Geek alert, 3D printing, rapid prototyping / RepRap Mendel

One for the geeks. Check this out, made by some guy at http://london.hackspace.org.uk/ apparently.

http://reprap.org/wiki/Mendel

I'd never herd of 3D printing before, amazed at the possibilities of this, epically if you paired it with a 3D scanner.

Take a look at some of the things being made by it.

http://www.thingiverse.com/tag:reprap

[ame]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3D_printing[/ame]

One for the geeks. Check this out, made by some guy at http://london.hackspace.org.uk/ apparently.

http://reprap.org/wiki/Mendel

I'd never herd of 3D printing before, amazed at the possibilities of this, epically if you paired it with a 3D scanner.

The Mendel in hackspace is actually only part constructed currently. However there is a MakerBot that is fully working, and a 3d scanner in the planning/starting stages..

But yeah - cool stuff :_)

<3 London hackspace - I'm a member and I regularly use the facilities for doing evil things bike stuff that wouldn't really be possible in my flat.

I'd never herd of 3D printing before, amazed at the possibilities of this, epically if you paired it with a 3D scanner.

Get with the program daddy-o.

I have been trying to get a 3D print done (from a 3D model) for years ! (ok, maybe just two years), but getting a quote out of these people is next to impossible.

The Mendel in hackspace is actually only part constructed currently. However there is a MakerBot that is fully working, and a 3d scanner in the planning/starting stages..

But yeah - cool stuff :_)

<3 London hackspace - I'm a member and I regularly use the facilities for doing evil things bike stuff that wouldn't really be possible in my flat.

A mate of mine went along recently and said it was fun, I might go for a geek fest too.

Get with the program daddy-o.

I have been trying to get a 3D print done (from a 3D model) for years ! (ok, maybe just two years), but getting a quote out of these people is next to impossible.

What do they not give you a figure or it it just a vague like,"That will be £20 -£20,000 approximately, but it could be more, or less".

Ages ago they had a 3D printer set up at the V&A, tedious to watch but technically exciting.

the problem with 3D printing companies, is they are swamped with work from big firms who pay them alot of money, and demand quick turn around times.

doing small one-off jobs are just not worth their while..... unless you are a regular customer, they probably wouldn't even give you space in the que for a job worth less that £5000.
SLA & SLS printing can be very expensive, I've been told we spent upwards of £400,000 on SLA prints alone last year.

3D printing is a great design aid though, especially in my line of work, we are now able to make highly detailed models in a matter of days, rather than the weeks they wuld have taken a few years a ago.

Get with the program daddy-o.

I have been trying to get a 3D print done (from a 3D model) for years ! (ok, maybe just two years), but getting a quote out of these people is next to impossible.

I can put you in touch with a hacker hobbyist who may be able to help you. He's got a lot of his own equipment and does work on the side doing lazy cutting, etc but has played with 3d printers too.

I can put you in touch with a hacker hobbyist who may be able to help you. He's got a lot of his own equipment and does work on the side doing lazy cutting, etc but has played with 3d printers too.

That would be great !

It's a really simple little model, less than 10" x 10" x 4" (but could be made smaller) - and I don't much care what material it is printed in either . . . .

What do they not give you a figure or it it just a vague like,"That will be £20 -£20,000 approximately, but it could be more, or less".

They never ever ever ever get back to you with a quote, the best you will get is they will ask you to email what you need, so I send them a DXF, then chase that up only to be met with more months of silence, I have tried a few . . . . . it's seemingly impossible to open a line of communication with them.

That would be great !

It's a really simple little model, less than 10" x 10" x 4" (but could be made smaller) - and I don't much care what material it is printed in either . . . .

What's the benefit of getting it 'printed' if it is small and simple, is it not just easier to get a model maker to make it?

^That is shit. Sounds like hte kind of business I'd like to get into so much work that people can fuck customers off, come along with some decent level of service for small guys and clean up.

This hacker 3D printing reminds me of DIY CNC lathes , routers / milling machines I was researching into a few years ago, some really impressive stuff done there too. Some with 6 axis of rotation allowing the sculpting of 3D objects.

Another option is to befriend someone who goes to The Bartlett or the Architecture Association, there's got to be someone on here who goes there surely? They have some pretty good facilities there, although you'll probably have to wait until the term ends.

What's the benefit of getting it 'printed' if it is small and simple, is it not just easier to get a model maker to make it?

It is simple in the respect that it is basically a torus, that actual size is less important, but it needs to be made very accurately as it's part of a larger experiment that relies on an optical trick that itself relies on the 'sameness' of the rotational segments.

Hope that makes sense, it looks like this (below):

You never cease to intrigue. Is this to lure children into your cellar by dazzling them with illusions?

Or maybe it's to lure the children already in there, out.

Or maybe they just look like children and it's all an illusion.

^That is shit. Sounds like [the] kind of business I'd like to get into so much work that people can fuck customers off, come along with some decent level of service for small guys and clean up.

Yeah that would be cool, imagine a shop somewhere in London where you can turn up with a broken switch, plug, cap, washer, handle, wing mirror, toy wheel . . . (or whatever) and leave it with them to print out a replacement.

You can haz 3DS Max

Or maybe they just look like children and it's all an illusion.

They are all my own children, I have the receipts to prove it.

Why 3D print this?

You could make it with match sticks.

A 3D Stereo Lithography will cost about 500 quid.

http://www.thinglab.co.uk/

It is simple in the respect that it is basically a torus, that actual size is less important, but it needs to be made very accurately as it's part of a larger experiment that relies on an optical trick that itself relies on the 'sameness' of the rotational segments.

Hope that makes sense, it looks like this (below):

interesting, I can put you in touch with a model maker if you want that making in the traditional way, looks like a days work to me (from decent CAD files)...£350 probably I would assume

Is this your new hipster wheel design?

p.s. repraps are cool MOC wants one.

Is this your new hipster wheel design?

ha! :)