Great working examples of how 3D printers are being used in companies to faciliate design and as a more cost-effective means of prototyping.
Seeing that image of all of those plastic, 3D printed parts, though, makes me think about disposal issues related to all this content that will be generated. A reader raised that issue in a comments on another 3D printer story and that image really brings the concern to light.
Beth, thanks for corroborating my concerns about recycling 3d printed parts. Yes, that photo with the caption "... generate a mountain of throwaway prototypes..." is concerning in our society's semi-enlightened path of renewal ability and recycling. I'm an avid fan and user of FDM 3d printing for prototype parts. To my knowledge, SLA material cannot be recycled unlike 3d printers that extrude ABS (which we recycle after the parts are tested). I'm not sure about Objet or ZCorp parts. Doug, can you speak to this?
P.S. Tape Wrangler tolerances of some parts are 1/250,000 of an inch. Really???
On i.materialize, the first search result from above, they lay out 4 possible solutions. While they may not work for everyone and every 3D printer, they are atleast bringing some interesting and valid means or reusing unwanted printed objects.
Thanks for raising the issue, SoCalPE, and thanks Jason, for the link to a resource for suggestions on plastic part disposal. I'm sure we'll be hearing a lot more people raising concerns about this issue as 3D printer use becomes more prevelant and as more organizations more widely integrate the technology as part of their prototyping and product development workflows.
Every RP article implies that faster design processes are better. Here the author even argues that more iterations leads to better outcomes. This may sound obvious, but anyone involved in design will tell you: faster doesn't always mean better. Here is a hint: it really depends on the design methods that you use and how far in the decision making process you are. Sadly, the last 10 yrs have shown me that most RP are not actual improvements to the quality and originality of products. Some times faster just means faster, and this only means producing crap designs faster than before.
Thomas Edison, probably the most polific inventor, found over a 1000 ways how NOT to make a light bulb. Working day and night to eliminate the wrong guesses, he finally succeeded.
Cheaper/Faster 3D printers aught to help with the 99% prespiration he talks about.
Artists are different - the journey is more important/fun than getting to the destination.
For 3D printing to make the jump from rapid prototyping to manufacturing, engineers will need to find easier ways to move products from their CAD screens to their printers.
Gigabit and PoE are two networking technologies moving ahead in tandem as industrial users power remote Ethernet devices such as IP security cameras at 1,000 Mbps over existing CAT5 cable.
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.
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.
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