5 ms·

Iron Man 2's Secret Sauce: 3-D Printing

83 points by binarymax 16y ago

anotherperson 16y ago
> Maybe the best example are the gloves that Downey wore--which were no thicker than a dime, and could be worn for hours without getting so hot that the dude needed some Colombian Marching Powder to take the edge off Really?
- wmeredith 16y ago
  Indeed. That was quite a non-sequitur in the middle of what was a pretty cool tech article.
  - wizard_2 16y ago
    Its a reference to his old dug habits that he was pretty famous for. I agree it didn't need to be mentioned.
francoisdevlin 16y ago
We use this things at my job all the time. Amazingly useful when you need a fast engineering prototype, or something to get your head around.
- steveklabnik 16y ago
  As the costs come down, you'll see a continued move towards 'rapid manufacturing': actually using these technologies to build the final goods.
btucker 16y ago
This made me curious about the economics for a 3D printing on demand service. Looks like there are already some players in the space making it work: http://www.shapeways.com/ http://www.shapeways.com/ http://www.buildparts.com/ http://www.buildparts.com/ http://www.zoomrp.com/ http://www.zoomrp.com/
- necrecious 16y ago
  They probably have a willing audience in cosplayer community. If only they also automate the painting process.
- steveklabnik 16y ago
  This is actually what my startup does. http://cloudfab.com/ http://cloudfab.com/ We actually offer more processes and materials than anyone else on the web.
  - jonhohle 16y ago
    It's interesting to see that Cubic is still supporting Helisys LOM machines (and that your startup offers that as a service). They always produced the most interesting parts, imho (though a pain to post process). I worked at an RP consortium nearly a decade ago and always figured that the LOM they had was a relic. It appears they still have it running (http://www.rpc.msoe.edu/machines_lom.php http://www.rpc.msoe.edu/machines_lom.php).
    - steveklabnik 16y ago
      I just talked to someone from the MSOE the other day ago, I think... Yeah, those old LOM machines are crazy. The new LOM hotness is coming out of a company called MCor: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vow5XvHoFZc http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vow5XvHoFZc I'm going to be excited to see these machines later this year. Printing with A4 paper means the parts should be so cheap! And they say the consistency is similar to wood...
      - FlorinAndrei 16y ago
        Hmm, printing paper is not exactly super-cheap per weight unit.
        steveklabnik 16y ago
        Yes, but weight isn't what matters, it's volume.
sp332 16y ago
New (awesome) line of merchandising: put the 3D models up for sale on http://www.Shapeways.com/ http://www.Shapeways.com/ and let people order them in various materials & colors.
diziet 16y ago
I wonder if the same thing will happen to 3d printing as what has happened to normal printing: using high ink prices to subsidize the actual units. I sure hope not: if industries actually build goods using this process the demand will bring the "ink" cost down.
- steveklabnik 16y ago
  That's exactly how the industry works. If you look at the manufacturers' 10Ks, it's very much the 'razor and blade' model. And you're also right, it's a real problem when other people make knock-off materials. Lots of people are doing it, and the manufacturers are trying to stop it by making the cartridges super proprietary and making unauthorized materials void your warranty, but that's not stopping everyone...
thefool 16y ago
I'm a little skeptical about the magnitude of the increase in time from concept to realization. Four hours is the printing stage, but laying out something like that in cad is fairly time consuming, on top of that every piece surely went through numerous iterations. Additionally, the medium seems hard to fiddle with, so if the part didn't turn out, you have to scrap it completely. Plus given that it is some sort of plastic, your only finishing options are probably powder coat, some sort of vapor deposition (which that photo looks like), or possibly some sort of plating if people have figured out how to do it. While I'm sure that the tech will make some people's lives easier, this is one of those things that seems like it could easily be over hyped.
- steveklabnik 16y ago
  > laying out something like that in cad is fairly time consuming, on top of that every piece surely went through numerous iterations. "Regular" design would still go through iterations. > Plus given that it is some sort of plastic, your only finishing options are probably powder coat, some sort of vapor deposition (which that photo looks like), or possibly some sort of plating if people have figured out how to do it. In this case, they're using plastic, but you can also print in metal, wax, rubber, nylon, paper, and resin. (And yes, you can plate the plastic. This is how Aston Martin makes headlamps for their vehicles.) > While I'm sure that the tech will make some people's lives easier, this is one of those things that seems like it could easily be over hyped. It's true. People get really, really excited about all of this, and start talking about "When everyone owns a 3D printer..." It's such a sexy technology that people get irrationally excited. It certainly has downsides as well as upsides.
  - eru 16y ago
    Yes. Normal printers haven't made everyone an artist, either.
    - steveklabnik 16y ago
      It's sort of an imperfect analogy, though. The people who say things like that are thinking of it in the "You wouldn't download a car?" sense. You can already download 3D models from a place like Thingiverse, so if everyone had a printer, we could just print new household items rather than purchase them. It's a functional thing, not an aesthetic one. The issue with this is that just because they make things doesn't mean they make them _from nothing_. Are you going to keep not just a printer, but large vats of materials hanging around your house? I don't really think so.
rauljara 16y ago
Open source 3d printing machine: http://reprap.org/wiki/Main_Page http://reprap.org/wiki/Main_Page It can make many of its own components so is at least partially capable of self replicating.
beagle3 16y ago
obligatory mention: MakerBot makes $750 3D printer kits that cost pennies to operate. While the results are not comparable to what is shown in the article, the age of the 3D printer in every home is almost here. It's already priced low enough that every designer of 3D objects can own one. Not affiliated with MakerBot. (And they are good guys -- all the plans and source code are available for you to download and build yourself).
mattbauer 16y ago
I own a uPrint and run it all the time. In the same day we can print a new version, test it out on the bike, make some changes with a Dremel, measure the changes, redesign in Solidworks and repeat. Once you add time into the cost savings equation it's really a no brainer. We are looking at a much larger one that has almost a cubic meter envelope. BTW the reliability of the Stratasys printers is unbelievable.
thomasfl 16y ago
Home fabrication is very inspirational to read about. The fabrication process maybe extremely time consuming at the moment, but it's a glimpse of what to come. Video on the internet was ridiculously slow once, now it's becoming our main source of video. You saw this video on YouTube, not on your telly. The advantages of 3d printers are so many, that it will only be a question of time before the'll get cheaper, faster and better enough to go mainstream. Amen.

