Any guesses how long it will be until we can go into a car dealer for a part and they can print it out?
news.sky.com/home/technology/article/16234942
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Quite a while is my guess. The machines will be expensive, and hence cost per part will be high. They are using these machines to make components for aircraft. It means you can have lighter stronger components. At a cost.
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i'm more interested to know when they can print my custom spec car, while i wait.
as leif mentioned, they are used already for aircraft parts and have been used for prototyping for about 30 years. so it's taking a long time for the price to come down.
they are also the reason why the teams on the apprentice can get their prototypes the next day.
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I had to read the article to realise that it is not talking about "car parts" in the conventional sense, but plastic bits and pieces.
When I go to a parts supplier I want a water pump, track rod end, propeller shaft joint, wheel bearing, or possibly a reconditioned generator or overdrive unit. These are steel, obviously. I can't see the shop knocking one up while I wait.
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>> I had to read the article to realise that it is not talking about "car
>> parts" in the conventional sense, but plastic bits and pieces.
>>
>> When I go to a parts supplier I want a water pump, track rod end,
>> propeller shaft joint, wheel bearing, or possibly a reconditioned generator or overdrive unit. These are
>> steel, obviously. I can't see the shop knocking one up while I wait.
Actually the aircraft parts are made from metal. They deposit powder, and then heat with a laser, I think. Probably titanium, not sure if steel is doable given that its properties are substantially modified by heating. I suppose you could fabricate, then subsequently temper/anneal/whatever.
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Amazing what you can do with a microwave oven these days. :-)
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Hate to disillusion Sky News but 3D printing has been used in industry for the last 30 years or so and metal sintering using a laser is a fairly standard process used by manufacturers to rapidly build prototypes. The main thing that's changed is that the cost of the various pieces of equipment has fallen quite a lot in the last few years.
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C'mon Bagpuss there's Bleeding Edge then there are the last rites.
Sky News are usually sniffing around and reporting on the later.
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>> www.youtube.com/watch?v=28B8NvBFU0E
That gets my prize for the world's most irritating video. They focus on each shot for such a short time that I haven't got a clue what was going on. A bit like the Top Gear camera team when filming a new car being driven. Too many fancy shots, mostly of small details, leaving you confused and not knowing what the car looks like.
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Printed car parts? - Leif
