Posted on 11/30/2013 4:45:31 AM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
Calgary - Maker6 is a very different ballgame for 3D printing. This is an integrated service, including assistance with design and consumer-friendly services. Its also a very interesting business approach, making 3D printing easily accessible.
I was fortunate enough to get an interview with MacKenzie Brown, CEO of maker6 and its related CAD design company, CAD Crowd. I was extremely interested in what looked to me to be a very effective way of managing 3D printing across a very wide range of commercial and consumer needs.
I dont need to do a lot of talking here. I was lucky enough to get a particularly well-informed expert as my interviewee, and MacKenzie explains how maker6 works extremely well. What I will say is that this is the first working model of consumer level 3D printing Ive seen, and its a truly good idea, practical and efficient across a whole spectrum of 3D printing commercial and consumer applications.
About maker6
Calgary-based maker6 is an online operation, providing access to 3D printing services and design services. It also provides access to local printers, as Mackenzie explains below. What stunned me was the sheer scope of maker6s range of operations and products.
These products are top of the range, latest in class, 3D printing designs. Youll notice the carbon fibre business cards, complete with hollow cut logo-shape. Thats new, and its also a good indicator of the versatility which 3D printing can bring to designs. Youll see a truly vast range of products of just about every known type of consumer goods, and a lot of information about how to source these products. I will now shut up and let MacKenzie do the talking:
Digital Journal: How does a consumer use maker6 3D printing services?(continued)
(Excerpt) Read more at digitaljournal.com ...
What I mean is, can we print the cure for cancer (of course not), but that is an example of what I'd like to see other FReepers think.
What would probably most revolutionize 3D printing is the expansion of the list of materials that can be used in the process.
The revolution is not one of new things being made but one of lowering production costs.
Perhaps someday all you’ll have to buy is a printer and some ‘ink’. Instead of buying things for your home you’ll just download the design and print a new toaster.
In a way, 3D printing is a cure for some cancers. They’ve been using 3D printers for printing livers and bladders for some time.
As time goes on, and expertise improves, they will probably be able to expand on this.
They can print living tissue ?
Mary Shelley would have drooled ...
FRANKENSTEIN FOR SENATOR
OFTEN REPRODUCED, NEVER DUPLICATED
/johnny
This is what I expected. Hire a freelance designer and have it printed locally.
I started doing this last week thru Craigslist and the first guy that ordered something couldnt look more pleased. He needed a prototype for last Monday and I handed him a part on Saturday.
Even if they send me an STL file there is always some tweaking that needs to be done. I found free software that will do that from http://www.designspark.com/
Im retired and having fun doing this. Ive been printing since 2 this morning.
The jewelry industry is a place of significant impact. A lot of jewelry is cast using hand carved wax models.
The wax models are cast in metal and then a rubber mold is made from the metal part. The molds are injected with wax to produce wax parts. The wax parts are then invested, that is incorporated within a plaster cylinder. The cylinder is baked in an oven and the wax drains out leaving a cavity. The cavity is then filled with molten gold or silver.
The CAD capability coupled with 3 D printing considerably speeds the process and makes revisions simple. There is real philosophical conflict between the CAD designers and the traditional, read old, designers. Some of the CAD dsigns could be reproduced by CNC machines but not to the degree as 3 D printers.
The answer to your question is not presently known. But some wise kid will do exactly what you suggest. It took nearly 200 years of ink printing for Diderot to conceive and create the Encyclopédie.
3D print the Iron Man body armor replete with super sonic thrust and breaking and computer generated radar capability. The one I have now is for a much larger body size. The heart thing could be useful down the road as well.
A valid question that I may have but one answer for. In the area of mechanical devices, with cogs and valves and gears and motors and stuff, the cost of engineering and fabricating the first item is astronomical due to all too frequent "opps" factor. It looked good on the drawings, but it was .0026" too small. 3D printing allows designers and fabricator to make the part, 'dry fit' the assembly, and see if all the calculation were correct with considerably less time and cost. This hasn't even begin to reach the garage mechanic yet to see what will come from there. I'm optimistic about what will happen in the future due to cheap, readily accessible 3D printers.
And capital start-up costs. I am certain we are seeing an industry that is literally in its infancy. As development continues, I am also certain that some genius working in his garage will strike on to something just beyond our imagination.
BINGO
It was the movie "The Right Stuff". An astronaut (name?) was testifying before Congress on the Apollo 1 disaster. Paraphrasing it: We failed because we lacked imagination. Those words are scored into my soul.
"You asked how do you fight an idea ... I'll tell you ... with another idea"
THAT'S one that sticks with ME.
I DO appreciate your reply ... sort of on the same line
a 3D printer that prints 3D printers!
I’m trying to move into some manufacturing. It looks like3D printing is good for prototyping of molds, but cost prohibitive for large runs. That’s still pretty exciting.
They’re already planning on printing food, human organs, airplane parts, houses, cars, etc...
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