Hopefully not a repost.
http://www.jaylenosgarage.com/video/video_player.shtml?vid=944641
Really cool.
Hopefully not a repost.
http://www.jaylenosgarage.com/video/video_player.shtml?vid=944641
Really cool.
Very cool, amazing how those pieces actually work
Good stuff and the best part is it's American technology and made in America. Simply amazing.
I've heard of rapid prototype machines, but I haven't seen one that can make moving parts yet. Thats pretty neat.
That's actually not that new of technology. I had worked with equipment like that almost 4 years ago and it wasn't new then. Where the impressive part is that the scanners have gotten pretty affordable now, you may find the stereo-lith. machines are not so affordable. I am somehow perplexed with Jay Leno's motivation though. He had a broken part to begin with, and in the end he has a plastic part that was just as useless. He could have made casting just as easily from the original parts, and a plastic part is no different to a machine shop than a metal one in two pieces.
Now make a stereo-lithograph machine that fits on my desk so I can prototype a new part I designed on my own car, and I'll be really impressed.
isn't the point of scanning the broken part more so that you can just feed the info from the scanner into a CNC milling center? If that is the case, then it is awesome. The plastic part is just a cheap and quick proof, not really something that as Jay said "you send to the machine shop".
I could see the use of the "printer" in auto cad protoyping. The fact that it can reproduce a no-assemply-required protype of an assembly with multiple moving parts...that diff and steam engine assemblies that were made all at once blew my mind
...amazing! The applications of a machine like this are endless. But I agree, in the video, recreating this "D valve" was pointless since the repro is just as useless as the broken part. Now create a machines that can spit out aluminum or Cromo pieces ....now youre talking
or the scanner could make the part out of a wax to use the lost-wax casting method to replace the part.
4cylndrfury wrote: Now create a machines that can spit out aluminum or Cromo pieces ....now youre talking
That's when the robots take over. When they can build themselves.
Yes, Jay meant that you use the plastic part for a test fit then, when you know the 3d model is good, send it to a machinist who will make it out of metal using the 3d model, probably using a CNC machine.
This is very cool. I've always wondered why more old parts weren't done like this, I guess it came down to cost.
I can't wait to see someone build a whole car out of one! 
BTW, anyone else notice that Leno's restoring a Covair rampside pickup?
(At least I think that's what it is).
-Rob
rob_lewis wrote: This is very cool. I've always wondered why more old parts weren't done like this, I guess it came down to cost. I can't wait to see someone build a whole car out of one!
Wow. Good eye! It's hard to tell but I tend to agree with you.
The whole point is prototyping and test fitting the "printed" part to make sure all the work and money you're going to spend on the "real" machined part pays off THE FIRST TIME! 
I have a friend that sells these things and we've done some pretty cool stuff with some of the CAD models I've developed.
blaze86vic wrote: That's actually not that new of technology. I had worked with equipment like that almost 4 years ago and it wasn't new then. Where the impressive part is that the scanners have gotten pretty affordable now, you may find the stereo-lith. machines are not so affordable. I am somehow perplexed with Jay Leno's motivation though. He had a broken part to begin with, and in the end he has a plastic part that was just as useless. He could have made casting just as easily from the original parts, and a plastic part is no different to a machine shop than a metal one in two pieces. Now make a stereo-lithograph machine that fits on my desk so I can prototype a new part I designed on my own car, and I'll be really impressed.
There are FDM (Fuse Deposition Modeling) machines that can make things like that. They are close enough to fitting on a desk for most people. However, they work by laying down materials like plastic (typically ABS). Perfect for making interior parts, then smoothing them and finishing them. In college the engineering school had one and let design school kids like me use it for making complex appearance prototypes. A touch of bondo, some sanding, a little high-build, more sanding and you were ready to paint and have something that looked darn near perfect.
There are also SLS (Selective Laser Sintering) machines that can do similar things with metal powder. I'm not sure how the strength compares to cast metals.
Rusnak_322 wrote: or the scanner could make the part out of a wax to use the lost-wax casting method to replace the part.
No need to put wax in the machine. Make one from the usual plastic. Dip it in hot wax and do all of your finish work on the wax. Then add your sprue and make your mold. The plastic will burn out just like the wax does. If you do a sparse fill of the finished shape you're not even wasting that much material. Of course, you have to account for metal shrinkage in your computer model.
I was at the dentist this morning for a checkup, and they showed me this cool new machine they have for making crowns. They scan the tooth with a little hand held probe the size of a pencil, a computer creates a digital copy of the tooth you can view onscreen, and then a neat little CNC machine about the size of a microwave oven carves a perfect replica of the tooth out of a block of ceramic. They glue it in, and you're done - no impressions made with that icky modeling clay stuff, no temporary crowns, no having to come back for a second visit or any of that. They can even use it for filling cavities, instead of using the old fashioned amalgam.
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