What's Next In 3D Printing?

Interesting video. So apparently there is about to be an explosion in CAD related jobs. I might pursue this, I'll have to look into it.

He talks about how 3d printing is t going to decimate manufacturing but create a new manufacturing explosion. Good video.

What do you think?

a reply to: onequestion

Your about to see 3-d printing kiosks in every mall in the USA soon.

Walk in with a file and they print it for a small fee. There already looking for small businesses and people to run them.

a reply to: AnteBellum

Seems like the industry to get in on. Maybe a CAD certificate is the way to go huh

a reply to: AnteBellum

The medical devices industry is poised to begin using this in a larger scale. One of our customers, Stryker, had sample cranio-maxial implants printed from a polymer material that could be used to completely reconstruct a persons face in a catastrophic accident.

There are companies which will let you sell your 3D models online as 3D printed geometry in plastic, metal or even gold and silver - shapeways.com

All you need is a free 3D modelling package like blender, the know-how to make 3D models, and you can let others or yourself get things printed out.

www.shapeways.com...

Most people just use this service to make custom jewellery, miniatures, game pieces, robotic and drone parts, but it is unlimited.

This has the potential to significantly impact not only manufacturing, but also the entire mass production system of our economy...factories, warehouse distribution centers, stores, shipping companies, everything.

originally posted by: cleverhans
This has the potential to significantly impact not only manufacturing, but also the entire mass production system of our economy...factories, warehouse distribution centers, stores, shipping companies, everything.

The US military is using this as a way of getting round the bureaucratic paperwork for exports.

If they want to export spare parts for vehicles, they have to go through pages and pages of paperwork, or they can just (and have) transported a programmable multi-axis CNC lathe to the remote army base, and then just ship out or blocks of titanium, aluminium or steel and no waste let over.

The first printed car.
www.care2.com...

The two-seater battery-powered Strati is made out of only 49 parts, far less than conventional vehicles, which typically have over 5,000 components. A product of Local Motors, an Arizona-based manufacturer, the Strati took just 44 hours to build. Printed entirely of thermoplastic plastic and reinforced carbon fiber, the Strati’s body is rigid and tough.

www.care2.com...

Imagine being able to print out a desert runner and just customising the parts when needed. Extra mounts for machine guns, sensors, stronger suspension, wider tyres, deeper treads, more cargo space. more chairs. lighter armor, stronger armor.

I am most excited about large scale 3-d printers that can build concrete structures. They are coming. I have an aversion to square architecture. At some point in the future we will be able to create more organic structures that will be both more appealing aesthetically and more capable of standing up to the elements.

a reply to: onequestion

I'm not sure yet how it all works.

When I managed a millwork shop I programed the CNC. I took autocad dwg files and converted them to the appropriate language, that was it.
If it was in 3-d, in drawing form, it translated directly through the software - honestly a monkey could do it, drawing in autocad was the hard part and if you know autocad it's not hard at all. But I haven't tried any of this new tech out as similar as it sounds.

I'm afraid these businesses are going to be like the embroidery setups they have now. Schools are going to exploit the training for profit as the new thing to do and then new software will make it obsolete. I'm very torn when it comes to some of this tech now, it's not new either, NJIT had one in 1996.

They well autonomously learn to reproduce themselves and take over the universe..

3D printers making 3D printers

lol

Q

Im not a fan of Avi, he claimed he was going to change how they went after patent protection, but then continued 3 lawsuits against form 1 (3 guys starting in their basement).

Complete BS.

He's full of crap because someone released the same systems he's been charging $200,000 for, for 1% of the cost.

a reply to: onequestion

I think it will change a lot. Far more than we see now. That tiny part broken: printed, that special adaptor: printed. Anything that is not massively bought by people or using many different/rare/complex types of materials will be printed. We are, imho, at the very beginning of production changes. I'd compare this with the arrival of digital in photography. It will hit really hard on 'brands' like lego who sells it's 'plastic' at a prohibitives price and the hurt on intellectual property will be as harsh as what Napster did on music majors. Soon every house will have one, like an oven or a dishwasher. It will also allow a lot of garage inventors to actually create that 'gizmo' of their dream and via internet to share the world.

