Speaking from my own experience, I've made a number of fun or educational toy parts and figurines for my kids; I made some camera accessories for my wife (couple of lens cap holders, a simple slip-on macro lens for taking close-up pictures). I also used 3d printed parts to do some "stand in" parts while designing a camera testing rig -- using the "drafts" to tweak and verify the design before a batch of real parts were cut and anodized.
A guy I met through the 3D printing community makes and sells an after-market automotive air duct involving significant bends in the duct -- there's a part that you definitely won't want to machine. His part is not as sensitive to the surface finish (some turbulence in the airflow is okay) -- so he lays down thick layers of plastic to improve mechanical strength and reduce printing time. As with anything else, there's price/performance/quality tradeoffs that you must evaluate for your own needs. I agree with you that the surface finish of filament-extrusion leaves a lot to be desired when you're expecting a "finished product" -- but the convenience of hitting "print" and not having to otherwise touch the printer is fantastic. On Wed, May 30, 2012 at 12:10 PM, Roland Jollivet <roland.jolli...@gmail.com> wrote: > On 30 May 2012 21:00, andy pugh <bodge...@gmail.com> wrote: > >> On 30 May 2012 19:53, N. Christopher Perry <n_christopher_pe...@me.com> >> wrote: >> > I've professionally used parts made by these processes for non-critical >> brackets, rough as-cast like blanks for pneumatic manifolds >> >> Oh, yes. At work they print all sorts of parts. Complete front grills, >> fully functional intake ducts, interior trim. We could hardly develop >> the cars at all without the RP lab. >> They also have a CAD to Sand to Casting machine, and can make cylinder >> heads in less than a day. >> >> >> > With filament ? > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > Live Security Virtual Conference > Exclusive live event will cover all the ways today's security and > threat landscape has changed and how IT managers can respond. Discussions > will include endpoint security, mobile security and the latest in malware > threats. http://www.accelacomm.com/jaw/sfrnl04242012/114/50122263/ > _______________________________________________ > Emc-users mailing list > Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Live Security Virtual Conference Exclusive live event will cover all the ways today's security and threat landscape has changed and how IT managers can respond. Discussions will include endpoint security, mobile security and the latest in malware threats. http://www.accelacomm.com/jaw/sfrnl04242012/114/50122263/ _______________________________________________ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
