Saturday, February 2, 2013

3D Printing Buzz

http://www.textually.org/3DPrinting/cat_fun.html

I watched this episode of "The Big Bang Theory" that had a 3D printer.
They seem to be in the news so will see what other info might be relevant with thoughts for doing in space.
- LRK -

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3D Printing Buzz
February 1m 2013
Latest episode of The Big Bang Theory includes 3D printing
Screen Shot 2013-02-01 at 1.27.33 PM.png
The The Big Bang Theory TV series has picked up on 3D printing.
Don't miss the last episode of The Big Bang Theory (Season 6, Episode 14), where Howard prints a whistle (that works) and action figures of himself, Raj and Bernadette. Bernadette wants him to return the $5'000 printer (what? $5'000 for a couple of dolls?)
emily | 12:54 PM | permalink 
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NASA and 3D metal printing. 
- LRK -

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NASA 3D prints rocket parts — with steel, not plastic
By John Hewitt on November 15, 2012 at 10:47 AM

NASA J2-x rocket part, made with an SLM cusing 3D printer
NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, has 3D printed nickel alloy rocket engine parts using a fabrication technique called selective laser melting, or SLM. The part will be used on the J-2x engine for the largest rocket ever built, known simply as the Space Launch System. 3D printing (see: What is 3D printing?) has become popular for fabricating parts from plastic, but using the technique with metals requires equipment that is a bit more extreme. Will 3D printing of hard materials become part of a general, growing trend, or will these exotic fabrication technologies be viable only for elite, niche markets?

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3D Printing Industry
- LRK -

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Supersized Industrial 3D Printing in Metal

By Rachel Park on Wed. December 5, 2012

Concept Laser, a manufacturer of industrial grade, metal 3D printers introduced its latest, large-scale laser melting system at this year’s Euromold event. As I mentioned in my review of the show this is an impressive machine with a range of novel features including a twin build chamber for continuous printing. Here we will take a closer look at the new X line 1000R.
First, a little bit of background — Concept Laser developed the Xline 1000R in collaboration with Fraunhofer ILT and Daimler AG with a focus on the needs of the automotive industry. As automotive manufacturing applications using advanced 3D printing technology has continued to evolve it has become an increasingly relied upon tool within the automotive sector due to its attractive economics and ability to reduce development times. The ability to print with metal materials makes it even more appealing. However, one of the tech’s greatest limitations, to date, has always been scale, specifically up. The primary focus of automakers is on aluminium alloys, which provide the basis for lightweight automobile construction and so the X line 1000R was developed for the tool-less manufacturing of large functional components and technical prototypes with functional material properties.
So it is not too surprising to learn that while the X line 1000R system was unveiled to the world for the first time at Euromold 2012 — a working system has been operating at Daimler AG for some time, with the aim of replacing costly sand-casting and die-casting applications in the early phases of their automotive development. In addition, according to Concept Laser there are more on order from other organisations — four of them.
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One more from ExtremeTech - good history information and interesting videos. 
Doing this on the Moon will present problems but that is what engineers are for.  :-)
- LRK -

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3D printing with metal: The final frontier of additive manufacturing
By John Hewitt on December 27, 2012 at 9:21 am

Trumpf laser welding machine
The holidays are a great time to sit back, relax, and watch the world happen around you. Few areas of technology have seen as much development in one year as that of 3D printing. Undoubtedly, the most dramatic and challenging has been printing with metal. For your enjoyment, we have assembled a few incredible videos that showcase the power and flexibility of 3D printing with metal — to not be amazed is to be numb to the technology of our day.

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3D printing at Wikipedia
- LRK -

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3D printing
Additive manufacturing or 3D printing[1] is a process of making a three-dimensional solid object of virtually any shape from a digital model. 3D printing is achieved using an additive process, where successive layers of material are laid down in different shapes.[2] 3D printing is considered distinct from traditional machining techniques which mostly rely on the removal of material by methods such as cutting or drilling (subtractive processes).
3D printing is usually performed by a materials printer using digital technology. Since the start of the twenty-first century there has been a large growth in the sales of these machines, and their price has dropped substantially.[3]
The technology is used in jewellery, footwear, industrial design, architecture, engineering and construction (AEC), automotive, aerospace, dental and medical industries, education, geographic information systems, civil engineering, and many other fields.
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Make Parts Fast - something that would come in handy if you were on the Moon and needed one of a kind every so often.
Fire up the CAD program and use the materials found outside your lunar lava tube.  

Looks like we could use some light weight powerful lasers. Just think what new jobs might be developed.  Just think of the possible spin-offs. OR think of what we are doing now and what kind of spin-offs could be generated for use in space.
- LRK -
 
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WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK -

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