3D Printing

[Bob Abell 2Participant @bobabell2]

Do we know

[Bob Abell 2Participant @bobabell2]

Hello chaps

Grit your teeth!……We`re in for a bumpy ride….or are we?

Just when we thought we knew enough about fixtures and fittings, Ipads, Ipods, Laptops, Emails etc to see us through the next few years…….Suddenly, there`s a new kid on the block!

And it`s…….3D printing!………What`s that?…..You`ve never heard of it?

Well, brace yourself!…..We need to get into it or we`ll be left behind by the Smart Set

Having said all that, even I don`t know what I`m talking about!

What I do know, is that these magic machines are coming on the market and are very expensive at the moment…….£600……£1000….£5000

It seems that, should you need an item for the home, you don`t go out and buy it…….You make it yourself!

Apparently, you draw what you need, on the PC and this new fangled 3D Printer cuts it out of a block of plastic, by producing the item in minute layers somehow

If you look at YouTube you will see plenty of examples………A rideable Bicycle……A working handgun…….any number of bits and pieces…..even a working ball race with no assembly involved!……..Which I can`t believe myself

I`ve started this thread, so that informed members can add to the thread with their special knowledge

Believe me, I have not a clue how it works, but I do know it is the future!

For model boat builders, it will be the answer to a maiden`s prayer!….ish!

People with the knowledge and the machine can probably create a profitable business out of it!

I have been approached by a knowledgeable chap, asking why I haven`t got such a machine myself?…….I thought….."Am I missing something here"

Colin…..This subject would be very interesting and informative, as a Technical article in the ModelBoats Magazine? Just don`t ask me to write it!…..lol

Well, there it is chaps…..The future!

Actually, I think it was Tony Hadley, he posted an article on building a 3D boat with such a machine, a couple of months ago, but I just couldn`t sort it out…..I`ll try and dig it out

Bob

Bob

[Bob Abell 2Participant @bobabell2]

Hi chaps!

Take a look at this little gadget!……..

**LINK**

Pretty impressive?

Bob……….Still baffled

[Bob Abell 2Participant @bobabell2]

And this…….

**LINK**

I can`t make out, where does it get the plastic from?

Bob

[Bob Abell 2Participant @bobabell2]

Looking at the knife demo……..Got an idea………

A normal printer uses ink……So a 3D printer must use molten plastic?

Can you imagine making your own plastic props?……..Or those hard to get right….Window frames?……..almost any model boat fitting?

Like it?……..Er………I think so……….He says……..Looking blank!

Becoming a little clearer now…..Bob

[Tony HadleyParticipant @tonyhadley]

Bob,

The item which I posted some time ago was a laser printed 3D Drone by Southampton University, it has now been removed from their site. The Drone was on displey at the BBC's Salford Quays site and was featured on the North-West news.

Model Boats magazine August 2013 features Hermes a German tug, which is a digitally printed 3D model, from plans drawn with Sketchup. A very interesting item to read.

Nice to see the magazine embracing modern technology as the previous month a laser cut model was featured, but I guess they can only publish what they receive.

Tony.

[Paul FreshneyParticipant @paulfreshney24971]

Hi all

Adding to this, Mighty Servant in July 2012 MB had the winches made by 3D printing, although the author only touched on it. Each took some 6 hours to 'printt apparently.

The 'foam build' boats by Ron Rees are also creating much interest and he has just completed a Targa Police Launch that is far more complicated than his Fairey Huntsamn in July 2013 MB, and it is absolutely stunning, the hull just being foam covered with a stocking and resin! Article will appear in due course as a plan feature with the option of foam or wood construction.

So yes, perhaps eventually when (and if) you buy a kit, all you get will be the computer files and programme on a disk and then your domestic machine creates all the parts.

Paul Freshney – Editor,

[Bob Abell 2Participant @bobabell2]

Thank you. Paul

Is there nothing new in this world?

So this whizz kid process is old hat already?

What about the soft ware?……….Can humans sort it out?

I suppose it`s slightly similar to CAD?………I`m betting that Paul knows all about this technology?

Come in, Paul

[Michael SheridanParticipant @michaelsheridan92093]

Posted by Bob Abell on 30/07/2013 19:09:58:

What about the soft ware?……….Can humans sort it out?

I suppose it`s slightly similar to CAD?……..

