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Worthless: 3D printing is nothing but a nerd fad that won't leave hobbyist workshops.

6 (3%)

Unimportant: 3D printing will become common but won't be useful for much other than tiny full plastic objects.

8 (4%)

Minor Importance: 3D printing will function as a light industry that will coexist with existing manufacturing methodologies.

43 (21.4%)

Moderate Importance: 3D printing will challenge and slowly replace a large number of existing manufacturing businesses.

104 (51.7%)

Major Importance: 3D printing will completely flip the table on conventional manufacturing and quickly destroy existing business for anything you can make with them.

20 (10%)

Critical: 3D printing will disrupt conventional ideals of work and money so much that they collapse and are replaced in a paradigm shift.

20 (10%)

Total Members Voted: 199

[Eagleon]

I forgot about how much stress would be in the form with 3d printed metal, since the layers would cool at different rates, you'd have stress on the welds. You could layer them however you like on however many axes, but it'd be something like cast aluminum, it'd be extremely prone to fracturing along it's layers.

I'd think maybe they could 3d print a metal part and then reforge it somehow? Or maybe find an alloy or material best suited for this kind of manufacturing. The more I think about it, the more inherit problems I see with 3d printing.

Well, it's a little different in that it's probably going to be sintered from powder in many little welds, most likely with a laser. It might even be stronger, I don't know - you're talking about something very different from a lamellar composite, here, more akin to a rock, probably with small airpockets. So it would probably be at least a little tougher than cast. Who knows? If they can get the welds patterened correctly it might overall be tougher than regular metal parts, but it'll never fit quite the same strengths economically.

[DWC]

I forgot about how much stress would be in the form with 3d printed metal, since the layers would cool at different rates, you'd have stress on the welds. You could layer them however you like on however many axes, but it'd be something like cast aluminum, it'd be extremely prone to fracturing along it's layers.

I'd think maybe they could 3d print a metal part and then reforge it somehow? Or maybe find an alloy or material best suited for this kind of manufacturing. The more I think about it, the more inherit problems I see with 3d printing.

Well, it's a little different in that it's probably going to be sintered from powder in many little welds, most likely with a laser. It might even be stronger, I don't know - you're talking about something very different from a lamellar composite, here, more akin to a rock, probably with small airpockets. So it would probably be at least a little tougher than cast. Who knows? If they can get the welds patterened correctly it might overall be tougher than regular metal parts, but it'll never fit quite the same strengths economically.

Possibly, I suppose it'd depend on the materials they use. Aluminum and magnesium are obviously not going to be practical in 3d printing and those are going to be the materials industry will have to rely on in the future as other minerals become more scarce.

Maybe some hybrid production method. A milled template of metal, like a frame or lattice or just a block or other basic shape is put into the 3 printer and that is in turn printed upon and perhaps even shaped or lathed. Well, I guess then it'd be more like a mini-CNC machine then.

Well shit, maybe a mini CNC machine combined with a 3d printer?

[DrPoo]

New idea: Use electromagnetism on the metal as it is placed to somehow place it in a strong pattern.

[Lagslayer]

I forgot about how much stress would be in the form with 3d printed metal, since the layers would cool at different rates, you'd have stress on the welds. You could layer them however you like on however many axes, but it'd be something like cast aluminum, it'd be extremely prone to fracturing along it's layers.

I'd think maybe they could 3d print a metal part and then reforge it somehow? Or maybe find an alloy or material best suited for this kind of manufacturing. The more I think about it, the more inherit problems I see with 3d printing.

Well, it's a little different in that it's probably going to be sintered from powder in many little welds, most likely with a laser. It might even be stronger, I don't know - you're talking about something very different from a lamellar composite, here, more akin to a rock, probably with small airpockets. So it would probably be at least a little tougher than cast. Who knows? If they can get the welds patterened correctly it might overall be tougher than regular metal parts, but it'll never fit quite the same strengths economically.

Possibly, I suppose it'd depend on the materials they use. Aluminum and magnesium are obviously not going to be practical in 3d printing and those are going to be the materials industry will have to rely on in the future as other minerals become more scarce.

Maybe some hybrid production method. A milled template of metal, like a frame or lattice or just a block or other basic shape is put into the 3 printer and that is in turn printed upon and perhaps even shaped or lathed. Well, I guess then it'd be more like a mini-CNC machine then.

Well shit, maybe a mini CNC machine combined with a 3d printer?

*checks wikipedia*

I did not know aluminum was so incredibly common.

[MonkeyHead]

Or, you know, you could just 3D print metalworking tools and do a decent job of making something.

[forsaken1111]

Or, you know, you could just 3D print metalworking tools and do a decent job of making something.

That has some merit. Instead of printing the metal part, print a heat resistant cast and pour the metal in so it cools in the correct shape of the part.

[i2amroy]

I did not know aluminum was so incredibly common.

It is the most common metal on earth after all (though of course virtually none of it exists as aluminum, it's all bound up in various ores).

As for printing metal with a 3D printer, conventional methods are almost always going to come out better for stress purposes with current 3D printing technology. Metal just doesn't have the same sort of properties that plastics have, and as such isn't suited for most current 3D printing methods while retaining its full strength. There is a new technology (electron beam belting) that utilizes a vacuum to get around this fact though, and can generate fully dense and void free parts at full strength (it is much more expensive though). An alternative is exactly what forsaken suggested, you print a cast for the part you want out of plastic and then just cast it.

Edit: Dang computer submitted the post early for some reason.

[forsaken1111]

I wonder if children's toys will ever ship with 'home assembly' instructions which include parts you print at home to save weight/cost.

[Lagslayer]

It is the most common metal on earth after all (though of course virtually none of it exists as aluminum, it's all bound up in various ores).

Only in the crust. Iron is still by far the most abundant in the core.

[Mictlantecuhtli]

Can't you theoretically 3D print a 3D printer with a sufficiently advanced system?

[MonkeyHead]

Can't you theoretically 3D print a 3D printer with a sufficiently advanced system?

Theoretically - the idea has been suggested as a way of making some kind of Von Neumann probe system.

[Mictlantecuhtli]

Loki help us if 3D printers become self aware.

[Rose]

self-printing 3d printers are actually what the whole rep-rap project is all about.

[forsaken1111]

Loki help us if 3D printers become self aware.

If this happens I bet Loki would be responsible.

Call me when they can print coffee, cup and all.

[Scoops Novel]

What's the likely plan to control this?