Sweet, I would have loved to go in that direction with a career. (that shipped has sailed, I'm retired now). I think additive manufacturing will have the same impact on manufacturing that CNC did. Would be a smart investment right now to buy into some of the leading industrial level machine manufacturers.

Some of the things I've already seen with metal printing are game changing when it comes to designing components .... saw an amazing liquid/liquid heat exchanger for helicopter hydraulic fluid that was 1/4 the volume, 1/2 the weight and about 40% more efficient than the tube type it was replacing ... it used some kind of fractal geometry for the exchange surfaces all inside a one piece unit. Ferrari has said the recent successful F1 engine used 3D printed pistons.

Any suggestions for a good industry news website I could watch to keep track of the technology?

Any suggestions for a good industry news website I could watch to keep track of the technology?[/QUOTE]




Johnny if you haven't already found it, check out the Additive Manufacturing/3D Printing sub-forum on the Practical Machinist site.




Dave

X4, fun to see the amazing progress in both hobby and commercial 3D.

As to boats sailing... my casual interest is now just that, but my boat could have sailed into 3D printer development, so it holds the attention of this nostalgic retiree.

At one point in my life, I developed a non-wetting coating process for the face of ink-jet nozzle plates. That project was truly challenging, fun, and rewarding. I learned a lot from many talented people back then and miss those days.

When that employer told us "We don't like your kind" (manufacturing was leaving the country) I was sent packing and chasing jobs like a lemming following a nerd herd.

Punch line- I interviewed with Stratasys in about 1993? when they were young. They needed help keeping their "nozzle plates" clean, same as ink-jet. I ended up on a different path but remain intrigued by 3D printing. Maybe I'll get into it on the hobby side one day but for now, I enjoy seeing all the stuff you're both sharing. Thanks for posting, even if it's a Pontiac forum...

Dave ... I book marked that forum ... but sometimes I hesitate to go there, at least for machining anyway, they tend to be a bit rude to the uninitiated.

Shiny ... ink jet printers, as you know have some amazing technology that makes them work. Incredibly the price they sell for considering what went into making them work. I like to scavenge parts from them, like the rod the head travels on ... extremely straight, and extremely round.

Yes, I could see those rods being useful. There are lots of great scavenging opportunities in discarded/obsolete products. Magnets from hard drive actuators are pretty amazing... I worked in that industry too and it was by far the most technically amazing product I was exposed to. You can develop some incredible stuff when the cost is spread over billions of products. Integrated circuits set the bar there...

If the market for hobby 3D printers was as big as it used to be for ink-jet, we'd all be printing eggs, meat, and vegetables while complaining about the cost of the print cartridges!

I have a half dozen notes held to the metal bookshelf behind me with HD and optical drive magnets :)

I can print a banana ... but you can't eat it. (should be the title of an album)

We are scroungeanized... like a parallel universe, only different.

I worked on both HD and optical drives (ODD)... the magnets in HD actuators are worth the effort. HD actuators are rotational and the magnets are STRONG rare-earth stuff.

The pickup head in an optical drive rides little rods like in the inkjet printers (linear). You might also like those rods as they have high precision similar to the inkjet traverse rods...very much like your CNC machine linear actuators.

Not much else scroungeable in those devices. Motors might be useful but not easy to adapt for general purpose.

Stratasys does a lot interesting webinars. If you go onto their website you can check it out and get registered and they'll email you latest news & developments in additive. Lot of interesting articles.

Stratasys Direct is another independent division that does contract work- they'll build your parts for you on any platform or technology you like. Online quoting. Great pricing.

I've just started reviewing resumes of local university ME Students this week for an internship opportunity. Just in case any one knows any students near the NH Seacoast looking for a great job working in CAD mechanical design, 3D Printing and using Ansys simulation software.

You guys talking about inkjet probably already know, but if you don't- check out HP Multi-Jet Fusion Technology. It's very popular and produces excellent quality durable parts. Somewhat limited in material choices though. Their voxel control has great potential.

