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(This group is also for people within traveling distance of those two places. Annapolis, etc. etc.)
Re: 3D scanner - 17 years ago
Generally an image of a thing which is publicly available is the property of the image maker. Thus I cannot stop you from selling a picture of the building or car which I designed. The exception occurs when I can argue that your use of the image damages my ability to profit from my IP. For instance, if I were to sell handbags with images of the Coach or Guchi labels on them those manufacturersby BDolge - 3D Scanners, Book Scanners, and Optics
Re: Concept, need info on materials. - 17 years ago
Hi Ginge! RepRap has played with a variety of plastics, but as far as I can tell extrusion temps have stayed between 60 (CAPA) and 110 (HDPA) C. Forrest is the real pro on those matters. The Peltiers sound like a great idea given all the trouble we have been having with Nichrome wire, What do they cost, both as objects and in terms of current drain? Do you have a good supplier? In general weby BDolge - General
Re: Good examples? - 17 years ago
How about... Novelty "glasses" from other threads, Chess or other game pieces customized/personalized toys such as blocks or push cars replacements for broken plastic bits But I agree that for me this is a chance to stay cutting edge/learn new stuff and to make a better tool to make a better tool with.by BDolge - Let's design something! (I've got an idea ...)
Re: We're on New Scientist - 17 years ago
EDM can be used to machine any conductive material regardless of it's hardness and does not effect said hardness, thus it is theoretically possible to use EDM to turn a lump of silicon carbide into a drillbit or milling cutter. Not fast or efficient but possible. Also the resolution of an EDM machine is determined by the type and resolution of the electrode used. The 2 major types are movingby BDolge - General
June 28 2008 Meeting - 17 years ago
This months meeting will be at my house, 6 Wade Av in Catonsville from Noon until 4 or whenever on Saturday the 28th of June. There is no agenda at this point but we have two new members and several people who have been on the edge of breakthroughs for a while so I am hoping for some good repports/demos. Let me know if you have anything to report or if you need any resources. Also since this mby BDolge - Baltimore/Wash. DC (and environs) RUG
Re: Anybody want to print Bronze? - 17 years ago
Re bearings: A. We might want to take this to the fabricationb forum as it may get somewhat technical but... B. With PMC shrinkage can be as much as 25% and is consistent and predictable so is easily accounted for. The review of BMC did not mention this as a difference so I assume it was not. Also several items were shown that involved mating BMC components with existing fixed size elementsby BDolge - Casting and Moldmaking Working Group
Anybody want to print Bronze? - 17 years ago
There is an interesting article in the new issue of Art Jewelry Magazine. --------%<----SNIP----%<---- (EDIT: This post duplicate's BDolge's earlier post before. I've merged the two threads, and will archive this thread in the Fabrication forum when it goes inactive.)by BDolge - Casting and Moldmaking Working Group
Re: Bronze Clay - 17 years ago
Thanks Sebastien, The sculpture.net article is interesting, but definitely a different material. Unfortunately the Art Jewelry Mag folks are very stingy with their web content so I can't link to any content but I will type stuff up as it becomes relevant. The material reviewed in Art Jewelry is definitely easier to handle than the stuff on sculpture.net. The new material is fired by buryingby BDolge - Casting and Moldmaking Working Group
Anybody want to print Bronze? - 17 years ago
There is an interesting article in the new issue of Art Jewelry Magazine. It appears that in July the Rio Grande Company, who makes jewelry making supplies will be introducing a new material similar to the currently available precious metal clays, but in bronze rather than gold or silver. PMC is a material composed of gold or silver particles suspended in a binder. The material can be workedby BDolge - Casting and Moldmaking Working Group
Re: RepRap Featured in HackaDay - 17 years ago
How about a hot air gun and a little vacuum tube to suck up the molten victim? Or is that not violent enough??by BDolge - General
Re: 3D modeling legal issues - 17 years ago
I agree with Colin that the use of a RepRap to produce patented items is unlikely to draw legal fire because both the plaintiffs and the defendants are too dispersed for lawsuits to be economically viable, especially in view of the relatively low expected payout from going after individuals. The danger that I see for our project comes from the DCMA provisions which make it illegal to "Provide" "by BDolge - General
Re: RepRap Featured in HackaDay - 17 years ago
So after 2 minutes with winpaint here is my inverted knight with no overhangs of more than 45 degrees. (At least none that can't be fixed fairly easily.)by BDolge - General
Re: how would support materials be integrated into the software when they become available? - 17 years ago
Kyle: that's the quick/automatic release/pickup head I was discussing. I have seen it on Jay Sweeny's machine and it is RepRap able and feels study/precise to me, no statistics available but just eyeball lookin' and finger pokin'. Any tooltips' XYZ offsets from the locking point of the carriage could be stored in its' database file, and I think that building a zero point tester into a corner ofby BDolge - RepRap Host
Re: Books to Read - 17 years ago
I'm back, and there it was waiting for me: That should help you pass the time. Or stop by the house and we'll build something. Or you can mow my lawn. Whichever.by BDolge - General
Re: RepRap Featured in HackaDay - 17 years ago
I have thought about chess pieces and most are easily modified for printing without support material starting from the standard "stauton" set. The sticker is the knight, but that one can be solved by printing it upside down I believe. In my "copious free time" I was planning to do a set as part of my effort to learn AOI.by BDolge - General
Re: Books to Read - 17 years ago
