How to deal with the proliferation of 3d printed nonsense?

GiroDyno · Aug 3, 2022

Strostkovy said:
If it's just the poor quality that bothers you, go look at a metal fence or a school desk chair. The welds are dog shit, but people don't notice or care. Same with soldering in consumer products.

In the mountain bike world a lot of machined components are cut with large stepovers and small tools, or edge breaks are cut with a ball end mill rather appropriate chamfer tool. Customers love to know their part was "produced with aerospace CNC machining techniques!" rather than cut efficiently and and to any sort of surface finish standard.
As the old adage goes "If its stupid and it ~~works~~ makes a profit, its not stupid."

johnrobholmes · Aug 3, 2022

Its useful for some items. I recently printed a batch of water line routers that would have been overkill and costly in metal. Prints 1 a minute and took about 5 minutes to design.

Sell em in the shop for 50 cents each. 2 penny materials gives 48 cents a minute return on a $300 machine ain't bad.

I've had printing jobs that return $1 a minute. Easy money if you know what to do.

Mr. Haney · Aug 7, 2022

3D printing is "new" technology. It will mature at some point and then mutate to other technologies.
Will machining disappear, no, but there will be a new sheriff in town down the road.
I get a kick out of designing and making useful things on my Ender 3.

Mechanola · Aug 24, 2022

dgfoster said:
printer works for cheap, never gets tired, and is never grumpy

Exactly what puts me off, the preference of a cold, heartless machine. I collaborate with lunatic or grumpy people and am never alone. Your printer won’t ask you one single question.

dgfoster · Aug 29, 2022

Platikdreams recently posted about Artemis' upcoming launch and a small but important role he had in making and improving pump components on the engines. He also posted a link about the engines which contained this paragraph:

"One of the most promising manufacturing technologies is selective laser melting. This technology, a form of 3-D printing, uses a high-energy laser and metal powder to produce parts more quickly and at lower cost than possible with conventional manufacturing methods. Because they are not welded, these printed parts are structurally stronger and more reliable, resulting in a safer vehicle. The first part has already been hotfire tested and more are planned for the future. With greater performance and lower cost, the RS-25 will be powering human exploration for years to come."

Musk uses a similar technology in his spacecraft. Amazing stuff.

Denis

DDoug · Aug 29, 2022

dgfoster said:
Platikdreams recently posted about Artemis' upcoming launch and a small but important role he had in making and improving pump components on the engines. He also posted a link about the engines which contained this paragraph:

"One of the most promising manufacturing technologies is selective laser melting. This technology, a form of 3-D printing, uses a high-energy laser and metal powder to produce parts more quickly and at lower cost than possible with conventional manufacturing methods. Because they are not welded, these printed parts are structurally stronger and more reliable, resulting in a safer vehicle. The first part has already been hotfire tested and more are planned for the future. With greater performance and lower cost, the RS-25 will be powering human exploration for years to come."

Musk uses a similar technology in his spacecraft. Amazing stuff.

Denis

Sciaky (sp) in chicago has been using electron beam melting of the powder for a few years now.

eKretz · Aug 30, 2022

Yeah it's cool stuff. My brother works for a major R&D company near Detroit that does work with cutting edge 3D printers. He's told me about some pretty cool stuff they're doing. One is using multiple different metal powders on the same part to get selective materials in different places on the part. The laser and process make it possible to fuse even different metals together just fine, he says. This will, of course, not come cheap.

trevillaengineering · Sep 29, 2022

Garwood said:
I'm becoming disgruntled at the proliferation and general acceptance of 3d printed low volume retail products.

I appreciate, respect and compliment the concepts and creative uses of materials. But I'm really struggling to bite my tongue with full grown adults marketing products that look like god awful shit and people actually buying the stuff.

I feel like it's an erosion of craftsmanship when things that could be made very nicely and affordably through any number of manufacturing processes are 3d printed, look like cheap fuck and folks actually by into it and support that.

Am I out of line with this?

Yes, you are write , I agree with you on this issueo of 3d printed low volume retail products.

burdickjp · Oct 9, 2022

I'd argue that the proliferation of CNC has had similar consequences. A lot of CNC'd parts look like trash because of a lack of attention to details. This is what happens when processes get cheap.

trevillaengineering · Oct 31, 2022

Garwood said:
I'm becoming disgruntled at the proliferation and general acceptance of 3d printed low volume retail products.

I appreciate, respect and compliment the concepts and creative uses of materials. But I'm really struggling to bite my tongue with full grown adults marketing products that look like god awful shit and people actually buying the stuff.

I feel like it's an erosion of craftsmanship when things that could be made very nicely and affordably through any number of manufacturing processes are 3d printed, look like cheap fuck and folks actually by into it and support that.

Am I out of line with this?

Even though 3D printing may have some drawbacks, its potential is undeniable. People will eventually become meticulous 3D artists, but it will take time.