Yes it will change a lot. We're getting closer to that Star Trek replicator

a reply to: LoveSolMoonDeath

what sort of economic changes are we really looking at?

originally posted by: onequestion
a reply to: LoveSolMoonDeath

what sort of economic changes are we really looking at?

Presently, the far Eastern countries have the advantage in manufacturing in that they will only accept orders to mass produce items with a minimum of 10,000 items or more. No one can compete against them on price. "You want us to make 500 widgets, tough, minimum order 10,000, cash up front". That prevents local startups from setting up since they usually start with small batches of 100 or 500. Then there is an eight-week time delay as the goods are shipped across China, loaded into containers, shipped across the oceans, delivered to your factory. And they may not even be the real thing, just junk, while they sell off your tech.

Bring in 3D printing. You print as few or as many widgets as you need locally, right there, right then. No need for shipping or international contracts. All that will be shipped to your factory are metal and plastic pellets for the 3D printers. You make, assemble and package them when the order comes in. No need to stockpile unused products either.

a reply to: stormcell

So it's going to streamline the manufacturing process, even eliminating a lot of the need to have these parts shipped all over.

So this is a total job killer all around. Unless your Into cnc programming and cad design.

Is this going to create new markets for materials? What kind of materials are going to go into this?

a reply to: onequestion

Stormcell is on the sweet spot. And our society is a speedy one. We need it yesterday, we're limited in time frame, our shopping time is limited. With 3D printing it's home, only a few hours away or done overnight. I think, but I may be wrong, that most of the impact will be in low-tech manufacturing factories, like ones in china or India , because as of now 3D printers can do those things and the cost, saving the shipping, will compare. For us it could even be beneficial, allowing more individuals to go into 'micro businesses' because you need less money to stock goods for your clients, just stocking raw materials and printing on the go adapting without getting stuck with unsold obselete stuff.

3 d printing.
Cad.
Cnc
Cmm
Quality control
Ndt...non destructive testing

Those are going to be secure money jobs. More than they are now. Those jobs are in demand now. My boss calls in an ndt guy sometimes to ultrasound a casting. Dude makes 45 an hour. If he has to do say an areal 4401 that prob takes 9 or 10 hours. You can do the math.
Take some cnc classes and then use thar to get the entry level machinist job. Do well and cut a lot of chips and turn good parts and the money and position jobs will be right there to take. Ive seen it and ive done it.

My resume got fat after just 18 months in the foundry.
I was a mechanic and had the drive. Good with the tools.
Went from no foundry experience to quality control. From there i stayed in quality but made it to the metal lab. Ran a spectrometer. Ran carbon analyzer. Learned the process front to back from how the molds are made all the way through the lab to the end. I took the cnc job so i was turning the final test bars.
I learned metallurgy
I learned that even though copper is. Soft if you ad it to ductile iron it makes irs tinsile strength super strong.
I learned a lot of elements and how they behave with each other.
Loads of other stuff.
My long drawn out point is that was like free college. Get in the door at the right place and soak up the knowledge and take it with you.
These jobs are not going anywhere and if you dont have your b s that is where the money will be

originally posted by: onequestion
a reply to: stormcell

So it's going to streamline the manufacturing process, even eliminating a lot of the need to have these parts shipped all over.

So this is a total job killer all around. Unless your Into cnc programming and cad design.

Is this going to create new markets for materials? What kind of materials are going to go into this?

3D modelling isn't that difficult. Just search for "blender tutorials". You don't even need to know CAD. For characters, you just use a technique called "subdivision surfaces" You just create a rough cube shape and the geometry is subdivided until it is high detail.

You can even download "free 3D models" of things like skulls, bones, skeletons, stealth fighters, drones, tanks, whatever...

Materials include brass, plastic, sandstone, gold and platinum