http://www.cnn.com/2012/11/30/tech/innovation/staples-3-d-printing/index.html
…there is the way to build the roofs for your passenger cars, Bob…
Interesting that this process uses paper instead of plastic.
Ralph
For anyone who has a wife or friend that has a Siholette Cutter (?Sp) that they use for scrapbooking can do the same. foam board builds up faster, but is soft and flexible. The thicker (3-7mil) vinyl is stronger and weather proof. The vinyl can be purchased online at a multitude of banner supply houses. It is cheap- about $8.00 for a 12" by 15 yard roll + adheisive. I use a US CUTTER vinyl cutter for similar projects. The 3D can be done automatically with Corel Draw or as I understand manually with the software supplied with the Siholette cutter. Can do paper (posterboard) also. One thing to remember 3D is has contour lines similar to a topographical map and will require much fine sanding to get a smooth curved surface.
Interesting - and certainly a cadidate for the EBT M-1 roof ends.
I’ve been talking to a few people (one owns a 3D plastic printer) about printing rivets directly on plastic - e.g. car sides.
Since this is a layered process, regardless of materials, it doesn’t always look so hot. OR … those mfgs who use it to present models at the shows should spend a bit more money to get umpteen extra layers per inch. And this will be the same whenever we start using it for models. i.e. allow for sanding or pay extra and get more layers.
Saw this machine several years ago, like the late '90s. They were teaching the High Schoolers heo to use it then! HJ, it depends what material they are building with as to how strong it is.
Paul
I saw these machines demo-ed in the late 90’s, during a MasterCam seminar I attended. They produced beautiful parts to “proof-out” new parts before they were sent to the manufacture mode. The resolution was extremely fine. The machines and software now are a big improvement. I watched a show from Jay Leno’s Shop and he purchased one of these STL machines to produce parts for his old car restorations. Many machine shop classes, in both high school and college, have these machines available to students as part of the curriculum. Don’t knock this stuff HJ. It’s here to stay. Just another tool in a normal manufacturing setting.
I’m not knocking it, I’m pointing out that there will be steps if there are contours. It’s the nature of the beast and as I mentioned if you need perfect surfaces leave a bit of sanding/polishing allowance. If you’re happy with the way it comes off the machine … good! 
Hans-Joerg Mueller said:I really have to disagree again. EVERY contour I made on an NC mill in my career was always in steps. How smooth that contour was produced correlated directly to the amount of the step. The finer the step, the smoother the contour. Now we're talking steps as small as .00001"to as large as .005".
I'm not knocking it, I'm pointing out that there will be steps if there are contours. It's the nature of the beast and as I mentioned if you need perfect surfaces leave a bit of sanding/polishing allowance. If you're happy with the way it comes off the machine .... good! ;) :)
“and as I mentioned if you need perfect surfaces leave a bit of sanding/polishing allowance. If you’re happy with the way it comes off the machine … good! ;)” PRECISELY HJ. My contours that I machined in forging impression dies for aerospace, were accurate to within .0005 of an inch. This is after grinding and polishing the “stepped” contour. All this was checked with a CMM (coordinate measuring machine).
http://www.brownandsharpe.com/products/coordinate-measuring-machines
To get this straight (pun intended!), I’m well aware how conventional machining works, no problem. My point was/is this: the past few years model railroad mfgs have used RapidPrototyping samples to present their “New Product” at shows. Prior to that they used handbuilt scale models or, as often as not, pictures of the prototypes.
How good were the 3-D RP printing jobs? Any of the ones I have seen pictures of, one didn’t need a macro mode picture to see how they were produced. Which to me indicates: to get a RP sample of a Large Scale items e.g. passenger car, passenger car roof, engine body (even “simple” stuff like boxy Diesels) will require a) a large machining/printing cube, b) extended time to print the item in fine resolution, c) a corresponding investment in the hardware i.e. it won’t be a “hobby machine”.
For instance a ZPrinter 650 comes in at just below $60K. However if one of the LSC members will buy one that produces really excellent results at a hobby price I have a number of small items that need to be made.
Since I’m forever curious what a smaller, high-quality machine would sell for
Objet30 Pro professional desktop 3D printer with a 300x200x150mm build envelope at $43K
The resolution of any part is going to be about how long it will take to post-process the “toolpath” or “layering” and how big the file size will be. Finer resolution=longer processing time. Actually I was talking in the "neighborhood of a $250K, STL machine with a part envelope of 20 inch cube!
There ARE 3D printing machines available now plus cad software to draw and post the file, for about $1400. AND I believe you could “drip feed” the file to the printer using “Kermit”. This way you could make very intricate parts with a very large post-processed file. Just sayin’. There is ALWAYS a way around the system to get the parts you want. Been there, done that.
My dentist has one. It takes about 1 and a half hours to “print” a cap for a tooth. It is actually much less expensive to do this than it is to do it the old way that involves a lab. Pretty cool!
When I saw that shoe model I at first thought it was an architectural building model! yes… there are buildings that look like that heel.
While this technology would be more useful in the smaller scales (printing whole buildings for example), just think how many detail and scenery pieces we could make with one of these!
Lemme know when you buy one, Vic.
Steve Featherkile said:My dentist has a mini-milling machine, one day I watched it carve one of the replacements I needed, took about 25 minutes. I'm still impressed.
My dentist has one. It takes about 1 and a half hours to "print" a cap for a tooth. It is actually much less expensive to do this than it is to do it the old way that involves a lab. Pretty cool!
Victor Smith said:
When I saw that shoe model I at first thought it was an architectural building model! yes... there are buildings that look like that heel.While this technology would be more useful in the smaller scales (printing whole buildings for example), just think how many detail and scenery pieces we could make with one of these!
Have you got the space and the budget? Just wondering!
I wonder what would happen if I took in a part that I needed a duplicate of? That would be cool, too.
Your dentist must have the up-grade, Mod 2 
It all depends how your dentist generates the data that is fed to the printer. Scanning your part will be a bit different than scanning a tooth.
He uses some sort of laser doodad. I’ll try to remember to ask him the next time I visit.