Catch Jay: has all the links you could want for printing batteries and electroflexing polymers. This is stuff from the folks who brought you fab@home so get out your salt grain, alot of it strikes me as academic gamesmanship. then try this thread: Awhile back this forum had a thread on books to read, but I can't find it in the time I've alotted myself. Email me and I'll send you my picks froby BDolge - General
Re: how would support materials be integrated into the software when they become available? - 17 years ago
Ru: I agree that "process" steps like calculating infill or subtractive phases should be automated, I was just saying that they were trivial given a decent 3D program. A person could do them, but a script could do them faster and better. A person could swap out toolheads as well, and some will at first. The sparse, cold support material approach has advantages in that it is easier to keep traby BDolge - RepRap Host
Re: how would support materials be integrated into the software when they become available? - 17 years ago
As far as I know, no one is actually using a muti material machine, although an automatic head attach/release mechanism has been tested. You can be first! I have lots of ideas but I am not a code monkey so get out your grain of salt. I don't know what sort of hooks exist in the code yet but a relatively easy hack would be to use different colors on the model to represent different materials (by BDolge - RepRap Host
Re: PS ..... no I mean the plastic - 17 years ago
I don't think PS would make a good target for RepRap for a number of reasons. First off it is not safe-Some further research got me here: Where we learn that PS has a flash ignition temp of 310C which is a little too close to 240C for my tastes. Flash ignition means the material catches fire by itself in air. Sparks or open flame can ignite PS at any temp, but the hotter the material is theby BDolge - Plastic Extruder Working Group
Re: Is this and fab@home the same thing? - 17 years ago
Yup, Cheaper is gooder. RepRap is designed to keep getting cheaper as each generation becomes capable of making more of it's parts (my guess is PCB's are next) and as owners of existing machines give away parts to folks who want to build machines (Protocol calls for giving away 2 once you reach production). It is unlikely that Fab@Home machines will get any cheaper anytime soon and may even incby BDolge - General
Re: Moulding with high-temp silicone rubber - 17 years ago
Yeah, I've done investment and sand casting, but the one-off limit is annoying, although probably less so with a CNC tool to make the originals. I love lost foam casting, yeah the fumes are nasty but you can go from an idea at lunch to a metal version at dinner with minimal technology. I am trying to think of a way to make an automated foundry to team with RepRap because the payoff in capabilitby BDolge - Plastic Extruder Working Group
Re: Moulding with high-temp silicone rubber - 17 years ago
Viktor, Is there a similar material with a higher top range? say half again? If so then molding zinc becomes possible, Zinc is often harder and has greater tensile strength than iron, so being able to cast it would be a real step forward. Brianby BDolge - Plastic Extruder Working Group
Re: Real Value - 17 years ago
"Those steep discounts are my data" My point is that markets often make bad choices. A Hummer is a bad choice and has been since day one. The fact that people are now making that bad choice for different reasons is irrelevant. "In economic terms, mass-fabrication is in many ways the same thing as a pay raise: .... so if widgets become 50% cheaper overnight, while my pay stays the same, I am iby BDolge - General
Re: Real Value - 17 years ago
"Not anymore! Now that Americans think gas will be $3+/gal for good, they are buying small cars with a vengeance." Data? My understanding is that large cars are still moving well due to steep discounts and financing deals offered by manufactures. Regardless, a Hummer today is the same vehicle it was 6 months ago. Does it or does it not have an intrinsic value? Does that value include it's effby BDolge - General
Re: Plugin system - 17 years ago
While my software skillz are confined to BASIC on the PDP-11 and therefor of little practical use I would like to weigh in on these matters as a semi-informed user. It seems to me that the pluggin model is probably a good one in the long run, especially if it can be paired with electro/mechanical modularity of the machines. The more the "genetics " of RepRap are snap-in-snap-out the faster it'by BDolge - RepRap Host
Re: evolution - 17 years ago
I agree with Colin (surprise!) there is lots of "mutation" in the mix right now. In fact if we have a problem it is the lack of a solid, readily available, benchmarked reference version. While this is probably a function of the current pre-alpha state of the platform, but to the best of my knowledge no two people currently have working comparable repraps. I hope the availability of cast partsby BDolge - General
Re: Real Value - 17 years ago
Well the NUMBER of service jobs have increased, but service jobs are often part time and underpaid so people often hold more than one and the average living standard of a service worker is lower. Similarly, manufacturing EMPLOYMENT has been flagging, but manufacturing PRODUCTIVITY has soared. If you take consumer preference (utility) as the determinant of value you find that Hummers are betterby BDolge - General
Re: Real Value - 17 years ago
hello mccoyn: One of the few really ironclad laws of demography is that fertility decreases as wealth increases. Across time, across cultures, always. The worlds well-to-do (both as families and as nations) tend to reproduce at or below the replacement rate. So one would expect population to be self limiting in a post scarcity world. "Space is a luxury that becomes more scarce with time." Oby BDolge - General
Re: Real Value - 17 years ago
As the owner of a Macintosh computer I would never underestimate the importance of attention to detail or the prevalence of deliberate ostentation. However the original point was that "building a jetstream" is qualitatively different from providing personal service (being a stewardess) and therefor personal service jobs were unlikely to directly replace productive jobs. My premise regards delibby BDolge - General
Re: Extruding - 17 years ago
Yep, that's CAPA. Keep us posted on your progress.by BDolge - Reprappers