3D printers and Scanners.

M

Mactriple

Hero member
Location
Wide Bay Queensland
I would like to know if any forum members are savvy with 3D printers and Scanners and are using them. Is there a possibility rubber parts can be made this way and if so I would like to get a run down on how.
Ian
 
Hi Ian, Can't help you yet but I am researching buying one. You can use the free Sketchup software which actually seems pretty cool and outputs for 3D printers. Haven't seen any capable of rubber printing in the home affordable range unfortunately, only ABS seems to be the strongest material in cheap ones. But they are getting better every year predictably so I will be moving on that next year. There seems to be quite an interest in being able to print replacement bits, the most common ones I've seen is bike light mounts and replacement handles/loscks for caravan doors which seem to take a hammering.
 
Maybe get the part 3D printed in another material and use that as the basis for a mould?
 
I bought a (very basic) 3D printer for my son. It's a Da Vinci Junior. IN the UK, I got a deal on it for ?260, including 10 rolls of PLA (the plastic it uses, which normally costs ?20 per roll!).

It comes with XYZware, a 3D printing software package, which sends to the printer, and also 'slices' models you've imported from other 3D programs (e.g. sketchup).

You can get decent results, although the technology is certainly not 100% consumer-ready yet.

The only downside is that it's not a 3D scanner. For an all-in-one (3d scanner and printer), you're still looking at about ?500 in the UK.

Funnily enough, now that my 'new' 750GT has arrived, I was thinking of using my 3D printer to make a mould for the kidney shaped inspection hole grommet, since everyone's out of stock of them. I though I'd get the original 3D scanned, then use the scan to create a 'negative' mould, 3D print it, and use one of the 'home rubber casting' kits to make some moulds out of it.
 

https://express.stratasysdirect.com/default.aspx


Check out this website, I used them for what I thought would be a prototype piece, then decided it was a go as a 3D model, they sanded and painted. Wasn't cheap but it was company $$$, and the boss said go for it.

I like the site because once you upload your 3D files you can get an instant quote with shipping.

Under the products tab, you can get material specs, didn't see anything resembling rubber.

Wayne
 
I'd really like one of these...

http://3dprintingindustry.com/2015/01/06/hershey-3d-systems-unveil-new-cutting-edge-chocolate-3d-printer-ces/
 
I use 3D printing a lot, and to my knowledge most types of rubber are still way beyond the capabilities of even the best agencies.  I have a friend who has built his own and the results are, well, mixed.

The best way to get rubber produced is to go down the mould route.  I've done this for a piece of medical kit making silicon diaphragms and the results were pretty impressive, especially as we actually made them in someone's shed (you do need a decent vacuum pump though).

It also depends on the volume you're looking for.  For one off's, Shapeways (http://www.shapeways.com/) do a castable wax that can be used to make a mould (lost wax/investment cast).  For quantity going for a decent CNC machined mould would be easier.
 
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