[mgold]

I get Popular Mechanics and was reading about this 3D Printer the other day. I thought it was one of the coolest things I've ever heard of! I bet in a few years, when this technology becomes cheaper, this will be standardized. It will completely change the car restoration hobby. I bet it will completely change "gearhead" culture in general. Take a look!

Jay Leno's 3D Printer Replaces Rusty Old Parts

[ChevyThunder]

We had a rapid prototyping machin (not as nice as this) at the school I went to. Also we toured a place that had a rapid prototyping machin and a scanner.. Much older and more expensive but VERY cool. It was pretty cool to see, we were supposed to be able to use the rapid prototyping machine at school for a project but the nozzel got all plugged up and it was going to take like a month to get it repaired.

Every foundry should have one of these, it makes protyping cheap, fast and all around better.

[pigjamelectric]

What a great application for this technology! I look forward to learning about other interesting possibilities as well.

[OneMoreTime]

We are currently employing this kind of tech at landspeed.com and it is just so cool. Do you want to make a mold of a 32 ford just scan one and import the scan into CAD and then fix all the dents and dings in the cad program and send it to computer controlled machines to make the molds..You will now have the perfect replica part of the original..As the price comes down so this kind of tech is financially doable for more people I expect to see more of it..

Sam

[Jon]

Also called "Fabbers". FabatHome.org has a nice wiki on building your own 3D printer.

[classicautoresto]

very cool

[Kevin45]

On Lenos website he has a video clip of it in action. The scanner thet measures the part is rather inexpensive for what it does Less than $4000. The printer on the other hand is rather expensive. The scanner will measure all points of a part and send it to the computer orogram that you are running, (Solid Works, etc)
We have an SLA machine at work that is used for prototyping. It uses laser to solidify the plastics. Pretty remarkable as to how it works. When we first looked at purchasing one, we looked at the one that Hasbro had and got to tour the facilities.

[st3gamefarm]

Originally Posted by mgold

I get Popular Mechanics and was reading about this 3D Printer the other day. I thought it was one of the coolest things I've ever heard of! I bet in a few years, when this technology becomes cheaper, this will be standardized. It will completely change the car restoration hobby. I bet it will completely change "gearhead" culture in general. Take a look!

Jay Leno's 3D Printer Replaces Rusty Old Parts

There's a Youtube video about that,

I Want One!!

[Mike H]

We have one at the HS school I teach at in the Enginering department. It is pretty cool the students can prototype their parts then I have a friend with a small CNC that will make the parts for them if they want a machined one.