It is CAD. It's actually 3D CAD and you have to do it right or the printer won't print what you wanted (like any computer thing it will do exactly what you tell it, and if you don't know what you are telling it …. )

At present most modellers could scratchbuild something quicker than designing it for a 3D printer, and printed items tend not to have a great finish – yet. Personally I'd rather cut plasticard with a knife on a mat than spend hours trying to get a drawing right on the computer; I already spend too much time looking at screens

The real benefits will come when altruistic souls create CAD files for things and then publish them for all to use. So you could find a design for your favourite bollard and 'print' a few off for your model. I don't think it will put all those little boat fittings companies out of business, but it will almost certainly change the way things are made.

Edited By Michael Sheridan on 30/07/2013 19:23:23

Edited By Michael Sheridan on 30/07/2013 19:24:14

[Bob Abell 2Participant @bobabell2]

Thanks Mike

That`s just what we need to know about

So it`s a CAD prog

Bob

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

As I understand it, the printer consists of a tub of gloop (plastic of some sort) and the thingmejig fires one or two or more lasers at it and this solidifies the plastic where the lasers focus/meet and so you can , by moving the lasers around, and the platform up (this is what the obect being freated sits on, and rises out of the gloop), "print" almost anything. Apparently you can "print" a ball WITHIN an outer sphere, and make "working parts"…threads with a nut on for instance (perhaps not the best analogy, just typing off the top of my head).

Making any sort of fitting would be a doddle, especially if you have an original…you just laser scan it into the machine and it will replicate the whatever it is. Never be stuck for a bollard again!

I believe the price of "home" capable machines is cominf down, from being unaffordable, to affordable, if expensive. But what price to have one of these babies?? is £2000 too much to reproduce almost any fitting on a boat that you would care to have? or anything else for that matter. How many useful domestic items are thrown away because some small plastic part has broken that is unable to be repaired or obtained as a spare? Just scan and print. Ashley

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

The technology is quite frankly mind boggling, and if, as they are bound to, get cheaper and better..when will it stop?

It is almost just one step away fom the replicator in "Star Trek". You could share cad scans of whatever, to print: ….the most rare items ( I collect plastic soldiers) could be scanned and reproduced at will.

Yes, CAD knowledge would not be completely neccessary, a 3D laser scanner would soon sort out the wherewithal to print something.

Ashley

[David WooleyParticipant @davidwooley82563]

Earlier this year Mark Hawkins very kindly hosted an informative talk on this very subject at the Boat Museum Ellesmere Port. Mark is the proverbial expert on this process as it forms part of his full time occupation. The core of the process is within the CAD program and as Ashley has quite rightly pointed out there is very little the 3D printer cannot do in creating a true image of the original . In fact Mark has produced a number of fittings for warships one being the complex modern Phalanx close in weapons system which is a difficult fitting to scratch build and get right but an impossible task when incorporating every nut and bolt . As I saw for myself at Intermodellbau a top line 3D printer can produce amazing results but at a price and , can create an exact replica of the original in every detail providing the CAD program has that information in the first place. One of the modellers attending the talk asked the question , "but is it model making " I guess it all depends on what you call model making , after all buying in resin fittings is not model making but it is a means to an end. I would hazard a guess and say 3D printing just like photo etch may well transform scale model building. Although after 35 or so years since photo etch was first advertised in the pages of Model Boats magazine very few model makers will produce their own photo etch , The results I have seen so far using 3D modelling are really jaw dropping stuff , I'm no Luddite but for me I gain my pleasure in making the part myself even if it means a few hours of frustration ,a half full trash can and a fitting that is a long way from being an exact replica of the original .Dave Wooley

[Michael SheridanParticipant @michaelsheridan92093]

Posted by ashley needham on 30/07/2013 20:11:22:

Making any sort of fitting would be a doddle, especially if you have an original…you just laser scan it into the machine and it will replicate the whatever it is. Never be stuck for a bollard again!

Of course this does once again (see tapes, cds, 'digital', Pirate Bay, etc, before) raise the thorny subject of copyright/IP. If you obtain a commercially made bollard and then copy it, you are being naughty. If you make your own master and copy it, that's fine.

[Bob Abell 2Participant @bobabell2]

I'm slowly beginning to get my head round this new technology and the possibilities are awesome!

Just found out that Maplins are about to bring out a 3D printer, which is on pre order and costs about £700

It also describes how the system works and is truly exciting

What an amazing new invention?

Will post a link shortly

Bob

[Paul TParticipant @pault84577]

Bob

Yes I do know all about these machines but until the material used for making the 3D 'prints' advances I wont be investing in one. At the preset moment I think that desktop CNC machines are a better buy.

Paul

[Bob WilsonParticipant @bobwilson59101]

It will probably spell the end of modelmaking! If you want a model, just draw it, stick it in the printer and push the button! Where the kit took over from the scratchbuilder, so will the 3D printer take over from the kit.

