Parts can be quite strong. Although, I've seen plenty of prints with a bad layer (can be as simple as the air conditioning kicking in and shrinking the plastic suddenly).
You can print out objects that would be difficult to mill, such as things requiring 5-axis milling, exotic holddown solutions, or very deep features, inaccessible features, or would have bit radius problems, or would require excessive stock. When set up correctly 3D printing is much more straightforward. e.g. a child can download a Sonic the Hedgehog file and make it without bit selection, holddown solutions, or any complicated CAM. What's crazy is printing fully functional complex 3d machines: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDE4vWX6Dz8 Many 3d print heads use 3D printed components like the tractor-gear. This is a difficult shape to machine otherwise. It's functional for the "long haul", not just a prototype that'll break too soon for real use. Danny ---- Chris Albertson <albertson.ch...@gmail.com> wrote: > On Tue, Mar 28, 2017 at 10:17 AM, andy pugh <bodge...@gmail.com> wrote: > > > On 28 March 2017 at 17:18, Les Newell <les.new...@fastmail.co.uk> wrote: > > > The prints also aren't that strong. If you > > > put enough time into it you can get some good results but most of the > > > stuff I want to make either needs to be strong or dimensionally accurate > > > (or usually both together). > > > The thing about 2D printing is that it does not work well if you are making > replacement parts for an existing product. The original parts were likely > of metal or a stronger kind of plastic but where 3D printing works well is > for new designs where you design the part knowing the properties of the > material. For example if printing a design that uses timing belts, you'd > use a wider belt them if using aluminum pulleys. > > -- > > Chris Albertson > Redondo Beach, California > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > Check out the vibrant tech community on one of the world's most > engaging tech sites, Slashdot.org! http://sdm.link/slashdot > _______________________________________________ > Emc-users mailing list > Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Check out the vibrant tech community on one of the world's most engaging tech sites, Slashdot.org! http://sdm.link/slashdot _______________________________________________ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
