Jay Leno uses 3d printers to make rare parts for his vast collection of cars.

Came across this tonight. Kinda cool that he uses it to make molds with.

[www.popularmechanics.com]

That's wicked. I hope that catches on. I wonder if Jay might decide to get into the auto parts business if things don't go well with his new show on NBC right now.

Then again - would he get sued for making copies of proprietary auto parts?

Most of the parts hes making are for cars long past production and who's companies are long gone. I am sure those parts fall within some creative commons or something like old books.

Books and movies fall under copyrights which can be renewed


Mechanical parts fall under patents which only have a 20 year life after that they can be copied..

The patents for the parts he is dealing with have long since been ran out around 1912.

The patents are also a very good source to find out the size of the part and how it works.

I am into Stanley Steamers (not that I own one) which is what led me to Reprap, I also cast iron which is what Jay is doing..

Maybe some day some body will scan a 1910 Stanley engine I hope Jay offers the scans to everybody if he is so interested in saving these cars.

Bruce Wattendorf

This website may be of interest to you if you haven't already found it.

[www.stanleymotorcarriage.com]

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Hell, there are no rules here - we're trying to accomplish something.

Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.

Thomas A. Edison

Cool I have not been on any of the Stanley sites in about a year.

Here is a cool site also

[www.stanleysteamers.com]

They are a small group of people and most are up there in age..

it is kind of neat that there are prob less then 1500 people that can drive these cars. A friend of mine that has one says you don't have to worry about it when you park it at a store because if somebody could drive it you would prob know them.


I work about 10 Min. away from the original factory in Newton MA.

Any ways back to Reprap..

I've had a look at those NextEngine scanners, and while they are pretty good, they do take a large amount of time to do a really good full scan. They quote 20 minutes, but I've heard reports that its more like a couple of hours - more suited to personal use like this than commercial applications.

The Konica systems are some 10x the speed. We're looking into purchasing one when the economy improves.

[www.konicaminolta.com]

My dad bought one of those NextEngine scanners. From what he's told me, getting a proper scan of anything more complex than a football is a pain.

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very nice........
NOT