Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Re: 3D-printer

From: <Hwatering@...>

>
> It is indeed for rapid prototyping, there are basicly two kind of
> printers:
> a printer that drops little drops of wax
> a printer that prints glue

It's been changing in leaps and bounds in the last few years. We get
stuff at work all the time done in one of several types of plastic (uses a
laser and liquid in the ones I know of). There are also several companies
doing several types of metal. One company uses some sort of wax mixed with a
powered metal, then flash heats it to get rid of the wax and fuse the metal.
Another company uses metal balls that are a few thou dia and melts them in
layers with a laser. Most aren't really very open about details...
MoldFushion
by DME prints layers of layers of platic mixed with steels or brass so you
can
have a thin steel shell to make the part strong and cut down wear and the
brass
keeps the heat even and draws it towards the water lines for thermal control
in
the molds. Figuring out the materials and the 'print head', I think, is
going to be
the hardest part.

There are several 3D modeling programs that will let you slice through
solids and
give you an image of what was cut at that level. You could probably just
take slices
at every Z step and use the steppers/servos and controlers right out of a
printer to
print each level. Write a little program to control the tank fill and
leveling hardware
on one printer port, then just do a print page to another printer port that
has the
gutted printer parts on it. It's been a project in the back of my mind for a
while.