Garwood · Nov 1, 2022

trevillaengineering said:
Even though 3D printing may have some drawbacks, its potential is undeniable. People will eventually become meticulous 3D artists, but it will take time.

Prelude to spam?

eKretz · Nov 1, 2022

Garwood said:
Prelude to spam?

Quite possibly. IP says India, not Australia like the profile... I've had my eye on him since a few weeks ago. Waiting for an actual spam post to be sure.

spedini · Nov 1, 2022

Some of it reminds me of my feelings when CNC parts started showing up on custom cars and motorcycles, etc.. at custom shows.
I'd think, "A machine did that, not your hands."
I don't think my words are capturing it, but I think you know what I mean.
It seemed souless.

Ries · Nov 1, 2022

Man is a tool using animal. Any tool.
Its possible to make crap with any tool.
Its possible to misuse a tool in creative ways, and produce something new and interesting.
I am not particularly impressed by crude cereal box prize quality 3d printing, but every once in a while, somebody does something cool and new and smart with dumb tools.

As far as high end 3d printing goes-
these guys in Norway are printing titanium parts that are FAA certified for airframes.
You buy (or build) an expensive enough tool, its not a toy anymore.

Norsk Titanium | Technology

www.norsktitanium.com

Scottl · Nov 1, 2022

spedini said:
Some of it reminds me of my feelings when CNC parts started showing up on custom cars and motorcycles, etc.. at custom shows.
I'd think, "A machine did that, not your hands."
I don't think my words are capturing it, but I think you know what I mean.
It seemed souless.

I feel the same way when I see a modern vehicle. So what if it can last for 200k miles plus with minimal maintenance and have a combination of performance, handling and comfort once only dreamed of. My old hand-cranked flivver had soul, especially that clickety-pop, clickety-pop sound the engine made, the way you were one with the environment (hot, cold, or wet) and the frequent stops to add water to the radiator.

Man, they just don't make em like they used to.

BarnFab · Nov 1, 2022

Garwood said:
I'm becoming disgruntled at the proliferation and general acceptance of 3d printed low volume retail products.

I appreciate, respect and compliment the concepts and creative uses of materials. But I'm really struggling to bite my tongue with full grown adults marketing products that look like god awful shit and people actually buying the stuff.

I feel like it's an erosion of craftsmanship when things that could be made very nicely and affordably through any number of manufacturing processes are 3d printed, look like cheap fuck and folks actually by into it and support that.

Am I out of line with this?

So to be clear you have an issue with people making products that sell based on the fact you feel the quality is to low even though the customers and market is there ... have you ever eaten fast food lol ...

The market decided what sells and if they function then who is to say the quality and price is not approprate for requirements. For all you know it could be a 10 year old kid giving it a crack.

Making money in this day and age is always a struggle and coming up with new business ideas and designs a challenge.

I would love to see you make some of that stuff at the level you are suggesting and profit enough to sustain it ...

I think it should be supported, you don't like it don't buy it but don't let the fact you are jealous of someone else's initiative cloud your judgment.

Garwood · Nov 1, 2022

BarnFab said:
I would love to see you make some of that stuff at the level you are suggesting and profit enough to sustain it ...

I do. I bootstrapped a machine shop from nothing and have manufactured products in numerous markets for 17 years now.

Stirling · Nov 2, 2022

Could they spend some time making the product a little smoother. Ya of course. And maybe should.
But it’s just another part/thing people buy, can we make better, sure. Should we make better than printed? The market has spoken. That’s all that matters.
If you think there is a hole. Compete. Let the market speak again. Maybe it will support you! Capitalism at its finest.

I got a printer and a CNC shop,
The printer makes candy dishes for a local store. Makes plant pots for a local store. It’s cute. It just runs. More of a becouse I can thing.
Then I make industrial parts with the “real” machines.
But if I need a barely passable jig for mill work holding. There is the potential I’m gonna print it for a one off situation. It’s just easy and it works.
Cheap printers are handy.
There getting much faster too. That helps a lot!
I built a “voron” and man it zips!

Comatose · Nov 2, 2022

My favorite thing in the world to 3d print are robot grippers, because man do I hate machining robot grippers. They're always spindly dangly hard to hold in a vise nonsense with multiple ops and multiple axes, they're always a one-off and I can't even blame the idiot who designed them, because it's usually me.

It's a tool. It's a tool that's cheaper to buy than a vise. Hell, in some cases a workable one, new, is cheaper than one pack of inserts. There's no reason NOT to have one for the times they come in handy.

eKretz · Nov 2, 2022

As far as cheap crap 3D printed products, look at it this way: at least that money is staying in the US instead of lining offshore pockets.

How to deal with the proliferation of 3d printed nonsense?

Aluminum

Aluminum

Plastic

Stainless

Diamond

Diamond

Diamond; Mod Squad

Plastic

Aluminum

Plastic

Diamond

Diamond; Mod Squad

Aluminum

Diamond

Diamond

Aluminum

Diamond

Hot Rolled

Titanium

Diamond; Mod Squad

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