Anyone ever heard of RepRap
 

http://objects.reprap.org/wiki/RepRa...I_%22Mendel%22

I think the basic idea behind this is really fascinating. Their goal is to build an open-source 3d printer which can prototype plastic parts that is capable of creating 60% of it's own parts.

I can envision a useful symbiosis between a rapid prototyper and a mechmate.

http://reprap.org/bin/view/Main/WebHome

Hey Jeff,

I have indeed heard of RepRap already a long time ago. There project is quite nice but I believe there accuracy on parts is quito low, not sure about the new version of there machine though.

There design looks rather orthodocs to me :)

Pure theoretically I think the mechmate can do the same as RepRap, the question is speed when you have larger designs :)

Ries

What I think would be really cool is to use the technique to create complex finished parts (such as those with internal voids) using something akin to lost foam aluminum casting.

Imagine using something like polystyrene to deposit a cylinder head investment pattern, complete with water passages onto the table, rough machine the mating surfaces, combustion chamber and intake and exhaust ports.

Remove the part from the table, dip it in a refractory solution (sheet rock mud works okay) bury it in sand and cast.

The rough pattern machining mitigates most of the inaccuracy of the process.

I know this is an old dead thread, but originally I was surfing from reprap and somehow wound up here! Your post # 3 above, is the Lost Foam casting method. It was used in the original Saturn engine block castings..(I read somewhere...)

Also RepRap machine is opposite of Mechmate. It deposits melted polystyrene, I think, while Mechmate takes away wood, foam, aluminum, etc. Both systems are sort of mutated flatbed printers though.
I am a big fan of your box beam machine.
roger

Hybrid composite steel
 

This is where we head, this our Future
http://www.dimensionprinting.com/3d-...ng-uprint.aspx

This the 80's all over + one dimension=3D. Now ABS plastics will become hybrid composite steel, and the machine will print 1/1 and we will all be more speed up + you can scan your self and make a copy of you self "Mom Look what I can do".

$14.995 :D

God Bless America, for ever and ever.

Love

James

Naval use
 

I heard that 3Dprinters were being used by the navy on aircraft carriers. Eliminated thousands of spare parts and their storage space. They have to carry repair parts for aircraft etc. Also see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggvzcGdZsTc .

A friend of mine has this exact combo at his company, I doubt you can use the part out of the machine as a replacement, but what you can do for sure is use the piece to later cast it in metal, that would do the trick.

I modeled a 3d puzzle I found online and he "printed" it on the machine, the parts are surprisingly light, a regular plastic puzzle of the same size would weight at least the double.

In ancient times, pre computer age, one of the challenges for foundarymen was shrinkage of the cast parts as they cooled. Shrinkage tables and shrinkage scales were developed so the mold makers could account for this. I think new materials and processes have been developed for duplication, so the cast parts don't shrink.