I'm super curious about this idea, so I did a bit of research through my lampworking books. Here's what I found: Soda lime glass is relatively unmoving at 850 - 1050F (454 - 565C) and doesn't have a glow. This would be the ideal build chamber temperature, as the glass does not flow and is not at risk to thermal shock. The exterior of soda lime can be manipulated at 1200 - 1400F (648 - 760C) andby Trevarthan - General
QuoteTrevarthan Quotethe_digital_dentist Are optical fibers for communications made using extrusion? It might be worth a look at those machines to get an idea about how to handle the input material. Good question. Watching the video from How It's Made now to find the answer: Looks like the answer is "no, they're gravity extruded using temperature to control the diameter". But that's how plastby Trevarthan - General
Quotethe_digital_dentist Are optical fibers for communications made using extrusion? It might be worth a look at those machines to get an idea about how to handle the input material. Good question. Watching the video from How It's Made now to find the answer:by Trevarthan - General
It's been a while since I started this thread. I check in on things like this every now and then. Looks like someone at MIT made a rudimentary version of this 3d glass printing idea: It looks like the extrusion is too fluid to be accurate, but it does a good job proving the concept, while illustrating the technical challenges to overcome. Looks like he just took the top off of a kiln and adby Trevarthan - General
Thanks for your interest. We do offer free products. The price is completely the decision of the designer. We are merely a market connecting designer and customer. The only pricing limitation we impose is that we require $1.49 minimum price for non-free items. This is just to cover our costs.by Trevarthan - Object repositories
What's wrong with monetizing thingiverse? My site was built with the sole purpose of being a paid thingiverse: I think paid software always has a place in the ecosystem. Open Source can't be everything to everyone. Some of us need to pay the mortgage. That said, I'm a little bummed out by the merger. I think it basically means Makerbot will never infringe on Stratasys's other product lines. Inby Trevarthan - General
I made a list of Taxonomies a few weeks back. Not complete by any means, but I thought it was interesting and in some ways enlightening: Kitchen Gardening Music Photography Sewing (I combined Sewing, Weaving, etc) Organizational Tools Replacement Parts (One of my favorite categories) Learning Aids Tools Plumbing Medical Bio Hacking Toolsby Trevarthan - General
That's probably a rhetorical question, but I'm interested in metals for lots of reasons. Jewelry, bicycles, robots, etc. My home 3d printer already does plastic passably. Metal just seems like the next level.by Trevarthan - General
QuoteHazel1919 If it is 3D printing in metal, I personally think SLS is more attainable. I'm starting to agree. Maybe a high power DIY CO2 Laser? I originally considered an array of laser diodes, but I think the individual unit cost of laser diodes is too high for the necessary power output.by Trevarthan - General
Just skimmed that wiki page. I didn't really see much in the way of diagrams or schematics. I guess the project hasn't gotten very far. Was that cost estimate 600 euros in metal powder and 600 euros in electricity to print a 300mm cube? Mind bogglingly expensive. I guess smaller objects are the clear winners.by Trevarthan - General
I see an SLS discussion on this forum, but I don't see a section for discussing EBM. I learned about EBM a few days ago, and I read this page today: http://reprap.org/wiki/MetalicaRap:Tool_head_processes_discussion#SLS_vs_EBM Are there plans for an EBM reprap? If not, why not? I'm really interested in EBM. I know vacuum chambers are more complicated.... but anything is possible....by Trevarthan - General
I spent many long hours over the last few months getting this site to Beta status: http://www.createthis.com/sell Kind of like Etsy, for 3d printable models. Kind of like Thingiverse, except I'd prefer to have mostly paid models on the site. Kind of like iStockPhoto, but with 3d models. I don't even know if there is a need for a site like this yet, but I thought I'd give it a try anyway. Checkby Trevarthan - Object repositories
I think the raspberry pi case is a brilliant idea. I'd love to make one, but I don't have a raspberry pi to measure.by Trevarthan - General
I'll go first. I think I print mostly: parts for electronics projects figurines mechanical prototypesby Trevarthan - General
