On the Model Rocket Fanatics page on Facebook, Mark Foster provided a link to a Shapeways 3D rocket parts vendor - CLICK HERE
The work is impressive but I have mixed feelings about 3D printed parts. If you've seen the 3D print process you know production is slow. The parts are expensive.
3D parts have their place but I prefer a building challenge, not total pre-fabricated parts. On the forums a few posts infer; "Look what I built!" Well, you assembled a rocket. You didn't actually "build" something. I have built rockets from scratch and from kits.
3D parts do require cleaning up, there are ridges left from the plastic layering. The few 3D parts I've worked with required too much time to file and fill. Detailed fin cans (with bolts and straps) are difficult to smooth out without sanding down the bolt heads.
Like I said, these have their place but I won't pay that much for something I can do myself.
15 years ago I was building banjos. The resonator and metal parts were pre-fab. I still had to design, cut out and set all the inlays. Binding, fretting, sanding, filling and assembly were all part of the process. Even though I've played banjo for years I learned more about the instrument by building one. I think the same thing applies to rocketry.
I'm ambivalent towards 3D printed parts. I remember the feelings of relief back in the 70s whenever I'd open a kit and see a plastic nose cone or transition - yeah! no sealing sanding or painting! Not quite the same thing with 3D printed parts since they take a fair amount of finishing. But 3D does have a lot of potential to allow building a bunch of oddball scale models or one-off unique rockets. Guess for me it's a wait and see attitude.
ReplyDeleteI would imagine that as the technology matures the prices of the parts should be coming down. That, and as more competition enters the marketplace. Many times I have abandoned hopes of doing a clone build because of specialty detailed parts that are unavailable: the Space Shuttle and the ALCM cruise missile come to mind. Only so much you can do with balsa and other woods.
ReplyDeleteThe 3D printing technology for hobbyists is still very rudimentary. The parts are still very small and you do have to fill and sand in order to get a flat surface.
ReplyDeleteThe biggest problem is the source material for the plastic. Certain polymers that are used for making plastic (Vinyl Chloride monomer comes to mind) emit poisonous vapors when in heated or soft form.
To avoid these issues, more water soluble plastics like polyvinyl acetate or aliphatic resin is used.
In theory, your 3D piece is designed to decompose like some message to Mr. Phelps in Mission Impossible after some period of time when exposed to water.
3D printing will not leave the chess piece or the temporary prosthetic hand phase until a plastic that is water resistant, durable, and safe to "accidentally inhale when molten is developed.
Then again, 3D printing got it start when they had computers use lasers to cut metal to make specific shapes. This is why 3D jet engine parts exist. Plastics are a whole different matter.
Happy 2018