[simpits-tech] 3D Printer

[KD]

Thanks for the replies, guys.

Gene, ever since we got that F-18 fuselage in at work I have been trying 
to figure out how to get it home. I think I have fallen int "Gene's 
Realm of Nutso" :)

A few months ago we had a guy in with the Z-scanner. We had him put the 
dots on some of the interior panels and structure of our F-8 and scan it 
to see what he came up with. None of us were impressed. The resolution 
seemed very low, and the amount of work to fill in the shadows by hand 
after scanning was more than what we were interested in dealing with. We 
also had him do some of the outer shell along with one of the lumps on 
the side of the aircraft. That one came out OK since the surfaces 
involved were large and didn't have much curvature. So, for things like 
fuselages, car bodies maybe landscaping, things with low detail it would 
be OK, but we are dealing with cockpits so the detail needed is much 
higher.

Anyways, for the printer, the cost of the materials is supposed to be 
around $4-$7 a cubic inch for a model, and it can supposedly produce 
fairly detailed parts in a reasonable time like a couple of hours. The 
different binders make it nice and there is even supposed to be a metal 
powder that can be heated in an oven (not sure what temp) and hardened 
up. I have handled a couple of the regular powder-binder made models, 
and they are reasonably sturdy. I don't think I would make a seatbelt 
buckle out of it, but for demonstrating a small gear train, or a static 
architectural model it should be fine.

I was hoping to do knobs, some instrument bezels and probably some of 
the weirder more difficult to obtain handles that we find in the 
aircraft. I'm also looking to do something that gets me the heck out of 
where I work. I don't need to get rich, but it would be nice to commute 
2 flights of stairs instead of 35 miles every morning.

Software would most likely be Solidworks. Dassault and Z-corp are 
working together for the Cosmic Modelz thing, so I figure the software 
ought to play together nicely. I use Autodesk Inventor at work, but 
nothing plays nice with that as far as we can tell. I also have 
experience with Mechanical Desktop, 3ds Max, and a teeny bit with Rhino. 
Software shouldn't be a problem aside from financing it all. Right now 
that's the thing holding me up. The wife keeps saying "Just go get an 
SBA loan" but I have to know more about what I am doing before I do it.

KeithD