Gardner,

  My guess is that the easiest solution would be to take the schooner Contrarry model you created in sketchup, send it to a manufacturer like Shapeways, and ask them what it would cost in ABS plastic.  That model is all yours, and since you can print it at any size you want, you can see what the price would be for a 24" model.

  I've read that some software is intelligent enough to create a minimal internal structure for models that would otherwise be solid.  I don't know if this is done at the printing level or the design level, though, so you'd probably have to ask the manufacturer about it.

  If you get the hulls, beams, rudders, and masts/booms made separately, you'd even have a working model.  That would be neat.

        - Mike

Gardner Pomper wrote:

 

Mike,

Yes, it was a notice about 123D and the sites that can print the models that got me thinking about it. It would be cool to be able to get the model printed locally, but I am also concerned about rob giving away the farm. (Maybe I will be able to do that for the harry rob is designing for me). I assume that these online 3D shops have some way of allowing you to print a model while keeping rob's intellectual property private. If nothing else, I should be able to order it from Rob, have him print it online with a shipment address of my house.

My main question is how much it costs. They say that they charge by the cubic centimeter and that you can make the models hollow to save money, but I have no idea of the volume of material required to print a 24" (1:24 scale) model of a visionarry, so it doesn't help me.

Rob, do you know offhand what the surface area of a visionarry is? The minimum thickness is 2mm, so if we guess at 3mm we could get an estimate of the amount of material required.

- Gardner

On Fri, Nov 9, 2012 at 9:05 AM, Mike Crawford <mcrawf@nuomo.com> wrote:

 

Gardner,

  Following up on Roger's commentary, I thought I'd send some links.  I just happened to be researching this myself for another project, so I've been gathering some information. 

  You can definitely take your own model in Blender, Sketchup, or 123D and upload it to a US-based fabrication service for a reasonable price, with many options for materials.  If I were Rob, though, I'd be leery of official Harryproa models because the results would be the equivalent of a set of detailed plans.  Perhaps if only a solid model were shipped, with the 3D files staying in  Rob's control...

---

  In any case, here are a bunch of sites and articles:

  How to design and print 3D models with free software.  Mentions Blender and Google Sketchup, but doesn't mention the free Auodesk 123D):

    http://www.instructables.com/id/Design-and-print-3d-models/

  Autodesk 123D free modeling software, which includes features to upload designs to fabrication services:

    http://www.123dapp.com/

  Shapeways 3D printing, which offers 3D printing in over 30 different types of materials, including metals and ceramics:

    http://www.shapeways.com/

  Makerbot and its "affordable" desktop 3D printers ($2,200 and $2,800) that print to a resolution of 100 microns, roughly 4/1000 of an inch:

    http://www.wired.com/design/2012/09/how-makerbots-replicator2-will-launch-era-of-desktop-manufacturing/all/

  Autodesk and its free 123D 3D-modeling software:

    http://www.wired.com/business/2012/09/ff-autodesk-and-the-big-make/all/

        - Mike

Roger L wrote:

 

Are you talking about stereolithography (SLA)? Don't ship the model, ship the file. Keep the business local. If the plans exist in a 3-D modeling format - which is almost a guarantee these days - then a local SLA shop can hand you back a scale model in a day.

 

You asked if anyone has used the process. I have.  Manufacturing jobs didn't fall off recently around here like they did in a lot of the US. Probably because this area went through that particular cliff a decade before. Big changes happened. The biggest being that all us worker types who still have jobs have STEM smarts now..... :-)

 

So now there are several local SLA houses selling 3-D parts. And you can bet that they are giving the traditional machine shops fits. Not to speak of competing with each other....

Several times now I've had a run of modest prototype parts made directly from pictures drawn in software - usually these parts are initially drawn up using a design program called "SolidWorks". Even though I'm old enough to be fair with a pencil, the computer design program is way faster than I can sketch. Plus it automatically does 3D. That's my favorite program, but I'm told by the stereolithography houses that they can work with the data of many different design programs.

 

What are you wanting to know specifically? Best thing would be to stop by your local stereolithography shop. It's easy to get a tour; those guys are like religious converts. I guess I am too because I guarantee that you'll be amazed. What's even more amazing is how little this process is known about at the non-STEM consumer level. 

 

SLA is a business that can be done in an shoebox office with one machine and a computer....for reasonable money. Advances in SLA technology happen mega quickly. New techno is usually expressed as model details with greater resolution, closer tolerances, and available in even more and different grades of plastic - including reinforced plastics. I'm betting the next step will be fully hard models built by sputtering metal. Right now there are plastics that are transparent, hard, tough, and one that is springy.  I don't know about blends or custom colors, but if you are willing to snap or screw the parts together there's no limits. Large models could be made with windows or see-thru hulls. The material is cheap and complexity costs nothing at all. It's all different from traditional machining. The parts I've gotten so far have all been in a single type of plastic. Maybe next year it will be all different.....competition is fierce here since there's half a dozen shops within lunch-hour range. You can have models made anywhere that data can be sent. I heard that NASA made satellite parts in space....

    Roger L.

........

......................

----- Original Message -----

From: Rob Denney

To: harryproa@yahoogroups.com.au

Sent: Thursday, November 08, 2012 8:56 PM

Subject: Re: [harryproa] 3D printed harryproa models?

Fantastic idea!  The 3D items I have seen have been quite robust.  Shipping should not be too difficult, especially if the beams are removable.

rob

On Fri, Nov 9, 2012 at 9:45 AM, Gardner Pomper <gardner@networknow.org> wrote:

 

I was wondering if anyone in the forum has any experience with any of
these online 3D printing companies. I was just browsing around today
and saw at least one that can print a model up to almost 2' by 2'.
What with rob doing 3D models of the harrys, I would ABSOLUTELY LOVE
to buy some scale models. Rob should sell them himself if he could
figure out how to just get it shipped directly from the printer to the
customer.

I want at least a harry, a visionarry and the version rob is working
on for me. Probably a harriette too!

So, has anyone gotten anything printed? Even better, has anyone done
anything in 3D and submitted it for printing?

- Gardner