Every every machine shop should have one, just amazing!!!

The plastic printing is cool, but it seems like they could have skipped that and just used the scanner to feed the CNC machine...

They actually have small scale plastic printers called MakerBot
 
Hi,

I've lived long enough to see science fiction become reality.

When I think of all of the hours my dad would spend making a wood model to take to have a casting made and then see this---WOW!!! does not even begin to express my feelings.

From beginning to having the casting (which still needed to be machined) would take weeks.

Thanks for showing this.

Enjoy,

Jim
 
That's very cool. I've read about the printers, but hadn't seen the scanner. I also didn't know the printer could use a soluble material to build gaps into a solid construction. You could conceivably print parts that couldn't otherwise be assembled. Ain't technology grand? :thumb:
 
Brian that is just amazing. Thanks for sharing that. I can't even wrap that through my brain, it looks like pure magic.
Hey, I am not the sharpest knife in the drawer, maybe this has been addressed previously, you any relation to that famous bowl maker Vaughn McMillan?
 
No I'm afraid not Jonathan. The closest I ever get to anything to do with a bowl is my annual haircut. I do have quite few relatives in the LA area but I don't think Vaughn is one of them. I'm from Drew & Cynthia's neck of the woods, a Vancouver Islander.

That machine is one of the coolest things I think I have ever seen. Pure Star Trek, almost a replicator. I think I'll get one and try sneak it into Lee Valley.
 
Double wow. The price point is what does it.

Finally Jay Leno in a role where he is adding some value. I did not know he did something like this.

It saddens me that we have to have "celebrity" to show off great stuff to get it the attention it deserves.


Part of me wonders about the application for the scanner. For old parts that dont exist anymore, I can understand but otherwise its a copier and that is the very issue we have against the Chinese.

If it is not to serve the old part replacement market then i question the purpose because so few people repair anything other than old parts.

The printer is really neat. Especially being able to feed it something like polycarbonate and have it print assembled parts with supports in place.

I have used technology of a similar nature and the cost just to use it at the time was close to being prohibitive. But it certainly saved a fortune on the tooling being changed in mid stream and for time to market nothing to beat it.

I wonder how many people realize that much of what is seen at exhibitions nowadays is actually not even tooled up yet.

We did that way back in SA when i made some housings for an access control product and wanted to get it onto an exhibition and see customer reaction.

Process we used though was called stereolithography the dilemma at that time was the parts were not totally durable. But it worked fine with a little paint etc. Especially if you want to produce photographs for marketing purposes before you commit to the tooling.

I would love to know the cost of the printer. But i agree with you Brent they could have gone straight to cnc for that kind of part given the cad model they have.

Really nice toys to have around. :thumb:

Thanks for sharing the link there Brian:thumb:
 
No I'm afraid not Jonathan. The closest I ever get to anything to do with a bowl is my annual haircut...

Jon, this proves Brian and I aren't relatives, because I don't do haircuts. :rofl:

I don't believe I have any McMillan relatives left. My dad and I are the last two surviving males in our branch of the McMillan family. The name dies with me. :(
 
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