Quote:
Originally Posted by blue_pinky
Thing is, the orange parts are produced on a 3D printer, and 3D printers don't really produce volume manufactured quality parts.
They are primarily designed for producing 1 off prototype parts, and are just about good enough to do simple fit and function testing, to help prove an idea is viable before committing to large scale manufacturing investment, and not really for long term or high performance strength.
The material is not the whole story, the process the part is produced with is another factor, and the type of process Jonathon is using is not really a high strength process.
Not only that, but the cost of parts off a 3D printer is relatively high...so not the sort of process you'd want to make any volume of parts in either!
I'm sure final production parts will be machined from solid rather than printed!
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A couple of points re your post
We don't volume manufacture so small volumes from a 3D printer is fine and also has benefits like colour customization etc. And i could always buy a 2nd machine
Costs of parts from a 3D printer is actually low and very efficient, as there is no wastage, you are only putting material were you need it.
I have been surprised how strong the parts actual are from the printer, i have made wishbones which simply do not flex, but by adjusting the fill of plastic within the part you can tune to your requirements. And when you design parts you incorporate into the design what works well with the printer to get the best possible parts.
Also a lot depends on the machine you have and what resolution you can print at and how well it is setup. This does have a large effect of the quality of the part. I have printed at a 50 micron layer height and the quality of the parts is very good. If you have seen the Evo in the flesh you would see.
But you are correct that the primary point of the machine is to produce proto type parts, but the option is there to produce small runs of parts, or produce parts made to order at a realistic price. Which you simply cannot do with mass produced parts