83 points by binarymax 16y ago

> Maybe the best example are the gloves that Downey wore--which were no thicker than a dime, and could be worn for hours without getting so hot that the dude needed some Colombian Marching Powder to take the edge off Really?

wmeredith 16y ago
Indeed. That was quite a non-sequitur in the middle of what was a pretty cool tech article.
- wizard_2 16y ago
  Its a reference to his old dug habits that he was pretty famous for. I agree it didn't need to be mentioned.

francoisdevlin 16y ago

We use this things at my job all the time. Amazingly useful when you need a fast engineering prototype, or something to get your head around.

steveklabnik 16y ago
As the costs come down, you'll see a continued move towards 'rapid manufacturing': actually using these technologies to build the final goods.

btucker 16y ago

This made me curious about the economics for a 3D printing on demand service. Looks like there are already some players in the space making it work: http://www.shapeways.com/ http://www.shapeways.com/ http://www.buildparts.com/ http://www.buildparts.com/ http://www.zoomrp.com/ http://www.zoomrp.com/

necrecious 16y ago
They probably have a willing audience in cosplayer community. If only they also automate the painting process.
steveklabnik 16y ago
This is actually what my startup does. http://cloudfab.com/ http://cloudfab.com/ We actually offer more processes and materials than anyone else on the web.
- jonhohle 16y ago
  It's interesting to see that Cubic is still supporting Helisys LOM machines (and that your startup offers that as a service). They always produced the most interesting parts, imho (though a pain to post process). I worked at an RP consortium nearly a decade ago and always figured that the LOM they had was a relic. It appears they still have it running (http://www.rpc.msoe.edu/machines_lom.php http://www.rpc.msoe.edu/machines_lom.php).
  - steveklabnik 16y ago
    I just talked to someone from the MSOE the other day ago, I think... Yeah, those old LOM machines are crazy. The new LOM hotness is coming out of a company called MCor: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vow5XvHoFZc http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vow5XvHoFZc I'm going to be excited to see these machines later this year. Printing with A4 paper means the parts should be so cheap! And they say the consistency is similar to wood...
    - FlorinAndrei 16y ago
      Hmm, printing paper is not exactly super-cheap per weight unit.
      - steveklabnik 16y ago
        Yes, but weight isn't what matters, it's volume.

