Leno's Garage

[Philthyphil]

Not sure where to post this....got it from my Tiger board.....but if you need a part for any old mechanical thing this is amazing http://widgets.nbc.com/o/47f1317f10...fe70d4555df05a/9e46bd46/-cpid/ba4377d3bfd6c81

 

[JB]

Re: Leno's Garage

Argh! I hate those links to videos that take 5 min to load, then run for 3 seconds between 5 second buffers.

 

[SuzukiChopper]

Re: Leno's Garage

Ran for me no problem and freakin SWEET tools!! That scanner is apparently less than $3k!

 

[Bigprairie1]

Re: Leno's Garage

I've used this method before...its very cool.
The expensive machine in that bunch is the (bigger) dimensional 3D prototyping job (aka '3D xerox' machine). The parts that it makes are very useful for having a quick pre-production prototype made. The process is often call SLA or SLS technology. The only downside is that the prototype part is pretty brittle given that the material is mostly a resin.
The most useful part of the process is taking the scanned 3D model file directly to a automated milling machine which will read right from the electronic file to machine out your part...again, its pretty cool.
Whether or not its cheaper is debateable. However it guarantees that you can remake the part without fear of a measuring error that you might run into if you manually try to measure it up.
Great video!!
BP

 

[SuzukiChopper]

Re: Leno's Garage

In that video they showed the 'printer' that did the prototypes in ABS plastic which also has some sort of other material that could be washed away and dissolved so there was no need for post-prototype assembly. ABS plastic would be plenty strong and not brittle compared to a resin cast. Only problem I could see with the 'printer' doing the prototypes that way is if you did your own CAD design that required moving parts. It may all look well and good with the prototype but if the part in the end was to be, say steel, and assembled and not enough thought was put in to the assembly process... your prototype would be useless. Either way, the video wasn't promoting the 'printer' (different company), rather the 3D scanner so I could see it being absolutely useful (for CHEAP) to replicate parts if the application can output to a CNC machine. It looks like it should. I could easily recoup $3k using that device if I could only find a cheap CNC operation around here.

 

[angus63]

Re: Leno's Garage

SLA, Quickast, rapid protoyping has been growing for a decade or so and used extensively for aerospace parts with undefined surface contours. I used the process for military jet engine components a dozen years ago and the price was prohibitive. Two years ago I used the process for a satellite component and the effort was 1/10 the cost. The 16-20 weeks a casting house takes to hard tool is eliminated so the time saving is tremendous when needed (it always is). The CAD output from the reverse engineering (3d laser scan), depending on the software used, is often a wireframe mesh that needs to be converted to a solid body before used in a CAM program like mastercam. There were alot of software issues in the past, but the process is becomng more universal and affordable. By the way, I have one of those wrenches from that company (I think) from a show I attended about 4 years ago.

 

[thurps]

Re: Leno's Garage

Actually they said ABS plastic or "polycarbonate". You can't get much tougher than that. As for the technology coming down in price, I understand that next year you will be able to buy that application for your Iphone.

 

[CheapboatKev]

Re: Leno's Garage

Argh! I hate those links to videos that take 5 min to load, then run for 3 seconds between 5 second buffers.

I hear ya JB..half the time not worth the headache...Even on my high speed DSL
I learned that if you pause em and come back in a few minutes they are loaded without streaming interruptions..

 

[lowkee]

Re: Leno's Garage

All I can say is WOOHOO! I have been wanting to do that for motorcycle parts for a looong time!

I wonder what the max size of the part can be? Man, If I knew of that a few years ago I would already own one. That is a veritable gold mine for replacement parts, boat, MC or otherwise. You make a killing just reverse engineering every part of a boat, bike or car and selling the collection to machine shops. Better yet, make a service which would allow a machine shop to request a CAD drawing of a part and you find it, scan it and deliver it to them for machining.

 

[angus63]

Re: Leno's Garage

A real double-edged sword for the manufacturing industry. Here's an example: My buddy worked for Tiffany & Co. as a manufacturing engineer. He was hired to reverse engineer their product lines. He would log out a pc. of ornate hand-crafted jewelry, create a 3d laser generated CAD model with detail drawings and bill of material. Now this info could be farmed out for quote from various sources and mass produced. The original craftsmen who developed and produce these pieces, who spend decades developing skills and careers, are now behind fry bins instead of bridgeports and the contracts go to the lowest bid often outside the U.S.A.. For everyone that benefits from new technology, somebody else suffers...

Lowkee - Many rapid prototype service houses have large scanners and modellers. The last service I used had a machine capable of 24" square x 36" high. This was a cellulose deposition prototype used to cast complicated aluminum housings. Aftermarket parts producers use similar methods to fabricate parts and tooling cheaply, but as you are aware, the quality (fit,finish,tolerance,etc) sometimes suffers in the near-net shape process.