ford makes cars out of pressed sheetmetal - and injection-moulded plastic - and not something else; it is the reason the modern automobile developed the way it did. The reference near the end of the video to the possibility of using so downscalable a technology for mass manufacture is ludicrous. Hydroforming was never about low volume. It's a way to form hollow parts using dies, which are still quite expensive, by employing a "fluid mandrel" to prevent collapse. Add the hydraulic kit and it's if anything more capital-intensive than welding two open pressings together. Of course that doesn't prevent "low-volume" rhetoric from the Big Auto spin-mill. Agreed! I wouldn't either. Absolutely. I wonder if this is just a computer-controlled miniature English wheel or if some sort of thermal/electrical component is involved. There are lots of approaches to explore on a MakerBot type of basis.
I do not know about sheet metal but, Jay Leno's shop fabricates many replacement parts for his cars using high tech computer controlled equipment. parts that do not exist, or quicker to make rather than trying to track down.
The pursuit of auto perfection is now in the advanced stages of cloning. Organisms are forming, to literally 'grow' vehicles from living organic cells. Kevlar will be superceded by a Lizardlike skin,and the whole structure held together by gristle. No bones will be necessary, as rigidity is desired, but without the brittleness of bone. Repair will be done surgically, if damage is severe; but most 'skirmishes' will be 'self-healing'. Fuel is the biggest boon: Oats, barley, or corn. Other than the wheels it will roll on, we'll appear to have come 'full circle'. Remember the old insult to early motorists? "Get a Horse!" Good idea....
If/when the cost gets down into the range of commercial shops, consumers can start to see value. Imagine taking in a fender for a '32 Ford and saying, "Make me one of these."
Soon enough they will make it to your local machine shop just like MIG welders, CNC lathes and plasma cutters did. You will be able to create a part on your computer, Email it to the local machine shop and pick up the part the next day.
i've flow formed with 3D Printed parts... Also plan on printing custom tail light lenses... game changer.
many things are made using Hydro Forming. Harley uses it to create the V-Rod frames, Detroit Speed uses it to create their front frame clips, it is used in lots of OE level exhaust forming, Many Bicycle frames are done this way etc.
maybe I'm biased because I play with CAD all day BUT... the CAD is the easiest part. Find a car that isn't damaged and create a point cloud off it using a traditional digitizer. Then point cloud to surface. This is the same basic way OEMs are creating their CAD models....from the clay. as with everything....with knowledge is power...shapes become not so complicated. I remember when 3 axis CNC mills were the shit and $$$. They are on the verge of affordable(not quite yet, but close)...and I agree with the above in that with time all things will be common. Even NC machines aren't much more than a full manual.... Hell my brother owns a badass CNC plasma for his home use. He isn't anymore rich than the next. 5 years ago I would have said no way but it's real.
For a minute there, I thought you were describing the terminator cyborg. It's not like there haven't been scientists and DARPA-type agencies attempting to develop just this sort of thing, either....
Guess new vehicles will go up another 10k to pay for this...... There already so high now knowbody can afford them and ingeneered to be as complex as possible to keep owners from working on them. As for me they can keep them.... I dug in years ago and will never buy anything newer than 1972
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