Glad I was born in 1944! It will probably become very popular, but never to me!

Bob

[Dave_PParticipant @dave_p]

Having followed the 3D printing 'revolution' on both the ship and railway modelling scene I have to agree with Bob Wilson's observations regarding our hobby. We are seeing the start of it now, you only have to look at the amount of reviews covering so called ARTR or RTR "models" published in MB throughout the year, since when is that model making?

I am a bit younger than Bob having been born in 1957 and was probably in the last generation who were taught from school age how to machine and make things from basic materials. I was devastated when looking for a secondary school for my son, now 31, to find they never had any wood or metalworking facilities. Sorry I am getting off topic here.

Thank goodness we have things like the excellent Ellie project currently being run by Paul T, and Bob Abell

Dave

[Carl WalkerParticipant @carlwalker]

I have bought a small DIY 3d printer, still building/assembling it, but I think it will be a nice addition to the model-making techniques I can use. I don't agree that the 3d printer will spell the end of modelmaking, as the limitations of materials, etc mean it is not suitable for every modelling task. Will be good for making formers, for ribs etc, and detail parts. Every new technique alters the way models are made, for example, who makes ribs in one piece from plywood, instead of the "proper" built up method, as described by Harold Underhill in his books. Or perhaps you used a commercially available fibreglass hull for your model. What about buying fittings, rather than making them all from scratch? And did you wind your own electric motor, or buy it ready made? At what point do you say you no longer "built" the model?

Finally, some people are interested in building, some in sailing, some in both, but each of us will continue to indulge in he aspects of the hobby that interests them, and I don't think new technology will change that.

Ricky

[Carl WalkerParticipant @carlwalker]

I have bought a small DIY 3d printer, still building/assembling it, but I think it will be a nice addition to the model-making techniques I can use. I don't agree that the 3d printer will spell the end of modelmaking, as the limitations of materials, etc mean it is not suitable for every modelling task. Will be good for making formers, for ribs etc, and detail parts. Every new technique alters the way models are made, for example, who makes ribs in one piece from plywood, instead of the "proper" built up method, as described by Harold Underhill in his books. Or perhaps you used a commercially available fibreglass hull for your model. What about buying fittings, rather than making them all from scratch? And did you wind your own electric motor, or buy it ready made? At what point do you say you no longer "built" the model?

Finally, some people are interested in building, some in sailing, some in both, but each of us will continue to indulge in he aspects of the hobby that interests them, and I don't think new technology will change that.

Ricky

[Carl WalkerParticipant @carlwalker]

Oops, didn't mean to post that twice, mouse buttons are playing up!

[Bob Abell 2Participant @bobabell2]

Hello Carl

Will you keep us informed of your progress and trials and tribulations, please

We are all very interested with this new dangled invention…..Aren't we chaps?

A few photos of your build would be nice, please

It's a very exciting new frontier!

Bob

[Bob WilsonParticipant @bobwilson59101]

It would certainly take all the pleasure out of it for me! I am, however, interested to see what sort of models or parts it will produce!

Look forward to seeing some sample photographs.

Bob

[Colin BishopModerator @colinbishop34627]

I agree with Bob, rather drives a coach & horses through scratchbuilding as we we know it. Say you need a dozen cowl vents – you just make one and toddle off down to your local 3D printing shop to have the rest run off. Or if you are a bit unscrupulous then you buy a cowl vent from a fitting supplier and do the same….

I suppose it's just an extension of photo etching where the modeller designs the item and takes the pattern to somebody else to do the actual etching process. It really does blur the line between craftmanship and commercial manufacturing.

I suppose it has been coming for a while. Years ago a good scratch built model would beat a high end kit hands down for quality but you can't say that any more, even the Chinese RTR models are sometimes close to museum standard.

Modellers do of course have the option of choosing an unusual prototype which will be pretty much unique compared with the ubiquitous Hoods, Bismarck and Titanics – the final bastion of scratchbuilding perhaps!

Colin

[Paul FreshneyParticipant @paulfreshney24971]

On that theme…

No doubt it won't be long before we can leave our unpainted latest computer generated masterpiece in a booth in a spare room and 3 days later after much whirring and hissing, it comes out all painted to perfection, unless we get the program wrong……..

Mind you, some years ago, I had a model masked the wrong way round ready for painting having forgotten which way up it was, so then painted (sprayed) the hull's main colour upside down and didin't realise until it was the right way up on the bench the following day……..

Paul Freshney

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