I don't think you understand what exactly I'm talking about.
I don't think you understand what exactly I'm talking about.
This is a followup to my previous post on home additive manufacturing is changing the world: https://poal.co/s/3dprinting/84501
I want to further explain and maybe clarify my ideas.
- 3D printing is accessible. One can get into it for under $300. 3D printing does what is very difficult for the home machinist, it makes straight lines and concentric circles.
- These straight lines and concentric circles can be used in printed jigs for ECM. Now, for <$300 the home machinist can make complex forms, straight lines, and concentric circles out of very hard, high quality steel. This can also be done on aluminum, titanium, and superalloys. ECM functions independent of material hardness.
- Using their ability to machine HQ steels to thousandths of an inch, the home machinist can combine these into higher level tech like ElectroDischarge Machining(EDM). This would be simple to do on a small scale. Imagine a desktop EDM wire, able to machine 1' cubed in 2 planes, Y and Z. That's the beginnings of ultra high quality mass manufacture for what is probably under $1000 in materials.
- Combine these techs. Imagine the other ones that I haven't thought of yet. Would it unreasonable to imagine that in 5 years you have people building transmissions, simple turbines, and other extremely precise and heavy duty machines as hobbyists do with simpler things today? I don't think so. In fact, I'm going to work to facilitate it.
The question still remains, do most people know what to do with this stuff? Do they understand how the disparate pieces fit together? No, not really. People are printing Deadpool busts out of carbon-filled nylon. They're wasting it.
But those few who do understand? Well, with the fantastically lower barrier to entry that I predict, you might see a "Glock" or "Benz" in every town. I expect the cottage industry to rocket into the high-technical and for mountains of open info on manufacture processes to be shared freely by Makers. I expect rapid and gleeful innovation on existing, open designs. What the internet has facilitated so far, it will continue to in the future. I expect .
Besides the small glimpse I have of the future, I cannot guess what else we'll see. However, my team and I are now working on a project to bring attention to this series of manufacturing steps. The great leap that can be made by the home machinist.
This is a followup to my previous post on home additive manufacturing is changing the world: https://poal.co/s/3dprinting/84501
I want to further explain and maybe clarify my ideas.
1. 3D printing is accessible. One *can* get into it for under $300. 3D printing does what is very difficult for the home machinist, it makes straight lines and concentric circles.
2. These straight lines and concentric circles can be used in printed jigs for ECM. Now, for <$300 the home machinist can make complex forms, straight lines, and concentric circles out of very hard, high quality steel. This can also be done on aluminum, titanium, and superalloys. ECM functions independent of material hardness.
3. Using their ability to machine HQ steels to thousandths of an inch, the home machinist can combine these into higher level tech like ElectroDischarge Machining(EDM). This would be simple to do on a small scale. Imagine a desktop EDM wire, able to machine 1' cubed in 2 planes, Y and Z. That's the beginnings of ultra high quality *mass manufacture* for what is probably under $1000 in materials.
4. Combine these techs. Imagine the other ones that I haven't thought of yet. Would it unreasonable to imagine that in 5 years you have people building transmissions, simple turbines, and other extremely precise and heavy duty machines as hobbyists do with simpler things today? I don't think so. In fact, I'm going to work to facilitate it.
The question still remains, do most people know what to do with this stuff? Do they understand how the disparate pieces fit together? No, not really. People are printing Deadpool busts out of carbon-filled nylon. They're wasting it.
But those few who *do* understand? Well, with the fantastically lower barrier to entry that I predict, you might see a "Glock" or "Benz" in every town. I expect the cottage industry to rocket into the high-technical and for mountains of open info on manufacture processes to be shared freely by Makers. I expect rapid and gleeful innovation on existing, open designs. What the internet has facilitated so far, it will continue to in the future. I expect [a world of pure imagination](https://youtu.be/OTc3oyedCvA).
Besides the small glimpse I have of the future, I cannot guess what else we'll see. However, my team and I are now working on a project to bring attention to this series of manufacturing steps. The great leap that can be made by the home machinist.
(post is archived)