3D Printing (NLC)

[r10crw]

Oh and does anyone fancy having a go for beer money??

Sure - are you hoping for a solid block with a a frosted finish over the virtual surface (sort of like etching the pattern into the inside of a block of glass) or are you wanting to print an object that actually has the surface of your virtual sea bed?

Both are possible, but the actual sea bed representation would be easier to achieve due to the fact that the plastic material doesn't come out crystal clear and yellows over time.

I think the processing would be relatively straight forward; we would simply convert the XYZ coordinates of each point into a mesh of triangles, then clean up the mesh to eliminate any unprintable features.

If you can send me some data I'll see what I can do - ideally something cool like a submarine or boat wreck.

Cheers,
Robin

You have a deal! I can give you XYZ but can export loads of files types, ideally with seabed.

Here are some of the stuff my system does,

http://www.caris.com/calendar/contest12/

And Ive done several in Matlab using wireframe/triangles.

Would you prefer a simple XYZ ascii as a test?

[r10crw]

Ohh and if your after a U boat, Im doing a search for U40 next Friday, If I find it Ill definitely look to do it.

[tut]

How did a U Boat get into Loch Ness?

tut

[r10crw]

Loch Ness was actually good fun, found 20 cm sand waves in 100 metres of water. Never seen before so quite cool, but unfortunately no U Boats.

U40 has an approximate location 12 miles east of Stonehaven but it was never found so we are putting the unmanned submarine into look for it. It has quite an amusing history in that the allies started using trawlers as decoys in WW1 towing our own subs. When the germans would surface to give an early warning of attack the trawler would send signal to the towed Uboat who would sink the Germans. In this case (one of the first) the German captain was quoted as saying "A very dirty trick and very poor sport!".

Of course the net result was that the Germans would no longer give any warning and more lives were lost.

[ste7en]

We use CA Models here in Stirling for scale prototypes. Some of the stuff they can do is pretty cool.

I've see exhaust and aero parts for F1 teams and last time I was there the finishing area had a load of Dyson parts waiting for final fettling.

[tut]

Some parts of your job are real cool Craig.........

tut

[graeme]

Cool idea Craig. I'm at work, so no time to look into this right now, but it reminded me of this:

http://www.matterhackers.com/news/how-t ... -the-world

Might give Robin a started for 10 if nothing else.

[Sanjøy]

More witchcraft.

[istoo]

just about to push the button on a makerbot here as well...

interested to hear from others who use/ supply

[Corranga]

More witchcraft.

Someone has to do a Terminator model and play the video in reverse.

I know now why you cry...

[Sanjøy]

33k rpm baby http://gizmodo.com/ge-3d-printed-a-tiny ... 1703922055

[Ferg]

That's tres cool!

[Sanjøy]

Anyone got a printer and needing a v cool sundial?

http://interestingengineering.com/3d-pr ... ol-sounds/

[Ferg]

http://www.maplin.co.uk/p/dremel-idea-b ... n=16P12-03

reduced in price......

doh, posted before looking at what else they have. Seems these things are getting cheaper...

[BiggestNizzy]

Massive longshot this one!

I have been toying with making some 3D printed inserts for the rear of my S1 to replace the metal ones in front of the reverse / fog lamps for some time and I managed to create a mesh using phototelemetry but without any sizing data it was near impossible to turn that into a working solid.

I have an opportunity coming up where I can get my hands on a Hexagon scanning laser arm to accurately scan the area and some software to turn the resulting mesh into a useable solid.

The problem I have is I can't take my car and I can't unbolt the whole clam, sling it over my shoulder and take it to the event. I can't even arrange to meet anyone with a car as it will be done on the fly when I get the chance.

So here is the long shot, does anyone have a S1 rear clam that has been smashed to bits enough that I can cut the chunk off I need before it goes in the skip?

Graeme