One of my old inkjet colleagues went on to help develop that HP technology. I lost touch with both him and additive tech but I know he was quite pumped about it several years ago. Sounded like it could deliver some unique properties with high resolution and I'm sure the software environment, integration, and support are part of the value proposition. I'll have to go look at it. Thanks.

3X .. since you are from NH ... ever heard of "Stone Machine" east of Manchester? Used to race motorcycles with the owner ... I'm still using all kinds of scap stock he used to give me.

I watched a video on that HP technology not long ago ... was printing large, multi-color, very detailed stuff. Was also showing things like furniture models ... like a 1" couch that actually had the fabric color pattern on it ... very detailed colors. I wasn't quite clear on the application though ... they seemed to be using it to print end user products. Figurines, scale models etc. in large volume ... speed of injection molding, ease of 3d printing, but with very accurate and detailed colors.

Small potatoes ... but I just printed up this shop vac hose adapter so I can stick some 1" hose in the fridge condenser coils and clean them out.

Also works good for vacuuming garbage out of trunk wells, the bottom of doors and below the quarter windows.

Put a taper in so the hoses snug up as you push them in. Printed in TPU. Beats the heck out of the duct taped mess I was using before :)

https://forums.maxperformanceinc.com...7&d=1673366562

Nope. I've driven by there but don't know him.
Shaker Jeff might- not far from his house.

I just got a Design World Additive Manufacturing Update email on the new HP Metal Jet. They're using it to print in 316 SS.
You can download the White Paper and read all about it.

I just watched a presentation for MarkForged, a relative newcomer in metal 3d, but long time in other materials. They have one of the laser/sintering oven type system they are marketing for $125-150K. All I have to do is sell 20,000 hose adapters :)

That tech is really interesting to me. I'll go look. $150K is actually less than I might have guessed if it has an atmosphere or vacuum sintering oven. And I suspect you could easily sell 20,000 hose adapters but you might keep that printer a little busy..

I did look at videos for the HP Jet Fusion system. I'm sure there are "contract manufacturing job shops" developing profitable markets for those machines as the cost of entry must be daunting. It is truly impressive but I was surprised at all the "accessory" equipment needed to use it - coolers, carts, racks, vacuums, shakers... wow. It reminded me of the dinosaur days of high-end system printers back in the 70s.

Speaking of 3D printing, cosmetic companies seem to be embracing the opportunity. I heard a system for printing eyebrows was marketed at the recent Consumer Electronic Show. The benefit is software to preview the designs on your face, get the color you want, print it, then wipe them off and start over the next day. The printer must be handheld and I'll bet the "ink" will be quite precious. When I can print hair, I'll have to change my user name from Shiny to Harry...

There is a new product right there ... I could print hair hats in flexible filament, kinda like robot hair for men :)

Markforged was kind of ambiguous about the oven, he appeared to be saying about $125K if you have your own, $150K if you need one, and specified that they don't make the oven. Looked to be cylindrical with an opening about 2 feet, maybe three feet long ... so you aren't talking large parts.

LOL you might be onto something there.

I already have one of these:

http://forums.maxperformanceinc.com/...1&d=1673463359

I'm in line when you can bring me to the next level:

http://forums.maxperformanceinc.com/...1&d=1673463585



........

High-vacuum systems were expensive back when I was a lab puppy. A sintering furnace can't be a lot different... but I don't really know. Perhaps some materials can sinter in a neutral atmosphere but I would expect either vacuum or reducing atmosphere would be needed. We used to use welded stainless foil bags to thermally process stuff that was "atmosphere-sensitive" but had to go in a "standard" furnace. That might be a cheap option for small parts.


Mike

Here are my plug wire looms for 12mm dia. wires out of black nylon.

Sweet, very nice. Did you thread right into the plastic or put a nut in the back side? I've been finding that for any low stress application that just threading a screw into the properly sized hole works fine.

If you make the wall stock thick enough, you can run a tap and it will be plenty strong.

Here are some additional looms I made for my battery cables.