Offer to print parts

[Leo Dearden]

I have a small and growing print farm.

Mostly I print in ABS, but I can do PLA too.

I'm willing to print limited numbers of parts for R&D purposes at my expense. I'll include posting them anywhere in the world in that, too.

The timing will be best effort, as I have spare capacity. If you want courier delivery, you can have it at cost. I may start charging costs at some point, but let's get the ball rolling at $0. :-)

If you want something, send me a printable watertight STL, the desired material, your address, and the quantity.

Please keep it less than 90mm in the longest dimension, since larger parts are tricky to print.

Cheers,

--
Leo

--

RepRapKit.com

[Data Pathway]

this is awesome!, at present the only plastic part that I know for certain will be required in any quantity is links for energy chain, see 

http://www.igus.com/iPro/iPro_01_0020_0004_USen.htm?c=US&l=en

this'd probably be more to determine feasability for printed energy chain than a dedicated production effort - printing a 4 link chain and the ends whould be cool. but I leave it to your discretion - the stuff is not awful to buy, but recursion will eventually dictate making it!!

if and when we get several designs well defined and machine readable I'm betting lots of printed parts will crop up.

James 

[Leo Dearden]

Great. Send me print ready .stl or .scad and I'll print (For the moment, I'm too busy making better RepRaps to divert to other design tasks). :-)

--
Leo

--

RepRapKit.com

[Data Pathway]

kool - the hunt begins!

[John Griessen]

On 11/11/2012 01:20 PM, Leo Dearden wrote:
> If you want something, send me a printable watertight STL, the desired material, your address, and the quantity.
>
> Please keep it less than 90mm in the longest dimension, since larger parts are tricky to print.

> "Mostly I print in ABS, but I can do PLA too."

Thanks Leo. I don't see any production via 3DP plastic for cubes, but as R&D it's great!
As test pieces for later 3DP sintered metal pieces or CNC machined parts in production.

I don't see casting as economic for production parts. Casting has shrinkage that is variable
depending on foundry technique, and I've poured Si bronze, pure copper, tin bronze, zinc, lead
and know the properties of those metals when flowing. I've made gas fired kilns of 2 cubic yards.
It's all going into the dark past never to be done again as economic manufacturing.
Except maybe a little microwave steel pouring for a while, and maybe some materials
that don't laser sinter well...

I hope I don't end up eating my words and doing any aluminum castings as a bridge to higher
production runs of any parts - I rather like the business model of no production runs, and
always making parts to order just as needed, and no delays and shipping costs for things
to go from one side of the planet to the other.

[Data Pathway]

I would amend that one-off production of printed plastic (or very short run production) parts will likely get incorporated into future designs... 

As a good example I submit this:

http://machinedesign.com/article/robot-imitates-an-elephant-s-trunk-0913?page=0%2C1

this is a light duty, 11 degree of freedom robot handler for tulip bulb packaging - it has several 3d printed bellows and uses light pressure servopneumatic controls to move... ;-)

One of my (frequent) daydreams is to built a tele-operations interface to a robotic cube with waldo's - allowing the manipulation of materials on a tiny, then molecular level through the interface.

Fun and games!!

[Bruce Wattendorf]

I also agree and that we should look to being able to create a set of tools that can be replicated by some body and then upgraded when they have the machines made that can make more permanent  

parts.

 I think a 3D printer is a very good start and a good tool to both design- R&D, and make a short production run. I also feel that 3D printed parts are good because the technology is there where one can make a .stl file and use that same file to print a part and or machine a part. 

In closing I don't think we should be closed minded in both sides and that both 3D printed parts and machined metal parts are both needed to get our common goal of a set of tools that can become a production "plant" that can manufacture most everything. 

Bruce Wattendorf  

[Cube Spawn]

Yeppers, 3d printing is just one of the many tools to "get there" "There" being defined as a bootstrappable manufacturing plant of arbitrary sophistcation.

Laser sintering, spot welding, laser cutting, vacuum forming, injection molding, pressure forming, surface grinding, NASA'a free form fabricator, EDM, ECM,.... 20-30 more!...

Any and every -thing under the sun merits consideration, but the basic tools - the ones that   machining started with Lathe, Mill, surface grinder + a circuit mill and a 3d printer will be an excellent start - keeping in mind - the mill is 70% done and 90% functional - most of the changes I want to make on it are  "better" ideas - the original ideas would work too. and there needs to be a heavier spindle and some mounting work done.

the 3d printer module is 80% done mechanically and off the shelf electronics are available to run it.

It is arguable 100% designed - since I am using the same design as an open source printer already in circulation - the Ultimaker

I can't begin to express how encouraging it is to hear more than one voice of agreement - at one time - thanks for speaking up, guys!! Kudo's to the patience of those who have followed the slow progress thus far, lets leap forward from here!!

[John Griessen]

On 11/12/2012 08:25 AM, John Griessen wrote:
> I don't see any production via 3DP plastic for cubes, but as R&D it's great!

I can qualify what I meant as: production == beyond R&D volumes when you want tens of things
or hundreds. 3DP can be slow and so more costly for satisfying orders for parts when shipping
is nearby and low cost.

"via 3DP plastic for cubes" by not seeing plastic in production, I meant it is not strong enough
for the thicknesses of cube corner material to be robust, not that it couldn't be useful anywhere
in a design.

I don't see all customers as being replicators. Most will be wanting to "get stuff done"
rather than do R&D, so they will want parts shipped, more than one set at a time if
lucky at all, and if you're printing them slow, it won't go as a business.

I'm for OSHW business more than hobby. So, I like designs that are robust, not barely functioning
and upgradable when you can afford it. Designs that are low cost and strong from the start.