sp332 16y ago

New (awesome) line of merchandising: put the 3D models up for sale on http://www.Shapeways.com/ http://www.Shapeways.com/ and let people order them in various materials & colors.

diziet 16y ago

I wonder if the same thing will happen to 3d printing as what has happened to normal printing: using high ink prices to subsidize the actual units. I sure hope not: if industries actually build goods using this process the demand will bring the "ink" cost down.

steveklabnik 16y ago
That's exactly how the industry works. If you look at the manufacturers' 10Ks, it's very much the 'razor and blade' model. And you're also right, it's a real problem when other people make knock-off materials. Lots of people are doing it, and the manufacturers are trying to stop it by making the cartridges super proprietary and making unauthorized materials void your warranty, but that's not stopping everyone...

thefool 16y ago

I'm a little skeptical about the magnitude of the increase in time from concept to realization. Four hours is the printing stage, but laying out something like that in cad is fairly time consuming, on top of that every piece surely went through numerous iterations. Additionally, the medium seems hard to fiddle with, so if the part didn't turn out, you have to scrap it completely. Plus given that it is some sort of plastic, your only finishing options are probably powder coat, some sort of vapor deposition (which that photo looks like), or possibly some sort of plating if people have figured out how to do it. While I'm sure that the tech will make some people's lives easier, this is one of those things that seems like it could easily be over hyped.

steveklabnik 16y ago
> laying out something like that in cad is fairly time consuming, on top of that every piece surely went through numerous iterations. "Regular" design would still go through iterations. > Plus given that it is some sort of plastic, your only finishing options are probably powder coat, some sort of vapor deposition (which that photo looks like), or possibly some sort of plating if people have figured out how to do it. In this case, they're using plastic, but you can also print in metal, wax, rubber, nylon, paper, and resin. (And yes, you can plate the plastic. This is how Aston Martin makes headlamps for their vehicles.) > While I'm sure that the tech will make some people's lives easier, this is one of those things that seems like it could easily be over hyped. It's true. People get really, really excited about all of this, and start talking about "When everyone owns a 3D printer..." It's such a sexy technology that people get irrationally excited. It certainly has downsides as well as upsides.
- eru 16y ago
  Yes. Normal printers haven't made everyone an artist, either.
  - steveklabnik 16y ago
    It's sort of an imperfect analogy, though. The people who say things like that are thinking of it in the "You wouldn't download a car?" sense. You can already download 3D models from a place like Thingiverse, so if everyone had a printer, we could just print new household items rather than purchase them. It's a functional thing, not an aesthetic one. The issue with this is that just because they make things doesn't mean they make them _from nothing_. Are you going to keep not just a printer, but large vats of materials hanging around your house? I don't really think so.

rauljara 16y ago

Open source 3d printing machine: http://reprap.org/wiki/Main_Page http://reprap.org/wiki/Main_Page It can make many of its own components so is at least partially capable of self replicating.

beagle3 16y ago

obligatory mention: MakerBot makes $750 3D printer kits that cost pennies to operate. While the results are not comparable to what is shown in the article, the age of the 3D printer in every home is almost here. It's already priced low enough that every designer of 3D objects can own one. Not affiliated with MakerBot. (And they are good guys -- all the plans and source code are available for you to download and build yourself).

mattbauer 16y ago

I own a uPrint and run it all the time. In the same day we can print a new version, test it out on the bike, make some changes with a Dremel, measure the changes, redesign in Solidworks and repeat. Once you add time into the cost savings equation it's really a no brainer. We are looking at a much larger one that has almost a cubic meter envelope. BTW the reliability of the Stratasys printers is unbelievable.

thomasfl 16y ago

Home fabrication is very inspirational to read about. The fabrication process maybe extremely time consuming at the moment, but it's a glimpse of what to come. Video on the internet was ridiculously slow once, now it's becoming our main source of video. You saw this video on YouTube, not on your telly. The advantages of 3d printers are so many, that it will only be a question of time before the'll get cheaper, faster and better enough to go mainstream. Amen.