Print your own rc parts?
 

Saw this and thought it was cool.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jt3EG...eature=related

Yea except that the printer cost 15k and probably any part you print will cost like $100 a piece.

Would be awesome to see a company pick one of these up to make made to order rc bodies. That's the main use I see for it, probably more if I thought about it, but even then still not worth 15 g's just to play with:shock:

If anyone is serious about trying out a rapid prototyper then the Makerbot and RepRap are more accessible options.

http://www.makerbot.com/

http://reprap.org/wiki/Main_Page

However in my opinion this technology is still a long way from being perfect (at least at the hobbyist level) and you would be better off buying a small cnc mill.

As far as I've seen most rapid prototypers don't really do hollow shells very well. You would need to build up extensive support structures just to be able to print the exterior surface of the body. You might be able to make a plug and use it to vacuum form a custom lexan body.

Parts are pretty cheap, I have had several done for prototyping. Knuckles ended up costing me about $30 each to have done in SLS, about the same when done with FDM.

Yep small stuff is cheep. FDM is the cheapest route to go. I worked in this field or 2 years interning and the 2 years for a company. I have seen just about every RP technology out there.

I have made tons of parts for my cars and have had great success with them. Just depends on what you use it for.

Our local high school tech center has 3d printer and have done some chassis and other parts for me for free!! The teacher turned it into a project for one of the students.

A mix of a couple different RP parts. This was a project for my class. Every part was designed in solidworks and made with RP printers except the chassis and wheels

http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/a...ber2006094.jpg

It would take days to print out an entire body. We use a Solido S300 Pro printer and it's great for prototyping chassis and smaller parts.

I wouldn't recommend you use them as production parts due to strength, but using them to prove out designs is a perfect use for them.

Oh well, worth a thought.

Not that I could afford one but, good feedback from you guys. "thumbsup"

$15K for the printer... Does the CAD/rendering software come with it? How about setup and training?

That would be a cool little toy, but I can see the initial startup costs going way past $15K.

We had one of these at my work back about 7 or 8 years ago. There were times when the techs that worked with this thing didn't have anything to work on, so I 'd give them parts off of my E-Maxx to make. The parts really were not that durable, but it was cool to watch the printer work. Of course, their printer was about the size of 3-4 freezers put side-by-side...

I knew about the rep rap (or its twin) but not the maker bot, looks like they took the reprap and made it a alot better. I want one :mrgreen:

I researched 3d printers alot awhile back when i was wanting to sell a radio designed by me, was going to use the printer to make all the plastic stuff. But i decided 3d printing with a affordable printer wasn't ideal for all the time use, and having to baby sit it, but the maker bot seems to have solved all the problems, with its upgrades. I still plan on desiging a radio, but since my last idea i have raised my standards alot, so i'm gonna have to wait afew years when i'm actually in school for EE.;-)

I'm pretty sure it doesn't include a cad software, but setup and training should be real simple.

according to dimension their formula for printed parts is 80% the strength of injection molded abs, so its some pretty tough stuff, and not brittle...but i don't think i'd be using it for any structural stuff on a rc.

for a low price of 14,900..... :shock:

you mean like this one?
 

Muhahahaa!! :ror:
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y17...1109-00216.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y17...tedbearing.jpg
"thumbsup"