Is there something you WANT to 3d print, but either can't find an STL file or can't make it work? For example, I want to print tiny detailed gears, but my printer isn't well calibrated enough yet, and I haven't had time to explore the software libraries out there yet. How about you?by Trevarthan - General
What do you print most often? Here are some possibilities I came up with. Chime in if any of these ring true, or if what you print most isn't on the list. Tiny furniture Replacement plastic parts Figurines Toys Parts for electronics projects Gears Reprap parts Mechanical prototypesby Trevarthan - General
Print quality looks terrible in those videos. I'm guessing A6 = Alpha6. He mentions the Beta boxes will have better quality. Beta = B6? Awesome price point. If he can get the quality up and maintain his supply chain and keep his delivery dates, we'll see these in every home inside 5 years. That's a lot of ifs. I wish him good luck. On a side note... I like his design. No moving motors. Seems smby Trevarthan - General
Yes, a heated build chamber at that temperature would certainly be a challenge. Maybe a graphite nozzle would be practical. I know a few torches use a water cooled torch nozzle, so that might be another option. Cold metal won't stick to hot glass. Only hot metal sticks to hot glass. Also, I'm not sure if glass rods are made using extrusion nozzles. I always thought they were still made the oldby Trevarthan - General
Well, borosilicate is much more friendly in that regard than soda lime. Anytime you see a glass artist making a fairy by crafting a limb, then "tack welding" the limb to the body, you're seeing boro. Soda lime cracks if you look at it wrong. Of course, a heated build chamber would probably help (for ABS too). I've read there are patents on this idea, which is rather ridiculous, IMO. Kilns are noby Trevarthan - General
Maybe it is best to print circuits using a laserjet for now. This document is old, but the process looks pretty simple. Copper sheet, paper, an iron, a laser printer, and some household chemicals:by Trevarthan - General
Paper on inkjet printing of copper. They talk about using a laser to solder the copper after printed. Interesting stuff.by Trevarthan - General
Ah, here we go. I don't know if this is the same stuff that thinkgeek is selling, but it has a datasheet. Looks like ohms increase rather quickly with length of conductive surface (see page 3 of the PDF):by Trevarthan - General
I like the way they use the world percolation in relation to the movement of electrons. I thought people only used that word for coffee. In all seriousness though, I've never seen ohms listed this way: 0.09±0.01 ohm m^−1 Is that high resistance or low resistance? I'm not sure what the m^-1 does. The piezo resistive thing seems like a liability in most cases.by Trevarthan - General
Like this conductive paint? Seems like drying time, electrical resistance, and electrical current capacity would be the key factors.by Trevarthan - General
Have you seen the solar sinter? Sort of similar:by Trevarthan - General
The problem with the CNC // Suction technique is that there is probably a lower limit to resolution. I'm sure CNC machines can only cut a cube so small. The interesting thing about glass is that you can make "stringers" or "cane" very, very fine in diameter, with great ease. You just heat it up in the middle and pull from opposite ends. The viscosity of the glass does the rest. Check out this viby Trevarthan - General
Well, I guess you could come at it from another angle: Cut via CNC, assemble via suction grippers. I don't think that's how dichroic works, btw:by Trevarthan - General
Well, in the short term, yes, casting is easier. However, in the long term, consider the different kinds of glass you could use in one of those clever loading mechanisms: dichroic (glass infused with atomized flecks of metal: think, space helmet glass) all possible colors (glass is very colorful) all possible opacities (again, as varied as the imagination) Now, not only can you print with twoby Trevarthan - General
Also, I've read quite a bit about welding. One of the problems with molten metal is that it reacts with oxygen, ruining the weld. This is why the TIG process uses Argon as a shielding gas to keep the molten metal away from our atmosphere until it cools sufficiently. All welding processes do this in some way. Glass has no such problem. It does not require a shielding gas. Also, the melting pointby Trevarthan - General
Right. It's definitely an engineering problem, but it's not impossible. The kiln your friend uses to fuse glass is almost certainly electric.by Trevarthan - General