Manufacturers and 3D printing

[davetheroad]

I wonder if the major manufacturers use 3D printing as part of their design process because if they do......

 

for out of stock items or ultra short production runs would there be any profit in offering 3D printed basic models that the buyer would paint themselves etc etc. In effect a bit like a plastic kit but semi assembled.

 

for example there are a number of items in the Dapol range that are out of production which IMO are unlikely to be re-released but maybe people would be prepared to pay for the professionally produced cad and design work that is already done.

 

There are a lot of amateur designs out there but they never seem to reach the stage where they are offered for sale or have compromises in their design that a main manufacturer would not have

 

Thoughts?

[alfsboy]

One of the major 1/1250 model ship producers,Navis Neptun, now use RP to get some of their masters made and also make the  first commercial model to reproduce see through lattice cage masts of WW1 major US warships  .The battleship  USS New Mexico  1918 version uses  printed masts to produce see through instead of solid or not so great etches.it looks great .Its one job almost impossible to reproduce commercially with out RP .Its a limited edition but I am sure will appear again .They do warn its delicate and maybe this stuff isnt so tough .High end 1250 ships tend to get collected and put in a cabinet not gamed with .

   Not sure its all good enough for trains yet .The quality is a bit iffy for larger flat or curved sufaces from what I have seen and its still got a way to go ,perhaps along way to go .but it will get there .A lot of the printed trains I see are a waste of time as they dont come out smooth and handfinishing defeats the object ,Great fun too experiment with .

[Pete Harvey]

Please bear in mind that Rapid Prototyping is totally different to 3D printing in both the way the items are made the materials used and the quality of the finished items which are far superior in quality to 3D Printed items.

[Pugsley]

I would argue that RP and 3D printing are different names for the same thing, 3D printing as a term seems to have come about as the technology has been picked up more by the public and hobbyist market, probably as it's more media friendly.  What makes the difference, as Pete points out, is the process and the materials used.

[Etched Pixels]

3D printing is just one of the processes in rapid prototyping - a lot of CNC machining also comes under it, and laser, and some other stuff.

 

If you'd like to redo a Dapol model in 3D print from their CAD then I imagine you'd want to talk to Dapol and have your wallet to hand. Wall thciknesses and finish will be a challenge, as will the fact many of the models are actually quite a few mouldings (to extreme at times - every seat in the Farish voyager is a fitting!)

 

Quite honestly I think if you want to use 3D print and other RP technologies to any great effect you need to design for them, and you need to mix them with other technologies in a lot of cases. There are three reasons my 3D printed coach kits mostly have etched sides on a polished 3D body rather than being entirely printed for example (price, thinness around the windows and quality)

 

Alan

[richbrummitt]

 

I would argue that RP and 3D printing are different names for the same thing, 3D printing as a term seems to have come about as the technology has been picked up more by the public and hobbyist market, probably as it's more media friendly. What makes the difference, as Pete points out, is the process and the materials used.

To confuse the names further the professional market seems to be trying to desperately remove the word prototype from it's label, preferring the title additive manufacturing.

[Rabs]

Or alternatively 'rapid manufacturing', which covers both high speed CNC machining as well as 3d printing.  But I agree with Allan that not all 3D printing is RP, and not all  RP is 3D printing.  

[stadman]

3d printing isn't very rapid Not that I've seen any other process to compare.

Saw a link to this earlier

 Maybe not precise but could trace a drawing perhaps.

Or trees shrubs might have an application?

Kev S

[Rabs]

Printing a part which takes a few hours on a printer vs. injection moulding the same part in a few seconds doesn't sound rapid, no.  However, being able to hit 'print' vs. taking the part design, designing a mould tool, getting to tool made, shipping it out, getting it fitted, testing and then producing an IM part is very rapid.  This is where the 'rapid' bit comes from in industry.  It's not the time in the machine, which can be slower, it's the fact that you've saved weeks or months of lead time to get to the point of making the part.

[richbrummitt]

There is an outfit that can make the moulds and produce them and mould the parts in as little as one day but it certainly not the norm.

[Rabs]

Indeed, several outfits in fact, and these are often a useful halfway house.  In my experience you are limited to relatively small aluminium moulds but these are fine if you only expect to do a few thousand shots.  Expensive for development/one-off work though.