Humans exploring Mars will probably get around in a Humvee-sized rover with a pressurized cabin like this one NASA is testing in the Arizona desert. It contains about 70 parts made with a Stratasys production-grade Fortus printer, including pod doors, camera mounts, vents, and housings.
Ann, I just wanted to say. I know I go on and on about this 3D printing, but it just fascinates me to no end. We talked just a few months ago about materials and they are already here. Like you said, it's progressing very fast. I'm just really interested in this.
That person would still need machining knowledge. At least knowledge of the measuring tools. I can see it as a trade school thing. Now instead of going for machining you go for 3D printing. I might be wrong, but it seems possible.
I agree about tight tolerances. The fact that this technology is being used in commercial aircraft and medical applications speaks volumes about its success in achieving consistent, repeatable, very tight tolerances.
One more thought. One thing that comes to mind to me, being an ex-machinist is the precision i.e. tolerances they can hold. I am betting they get better at that. You can print something all day long with whatever material, but if you can't hold certain tolerances then it isn't good for precision work.
I really like the new materials. that's been my fascination with 3D printing thus far. The software advancements are good, but the materials determine what you can make. Wonder what's next?
UK-based Plastic Logic and French company ISORG have created what the pair tout as a first in flexible printed electronics: a large area, conformable, organic image sensor printed on plastic.
New versions of BASF's Ecovio line are both compostable and designed for either injection molding or thermoforming. These combinations are becoming more common for the single-use bioplastics used in food service and food packaging applications, but are still not widely available.
The 100-percent solar-powered Solar Impulse plane flies on a piloted, cross-country flight this summer over the US as a prelude to the longer, round-the-world flight by its successor aircraft planned for 2015.
GE Aviation expects to chop off about 25 percent of the total 3D printing time of metallic production components for its LEAP Turbofan engine, using in-process inspection. That's pretty amazing, considering how slow additive manufacturing (AM) build times usually are.
A $1,500, hand-operated, bench-model, plastic injection machine crowdsource-funded via Kickstarter can be used to mold small, quality, plastic parts inexpensively, on demand.
From Dell / Intel® New Paradigms in Design Work Scott Hamilton, vertical market strategist for Dell Precision workstations, 5/2/2013 5
Early in my career, I worked as a draftsman and remember the days of drawing on vellum with numbered pencils and Mylar with plastic lead. This was a fun experience in the sense that I ...
I've been using workstations for more than 10 years and love finding ways to get more performance from my system. With demanding professional applications that require more power each ...
A lasting memory from my first job as an engineer in an auto assembly plant is standing on hard concrete at six in the morning, vending-machine coffee clutched in hand, listening to ...
For industrial control applications, or even a simple assembly line, that machine can go almost 24/7 without a break. But what happens when the task is a little more complex? That’s where the “smart” machine would come in. The smart machine is one that has some simple (or complex in some cases) processing capability to be able to adapt to changing conditions. Such machines are suited for a host of applications, including automotive, aerospace, defense, medical, computers and electronics, telecommunications, consumer goods, and so on. This radio show will show what’s possible with smart machines, and what tradeoffs need to be made to implement such a solution.
To save this item to your list of favorite Design News content so you can find it later in your Profile page, click the "Save It" button next to the item.
If you found this interesting or useful, please use the links to the services below to share it with other readers. You will need a free account with each service to share an item via that service.
Tweet This
0 
