Check out this locomotive on Thingiverse.com - it shows the potential of 3D printing and could be rescaled for our railroads.
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:259005
dave
Not to shoot this down, as 3d printing IS the wave of the future. But it still has what I deem some shortcomings. Mainly the resolution of the output. This was printed on a Makerbot, their top of the line currently. Please note the resolution of the printing. Now this is the tire off of a 6’ BigBoy model(not including the tender), not some micro part.
This is being used as a show piece by the manufacture. I think that it has a way to go before replacing traditional manufacturing.
Dave - without a doubt it is not equal to other methods of manufacture but what a wonderful way to do a prototype for evaluation before going into production!
dave
Makerbot is not a top of the line pice… it is cost worthy …you cansmooth the parts off by acetone bath. were you can not wee the layers of plastic.
Very cool…
I do hope that someday, 3d printing will spur on a cottage industry of inexpensive detail parts for our chosen scales. It would be nice to go to a website, pick out the air pump I need, specify it in 1:24, and then have it in my mailbox a week later.
I see that day coming, but its not quite here yet.
I was using the air pump as an example, but you get my point.
You can, and I did. Shapeways.com can print just about anything you can draw up, in your choice of materials and colors. Metals, plastics, etc. Very high quality and resolution. Lots of cool stuff you can buy there. Like this
Rick
Rick Hill said:
You can, and I did. Shapeways.com can print just about anything you can draw up, in your choice of materials and colors. Metals, plastics, etc. Very high quality and resolution. Lots of cool stuff you can buy there. Like this
Rick
Well the future is here. Very nice site Rick.
tom
There’s an article in the current Garden Railways about 3D printing. Looks like I’ll have to dust off my prinrbot jr. and get cracking!
One of the big box stores (I think Staples) offers 3D printing in some of its stores.
While the process is currently slow, if you need 50 of something, it might be cost effective to make five and cast ten sets.
For one of something, it’s probably a lot faster than traditional ways!
It is a very exciting very near future. I saw a 3D scanner that can plug into its companion 3D printer and duplicate a small object. A 3D Xerox so to speak. Costs are continuing to come down to within us hobbyist’s budget.
Rick