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New Very cool but way too expensive.
The boy glanced at my wire prototype, and said: 3D printer.

And he's probably right.

Dammit, now I gotta to figure out which one.

Ok Greg, do you have enough info to recommend(?,) (I want a question/comma punctuation element) since you are living and breathing these things lately.
New 3D printers...
Almost bought one tonight.

http://auction.repoc...ls.cfm?ID=1113341

Outbid by over $100.

It was $30K when new. This one I got the WHOLE history on it. It was rebuilt in 2010, except for one thing the Z axis... which gets the lest amount of wear anyway.

It was owned by a Tech Center and had exceptionally little usage and hours on it... It run on Redhat Linux v8 (2002).

Personally, getting into kinds of materials you want, they are getting expensive at that point.

The RepRaps (http://www.reprap.org/wiki/Main_Page) or Makerbots (http://www.makerbot.com/). Could probably do the form but not the material.

Getting into Ceramic stuff is some of the expensive stuff.

http://www.shapeways...aterials/ceramics
http://www.lithoz.co...mics-as-material/
--
greg@gregfolkert.net
PGP key 1024D/B524687C 2003-08-05
Fingerprint: E1D3 E3D7 5850 957E FED0 2B3A ED66 6971 B524 687C
New Refining: My materials can be the flimsiest plastic
as long as it doesn't leach any chemicals when subjected to ice water.

It only has to "support" 3 ice cubes, and the base can clip into the top coil (or grid or whatever the thing makes best) via some type of simple pressure boot socket.

It is better for both pieces to be easy to cut with a standard kitchen scissors, without shattering, so a bit of flexibility would be good. That is why I envision the top piece as a coil since it will be easy to resize. This allows for a single manufacturing size that will fit different final targets without having to carry multiple size/skus.

If possible, I'd like to print designs on the sides/top on the fly for customization.
New Most plastic satisfies that. Why not experiment with SS wire
I still can't picture why this is so complicated.

But why not get some stainless steel wire to make some prototypes?

E.g. 316L Stainless (Low carbon, very corrosion resistant. Overkill for this application.)
http://www.mcmaster....teel-wire/=l3c4c2

#92705K17 - 0.064" diameter, 1/4 pound spool (22 feet long). $18.01 plus tax and shipping.

That diameter is between 14 and 15 gauge wire so is reasonably robust. It has a soft temper so should be easy to bend (and should be strong enough to keep its shape). There's a spring-tempered version as well.

http://www.component...ile-strength.html gives the tensile strength as 220 - 250 ksi (220-250,000 psi). It should easily hold some ice cubes.

You can do calculations to determine what is the minimum size wire you need given the known weight (roughly 19 g each according to http://wiki.answers....d_size_tray_weigh so 3 ice cubes = 57 g or a little over 2 oz), the material you want to use and the shape. I haven't done the calculations. No guarantees that this wire will work for you - just a gut feeling. You'll need to experiment.

HTH a little.

Cheers,
Scott.
New It's not complicated
There are just many choices and options to discard before coming up with the final simple item.

thanks for the info
New And if some day I crumble and actually get one
Are there any that will print steel (or high temp composites) that will allow me to create engine parts for my car?
New NASA is experimenting with similar machines.
You can't directly print most metals yet. (Maybe you could print gallium or mercury, but there are issues with metals that are liquid near room temperature...)

You can use lasers to selectively create metals from starting powders - http://www.nasa.gov/...tive_melting.html

You can also 3D print a form and then cover it with metal - http://www.shapeways...dprinting_gallery

The process lays down a thin layer of stainless steel powder, this is bound by a binding material. Layer after layer is applied and the resulting model is then lifted out of the powder. The model is then heated, cured and infused with bronze. Then in this case it is polished. This is a very new process and we're taking it straight out of the lab and bringing it to you.

This is just a bit of expectation management on our part:

We can currently print your models in Stainless Steel. Keep in mind the guidelines when modeling for 3D printing and it is best to keep the wall thickness at a minimum of 3mm. The minimum detail size can be 1mm.

However we have to manually check each model to be sure it can be printed. Even though you can successfully upload your model it will not always mean it can be printed in metal. With this great new process we can now give you guidelines for modeling that will ensure you that designs made according to these specifications can be 3D Printed in metal.

The models will take 14 working days to get to you from the moment you order them.

The Stainless Steel 3D printing process does not provide for as smooth a finish as some other stainless steel things you might already own. You will see some layers and layer definition in your final object.

In some objects the polishing process might not be able to get all the nooks and crannies. In the Moebius ants small model for example that you can see in the pictures above the underside of the ant legs are not polished.

We still think that this is AWESOME! But, want you to know what you're buying!


AWESOME!!!!11

:-/

It's still a very young technique.

HTH.

Cheers,
Scott.
New Yes...
but they are not as simple as a plastic printer.

Much more complicated and are typically kind of a laser ablation technique.

And you'd be fare better off buying the parts rather than making them at this point.
--
greg@gregfolkert.net
PGP key 1024D/B524687C 2003-08-05
Fingerprint: E1D3 E3D7 5850 957E FED0 2B3A ED66 6971 B524 687C
     Materials choice / design? - (crazy) - (14)
         dont think you can patent a bong, prior art -NT - (boxley) - (1)
             Which this isn't -NT - (crazy)
         It's not clear what you want. [tyop] - (Another Scott) - (10)
             Another option is a "fritted glass disk". - (Another Scott) - (9)
                 Time sink - (drook)
                 Very cool but way too expensive. - (crazy) - (7)
                     3D printers... - (folkert) - (6)
                         Refining: My materials can be the flimsiest plastic - (crazy) - (2)
                             Most plastic satisfies that. Why not experiment with SS wire - (Another Scott) - (1)
                                 It's not complicated - (crazy)
                         And if some day I crumble and actually get one - (crazy) - (2)
                             NASA is experimenting with similar machines. - (Another Scott)
                             Yes... - (folkert)
         This looks interesting - (crazy)

The tautological prime conjecture states that the tautological prime conjecture is true.
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