absolutely

I'm living in the present, it makes more sense here.

Shit now i'm in the past

Imagine we can print spare parts for vintage machines like Singer.

Liberty Warrior We are in the future relative to the past.

Agreed! Check out this article about Markforged's latest printers and how they can work for job shops and small business: www.engineering.com/AdvancedManufacturing/ArticleID/15505/Making-Additive-Manufacturing-Accessible-to-Job-Shops-and-SMEs.aspx

any FDM machine is capable of that. you just need a kiln to sinter the pieces.

Add it to this stuff that floats and you can become Ironman kzfaq.info/get/bejne/i9magrlo2cmrgn0.html

They must be looking at a part that is tailored for printing and especially difficult for CNC. I'm a design engineer that also offers prototypes for some clients. The ease of programming and setup is a huge advantage for printing. But they are mind numbingly slow and produce awful surface finishes. There is nothing on the market right now that would make me think twice about replacing my CNC hardware. I think printers are great for design houses or hobbyists who don't have manufacturing capability. But it's going to be a long time before we are talking about replacing injection molding or CNC for anything but niche parts.

if you got a machine that prints metal parts at 10 / hour or something then its also rly cheap but you gotta make the machine first

Agreed. When I demo'd their onyx printer last year, it was something like 1 part in 8 hours. The material was expensive too. I'm burning two setup parts in my garage tonight on a 20 HP VMC in about 5 minutes per side. I'm holding about .002 inches, getting surface finishes around 40 Ra on aluminum blanks that cost me $1.50 each in bulk. I'd love to go with a printer if it can do the job cost effectively but it won't be any time soon.

I am not an engineer but I tried to get objects manufactured in metal before and the cost was like 600 bucks instead of 50 for things like a not too big box with some holes in it, etc.

Much of the cost of CNC is in the programming and setup. This cost can be shared over volume runs so that it is not very significant relative to manufacturing time and material. But if you only cut one part, it can be very expensive. That's why I mentioned a hobbyist or a design engineer who needs a quick prototype as possibly finding a solution here. But these things are not yet suited for product manufacturing.

search: filamet. you'll want a plated or hardened nozzle.

Dear respected sir, I've done it. But not found. Please could you give me a link please?

there you go. that shop is kinda hard to find. shop.thevirtualfoundry.com/ be aware, that you still have to fire it in a kiln, to sinter it into solid metal.

Cuda FX I

True, however that would require you to have a kiln and the time to everything with that. This is an all-in-one sort of thing.

ya know ya still have to do the whole process @ 1:00

it's not its just the printer.

q zorn Nice idea but no fiction. The flight-qualified version of the SuperDraco engine (SpaceX Dragon V2) is the first fully 3D printed rocket engine.

Where are you in the production cue?................CNC machines sitting unused waiting for your unexpected/unscheduled order?..............Which companies are those?

Protolabs standard lead time is three business days with single day expedite options as well. There's many with lead times about a week, Xometry, and Rapid mfg are a couple(i have used all three). Local shops will generally turn around under 3 weeks as well. I think this tech is cool, huge applications for manufacturing, why pitch it with bad information?

According to the manufacturer's website, the finished parts are up to 99.7% dense and are pure metal. You can check out our full article here: bit.ly/2rRkmyy, and read their page on the printer here: markforged.com/metal-x/ Thanks!

I've read that the porosity can be varied at will, which means the process has the ability to print a sponge-like metal material. The military is already experimenting with this material in flak jackets and helmets.

already... www.cloudfactory.jewelry/

i never suggested someone delete a post but i sure do now. A rash of legislation can be the result of your post.

twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1141781922500239361

buy a cr10 and some 90% metal filament and a kiln. all that is less than $1000 and you can refurb to your heart's content. I'm using this process to restore typewriters

Ethan Hunter For anything needing precision... bores, keyways, sprocket surfaces, threads. The 3D print is messy.

True but hopefully in a few years this will become mainstream on home printers. I agree most parts are still going to need final machining for anything precision.

What are you talking about, printing is cheep, and this will be cheep in time, the precision can be similar as sand casting so parts can be machined afterwards. This will be the next step for fabricators, and as a r&d engineer i would love this in my shop, it would save tone of time. Oh yeah and the fact you can make things with infill so they are partially hollow is a game changer by the way, i can make lighter things that are as strong as full parts

Gasper Erjavec Cheap? Lol! It is expensive and slow and lacks precision. Finishing in CNC adds process complexity, cost, etc. I like where it's going, but we are quite a way from this being a general production process. Great, however, for prototypes, repairs, and very low volume applications.

Obviously it will not replace cnc any time soon, but im surprised you find it expensive while ruining costs of a average printer are laughable to a average cnc. I work in a prototype shop so that is the angle im looking at it and this can be the future, almost no waste, low skill workers and so on..