Political power grows out of the nozzle of a 3-D Printer.
Posted on 09/22/2018 1:43:01 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Humans have figured out lots of ways to shape metal -- casting it with a mold, stamping it, drilling holes and milling surfaces in a machine shop, even zapping it with a laser. Well, now you can add a new method: 3D printing.
A number of companies offer metal 3D printing, which creates products and components layer by layer with a computer-controlled system tracing its lineage to ordinary inkjet printers. But on Monday, printing giant HP announced it's entered the market with the ambition to dramatically lower prices, courtesy of a $400,000 product called the Metal Jet.
"We're really going to enable mass production for mainstream metals, in particular steels," said Tim Weber, head of 3D metal printing for HP.
HP has signed deals with experienced metal manufacturing partners and with customers including Volkswagen and Johnson & Johnson Medical Devices. So don't be surprised if your next car's gears or suspension links are built partly from this new method of digital fabrication....
(Excerpt) Read more at cnet.com ...
Political power grows out of the nozzle of a 3-D Printer.
You think ink toner cartridges are expensive, what will metal toner cartridges cost?
Especially the heavy ones.
Think of the bloatware those HP drivers will have.
Their normal printers are bad enough.
The promise of The Weapons Shops of Isher brought to the real world.
Thank you so much for your wonderful tech posts!
I love them all so much..
And speaking of love, you and your lovely wife are constantly in my prayers.
May you both recover fully and live without pain and enjoy posting here on FR for years to come my FRiend!
p.s. To all my wonderful Freeper friends, please send up a heartfelt prayer for these two wonderful folks.
My late father was a great master machinist....just the sight of that tray of precision steel parts would have lit up his eyes with childish glee!
I wish he had lived to see this :-/
What’s funny is I’m not in a technical field nor am I a techie, but much of it fascinates me and I read quite a bit about it. Yes, it’s rough when both people are amputees, but at least we live in a great country.
My company is a supplier to HP. I have been working with them on these and other incredible 3D Printers.
This is just the third stage of what they have planned.....black plastic, four-color plastic and now metal.
Incredible stuff!
I’m guessing this will all look like the Model T and blacksmith’s shops ten years from now.
I’m a benchrest shooter and we are forever searching for the perfectly straight rifle barrel and chamber. Is this technology able to print a close tolerance barrel and chamber with threading ready to screw into an action? What kind of hardness ranges are possible? Been thinking about this idea for 4 years or so.
The good news...you can buy metal toner cartridges are Lowe's...
Look for a big fight over requiring these printers to be able to recognize when they're printing gun parts, and refuse unless the printer is able to communicate to a government site for permission.
I wonder who gets to play the part of McAllister?
I certainly hope so (though $400K is a bit out of my price range).
“For example, you can make a part lighter with an interior lattice that’s strong but mostly hollow.”
The best part of all this. 3D printer technology is already being used to make rocket engines. Here’s an article about using the technology to make rocket nozzles with cooling channels built in.
https://3dprint.com/207282/nasa-rocket-engine-nozzles/
I look forward to seeing them make machine tools that are lighter and just as strong. I have machine tools that I have to use a hoist to move them around my workshop because they weigh so much. Lighter electric shop motors would be a plus. Definite plus for car engines.
I knew Lou Palmisano and know what you seek.
I do not think the tolerances are there yet, but they are getting closer. A perfectly straight bore would be a massive leap ahead.
#3 Metal toner cartridges. Buy em at Office Depot.
Brass, Aluminum, Steel, Bronze, Titanium
But their warped understanding of “social responsibility” will cause it to refuse to print gun parts, using as a [failed] analogy the way current printers detect images of currency and refuse to print it (and probably call the Secret Service while they’re at it).
Webster’s got nothing on today’s libs. They’ve managed to make “social responsibility” mean violating others’ civil rights.
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