Pat Donnelly Posted August 2, 2011 Report Share Posted August 2, 2011 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZboxMsSz5Aw Read the text & view the follow-up video near the end of the page for clarifications http://www.snopes.com/photos/technology/3dprinter.asp Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Prokopiw Posted August 2, 2011 Report Share Posted August 2, 2011 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZboxMsSz5AwRead the text & view the follow-up video near the end of the page for clarifications http://www.snopes.com/photos/technology/3dprinter.asp I read a scifi trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson about nine years ago with installments called Red,Green and Blue Mars in which a similar technology was used to make the needed supplies by sucking the material out of the Martian surface. This looks to have possibilities for 'printing' those new gen hardboots that everybody says will never happen because of the expense of mold making,and endless other possibilities. I'm interested in reading what the resident engineers on this forum think of this tech... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Posted August 2, 2011 Report Share Posted August 2, 2011 I sat next to an industrial designer on a plane last year, and got to talking about the 3d printers they used at his company. I don't remember the exact level of tolerance / resolution he said they got, but it was good enough to print machinery with moving parts - that is gears, motors, etc. Totally amazing. Of course, they're limited in the type of material they can print with right now, but maybe this would be a low-cost route to producing molds for new hardboots? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack M Posted August 2, 2011 Report Share Posted August 2, 2011 Bill Cosby wants his sweater back. The crazy thing is that they are close to being able to print implantable organs, like kidneys. Ever seen The 5th Element? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C5 Golfer Posted August 4, 2011 Report Share Posted August 4, 2011 I have used 3D printers of various styles over the years. I like the ABS one the best. My guess in the near future we will have them available for home use. one of those uses will be making dinner flatware and dishes for the evening meal. custom tailor how they look for the evening decor and simply put your dishes into the recyle bin where they are washed and plastic is re-used for the next dinner setting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kieran Posted August 4, 2011 Report Share Posted August 4, 2011 Totally amazing. Of course, they're limited in the type of material they can print with right now, but maybe this would be a low-cost route to producing molds for new hardboots?or just hardboots shaped to the profile of your foot. laser scans your foot, generates an overlay with ~1cm of peripheral space all over, adds toe / heel blocks, positions clips for most consistent closure, and prints it off. add liner and snowboarder, and go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C5 Golfer Posted August 4, 2011 Report Share Posted August 4, 2011 Another very real future step will be when you need repair parts for your Car or home appliances. simply go to the mfg web site where you would down load a STL file for your part you need -- print it and fix it. maybe instead of a simple plastic BMW part which cost you $75 at the dealer will now be pennies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kieran Posted August 4, 2011 Report Share Posted August 4, 2011 Another very real future step will be when you need repair parts for your Car or home appliances. simply go to the mfg web site where you would down load a STL file for your part you need -- print it and fix it. maybe instead of a simple plastic BMW part which cost you $75 at the dealer will now be pennies.but if you buy the template from bmw, it'll have single-use DRM, and cost $74.99. ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heroshmero Posted August 4, 2011 Report Share Posted August 4, 2011 or just hardboots shaped to the profile of your foot. laser scans your foot, generates an overlay with ~1cm of peripheral space all over, adds toe / heel blocks, positions clips for most consistent closure, and prints it off. add liner and snowboarder, and go. That would be sick. I can't wait for that day. I'd love to have a completely custom fit for my wide feet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corey Posted August 4, 2011 Report Share Posted August 4, 2011 Strength is the current issue. The early ones were very weak, but they're getting stronger all the time. They're still no where near strong enough to make hardboots. They likely can't handle the pressures of injection molding. The pressures are pretty high, I recall something like 30,000 psi for pails and lids. Aluminum is too weak for injection molding, and I doubt the printed parts are stronger than aluminum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Posted August 4, 2011 Report Share Posted August 4, 2011 I was imagining something like this (just speculation as I don't really know anything about this area). 1) Use 3d printer to make positives of the needed parts 2) Use 3d printer output to make molds (in whatever the current standard is -- steel?) 3) Manufacture using steel molds, same as the current process Would that offer much cost savings over the current production process? I seem to recall someone (John Gilmour?) saying that producing the molds in all the different sizes required was one of the largest start-up costs for boot manufacturing -- is this an improvement? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kieran Posted August 4, 2011 Report Share Posted August 4, 2011 That would be sick. I can't wait for that day. I'd love to have a completely custom fit for my wide feet.integral contoured 'footbed'. yes|no? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bjvircks Posted August 13, 2011 Report Share Posted August 13, 2011 "Instant Tooling" for molded parts has been around for quite a while and happens like this. 1) part geometry is scaled to account for plastic shrink factor and 'instant tooling shrink' factor. 2) model data is converted to negative and sprues, runners, cooling/heating lines added 3) special rapid protoype machine uses 'fused deposition' process to print tool. Material is fine grain steel particles coated with a polymer binder material. 4) The Green tool is fired to burn off the polymer binder and lightly sinter the steel particulate together. 5) The tool is then reheated and back-filled with a low melting point copper alloy which fills in all the voids in what was a steel sponge. 6) surfaces of the mold are cleaned up and buffed out as needed. 7) tool put into press and parts start getting made. A dramatic rise in sophistication of CAM pre-processing has made traditional tooling faster & cheaper and so "Instant Tooling" lost its edge. Also... low production quantities can be handled by aluminum tooling instead of high cost hardened tool steel tools adding further savings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
balboajeff Posted August 14, 2011 Report Share Posted August 14, 2011 Check out Makerbot , also the company I work for, Sparkfun has one in prototyping right now. These are small scale afordable machines, yet capable. Fun to see this thread up here, worlds collide! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobble Posted August 14, 2011 Report Share Posted August 14, 2011 Check out Makerbot , also the company I work for, Sparkfun has one in prototyping right now. These are small scale afordable machines, yet capable.Fun to see this thread up here, worlds collide! couple months ago i bought an arduino, an ethernet shield, sensors, etc. really wanted a netduino plus but those things always sell out. love sparkfun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
balboajeff Posted August 14, 2011 Report Share Posted August 14, 2011 How many hardbooters do you suppose are into the make culture? For Netduino plus try Adafruit . Sparkfun is a blast, cheers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
www.oldsnowboards.com Posted August 15, 2011 Report Share Posted August 15, 2011 How many hardbooters do you suppose are into the make culture?For Netduino plus try Adafruit . Sparkfun is a blast, cheers. http://www.bing.com/search?q=%2bmake+culture&FORM=RCRE Yogurt? Hobby Builders?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobble Posted August 15, 2011 Report Share Posted August 15, 2011 http://www.bing.com/search?q=%2bmake+culture&FORM=RCREYogurt? Hobby Builders?? "make" is all about hacking, making, learning, etc. it runs a full spectrum from cooking to robotics. made an aluminum stomp pad. never mounted it on my board because it would've most likely fallen off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skatha Posted August 19, 2011 Report Share Posted August 19, 2011 Strength is the current issue. The early ones were very weak, but they're getting stronger all the time. They're still no where near strong enough to make hardboots. They likely can't handle the pressures of injection molding. The pressures are pretty high, I recall something like 30,000 psi for pails and lids. Aluminum is too weak for injection molding, and I doubt the printed parts are stronger than aluminum. Doesn't work that way. There's a podcast on BBC Worldservice that goes into how Mass Customization works. I suggest checking it out and, yes, BMW is looking into the technology Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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