Its a 3D printer, but not like others ive seen. Ive seen some that make stuff out of a chalk-like material just for modeling, but this makes it from rigid ABS plastic. Pretty much you use a 3D scanner, scan in what you want to copy and let the copier bang it out. Best of all, it seems pretty affordable compared to previous ones. $1300 and one could crank out parts all day instead of molding resin and such. The ABS plastic might be lighter and definately stronger than resin. Ive seen some parts they made look like it has a bit of a texture on the outside and some dont. But could probably just sand/fill smooth anyway just like with resin parts. seems pretty kick-ass
from what i know about maker bots cant do large scale things like proton packs. they can do little things like the clippards, booster frames, elbows, resistors, hat lights, etc.
maybe ion arms, RIB and trigger boxes for throwers, handles and heatsinks.
to get an idea of 3d printing and the cost, there are websites that offer 3d printing services. i modeled booster frames and clippards, to see if it was cheaper than getting someone’s resin parts and it cost at least 70 dollars for either one (solid, then shelled). i dont have casting materials, and was hoping just to post the link for other people to benefit from.
it’s definitely not cheap. not only are you paying for the makerbot, but the materials that you’re trimming away at is expensive. you’d never sell anything, and you’re better off just scratch building it yourself or buying resin/real parts.
Aside from having a low resolution, there would still be a significant amount of work that would still need to be done to the parts to get them up to snuff. Its still easier to make one real nice master, mold it, and recast in resin as needed. I think were still a little ways away from downloading our parts online and printing them out in home
I think using a very expensive rapid prototyper to do master parts would be a very good idea though. I think if the part makers out there would spend ~$250 on a PERFECT Proton Gun with 1/8" wall thickness throughout it would make for a really nice master.
The resolution on SLA RP machines is actually pretty incredible. The SLA I use at work to make toys can sculpt out parting lines that are .01" wide and deep cleanly with no flash. Plus the durablity is higher than you think; we produce workable prototypes to send out to clients and China.
I could probably do 1/4 of a proton pack in the machine we have here.
The lower resolution units that you might be thinking of is what’s called a FDM. It uses a string of ABS and layers it down on the bed with heat, sort of like a heatgun. I used one of those at my last job and they have a few issues with resolution if you don’t load the part on the bed correctly. Plus the purely ABS machines are brittle; you’d have to build up a massive wall thickness so that something like a proton gun would break under it’s own weight with the cantilever barrel and such.
