Yes 3D printing can do some pretty cool things, but if you need more than 20, you might as well machine them.
Below is another project I just completed for someone that went down this path. You can also get some more exotic finishes ranging from Teflon to etches. Right now it's nifty, and may work for prototyping, but not practical for manufacturing.

I've been watching this field closely, and at some point it may, but right now not so much.

one more

One of the neat areas where it is being used is for mold patterns. You can print a part, then cast it (sand, investment, etc.) and save a lot of work/time.

The part on the right looks familiar.

I agree with these statements. I have found that my 3D printer works great for checking fit on prototypes. Then the files get sent out for metal cutting. Saves me time and money on prototyping.

Those are mine, and Jamie did the prototyping. I'll weight in to say that Mark is right, but I think there's more worth mentioning.

1. The prototype pictured did exactly what I needed it to. It got me a quick and accurate sample to confirm that the idea was worth pursuing.
2. The prototype pictured previously is from a home/DIY machine. There are commercial machines out there that make far more detailed pieces such as this:


But clean, professional looking parts are far better produced from billet aluminum. In that sense, Mark is absolutely correct. Bang for the buck at this point is still heavily in the CNC camp.

Thanks for the AWESOME looking parts Mark. You are a great asset to the community.

We 3D print parts for sand casting mold patterns all of the time. It is very handing because no real man-hours are spent printing the parts and for the fact that it is trivial to add the correct draft angles. Adding 1-2 degree draft angles on flat faces of a CNC'd part can be very time consuming. After 3D printing a part, you just need to sand it down (usually ABS SLA is used for cost) and sent it to the casting house. If I can find them I'll post up some pictures of racecar uprights which were made using this process and the cast in magnesium.

As a recognized 'old fart', this technology just blows me away! I imagine that more and more NLA and obscure parts may be able to be reproduced using these printers.

Glad to see folks working with these, and hope that we may be able to start producing more things back at home rather than relying on overseas suppliers all the time (Sorry for the political implications).

If you don't think 3D printing is going to make production parts, check this out. http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2013/11...al-1911-pistol/

Printed metal that stands up to a pretty high level of abuse/use.

but I expect the ebeam and DMLS machines to be integrated into conventional subtractive processes over the next 10 years. GE is making fuel nozzles for it's next generation of engines using additive, taking an assembly of 18 components down to 1, and reducing the weight by 25%. The large turbine builders all have their fingers in this because they can start to design parts that cannot be machined, or machined easily, for better weight savings.

GE nozzle

Correct, we are looking at bringing DLS into the machine shop specifically for a high end customer with needs to make only a few parts, but with high tolerances, in stainless.

I imagine 3D printing is in the "dot matrix" age relative to it's regular printing counterpart...imagine what 3D printing will do once it gets to the "color laser" phase and beyond.

Who are you looking at? EOS? I think I was shocked about the software cost that you need to build the support structures, etc.

I was wondering how easy it would be to 3d print a tail light assembly, not the lens portion but the black plastic housing and interior reflector piece. Thoughts?

I was at Staples today and they hhave the Cube units on the shelf. 3D printing is mainstream!

EOS has the best package I've found so far, yes not cheap.

You may have already covered this but what machine/system are you using to make these parts?

Just curious
John