I think they will eventually be disrupted.
My 3D printer stocks have been going up to the point of making over half the amount of money I put into stocks in cash in profit. I imagine 3D printing will really take off at some point when major new applications for it are discovered.
That said, one stock category I should get into is the materials used for 3D printing. Anyone know what companies make them?
I highly doubt they will do much disrupting. Again traditional machines are just better at mass production of parts in general. The 3d printing seems to be doing quite well with small and precise items. Small items they can do quickly. Precision items may take longer but at least you no longer need a big expensive machine to make them.
To drive my point home that disruption is unlikely in the listed industries 3d printers have been in use since before the current interest in them alongside traditional mass production methods to handle small or intricate parts. Industries are rapidly taking up 3d printing along side their traditional methods.
The only real industry that is going to be disrupted is the one that makes the machines for other industries.
Who watches the watchmen?Well they have sintered metal printing already. The question is how strong is the sintered material vs traditionally manufacture car bodies?
I can see making the primary body more traditionally but using printing for panneling, engine parts, other internals, and electronics.
Who watches the watchmen?Well, from wikipedia it's not really a sintering process as sintering
does not actually melt the powder: DMLS
does.
Also, as far as I can tell as long as you solution treat + heat treat the alloy afterwards the results will be the same: solution treatment raises the temperature above the annealing/recrystalisation temperature so any history that the alloy has gone through before is erased entirely.
I would not expect much (from forging anyway). You do not want to change the microstructure after heat treatment and thus in general you would not want to further forge the part afterwards, so I would expect that parts forged traditionally will have to be heat treated after smithing/forging, though 1) I'm not familiar with the industrial process and 2) there can be exceptions (I do know that certain types of precipitates prefer to grow from dislocations which is generated from deformations, so in that case you will want to solution treat, shape, then age). So instead of hammering the crap out of something and then heat-treat, you print it then heat-treat.
This
is an interesting read.
edited 4th Nov '13 7:50:31 PM by IraTheSquire
No kidding.
So have they tried using multiple heads moving on the same armature to do mass production 3d printing?
By that I mean a bunch of nozzles hooked up the same moving piece of gear and they make the exact same pattern in layers over a broad surface. So instead of spitting out one copy they make a dozen in a go.
Who watches the watchmen?Not sure actually, though it wouldn't surprise me if someone did or if it's in the works.
EDIT: Looks like it is.
edited 5th Nov '13 8:45:16 PM by rmctagg09
Hugging a Vanillite will give you frostbite.3-D printed metal handgun works
3D-printed human cells could "replace animal testing"
edited 7th Nov '13 8:14:03 PM by rmctagg09
Hugging a Vanillite will give you frostbite.For the gun. As I pointed out in the Gun thread. It still quires a shockingly expensive machine not exactly a garage machine set up. The people who made it are also skilled at making other objects like surgical tools for example.
I want them to stress test that piece to destruction and see what parts fail. A decent fire arm should be able to put at least a couple thousand rounds down the barrel before anything breaks.
The 3D printed cells are certainly interesting for testing.
edited 7th Nov '13 8:31:46 PM by TuefelHundenIV
Who watches the watchmen?And serial numbers haven't been removed before? Such guns already exist and for the same amount of cash said mobsters would be spending they could get ready made pieces and pay someone to modify them instead. Zip guns and heavily modified fire arms are already common and far easier to come by.
Who watches the watchmen?Organic Lights and Solar Cells Straight from the Printer
CT and 3-D Printers Used to Recreate Dinosaur Fossils
And now for the really cool thing:
Hugging a Vanillite will give you frostbite.

I was just reading up on contours and watching a vid of it laying down wall layers. Pretty neat looking.
The 7 Disrupted industries thing is putting the cart before the horse. Especially with jewelry. A lot of jewelry is still hand assembled and done so enmasse for various reasons. Namely a lot of difficulty in intricate patterns with wire, chain, and custom work. Stone settings are still done almost entirely by hand. Same for custom inlays and intricate torch work.
Many jewelers do custom work almost entirely by hand and their most expensive pieces of equipment would be a centerfuge, accetylene/oxyaccetylyne, a kiln, and dremmels. The rest of the tools are very easy to get and rather cheap to do so.
Also I highly doubt the industries will be disrupted so much as 3d printers will more realistically be used to augment existing production processes such as mass produced candy vs custom candies.
Logstically speaking having a supply of ready parts is still far more effecient for the military then having raw materials that can be made into new parts. However 3d printing may be useful to bolster supplies permiting faster in system dispening and restocking. The military could set up the printers inside of supply depots and as orders arrive print the bits and then ship them out.
edited 31st Oct '13 6:30:40 PM by TuefelHundenIV
Who watches the watchmen?