Slashdot Mirror
New 3D Printer Can Print With Carbon Fiber
cold fjord sends this news from Popular Mechanics:
"[M]aking custom racecar parts out of carbon fiber is daunting. The only real method available is CNC machining, an expensive and difficult process that requires laying pieces by hand. To improve the process, [Gregory Mark] looked to 3D printing. But nothing on the market could print the material, and no available materials could print pieces strong enough for his purposes. So Mark devised his own solution: the MarkForged Mark One, the world's first carbon fiber 3D printer. Mark debuted his Boston area-based startup MarkForged at SolidWorks World 2014 in San Diego with a working prototype. The Mark One can print in carbon fiber, fiberglass, nylon and PLA (a thermoplastic). ... The main advantage of the Mark One: It can print parts 20 times stiffer and five times stronger than ABS, according to the company. It even has a higher strength-to-weight ratio than CNC-machined aluminum. ... Mark says that he imagines this machine is for anybody who wants to print in a material as strong as aluminum. Beyond racecars, it could be useful to industries like prosthetics."
This is the first materials advance I've seen in ages, bar superficial things like the ability to make ridiculously expensive full-colour prototypes of things that need moulding to make en masse.
This tagline was transcoded to result in at least one smirk. If you experience failure to smirk, please consult your Gen
It isn't going to have the strength of carbon fibre done properly so its useless for the types of applications where that strength matters and it isn't going to have the distinctive CF look so its useless for aesthetic applications.
There must be another CNC than the one I'm familiar with: "CNC machining, an expensive and difficult process that requires laying pieces by hand"
"The only real method available is CNC machining, an expensive and difficult process that requires laying pieces by hand."
CNC means Computer Numerical Controlled, which isn't remotely similar to laying out sheets of resin-bonded carbon fiber by hand. Or are they forming blocks of fiber made out of a lot of bonded sheets, and then CNC-milling them into shapes? That seems like a pointless waste. Very confusing sentence, there.
Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines.
Oh now come ON, how the fuck does anyone with even a passing knowledge of CF production get the summary so fuckign incredibly wrong? CNC would be to create the MOLD. You dont bloody well layer CF by a goddamn CNC and most of the CF for racecars is layered over the mold by hand.
Now the idea of 3D printing CF isnt a bad idea - the secret to CF strength is getting the strands in the right direction and the resins used / curing time. I can see how this could work and it is somethign to check out. But holy fuck editors, get the goddamn summary right!
Tried machining fibreglass :), dust is a bit of a problem.
And if you machine CF, you cut through the fibres and lose the strength.
To get around that you shape a plastic core using CNC, then you have to lay the CF over the core by hand. This bypasses those problems, you can print the core then precision lay the CF thread by thread.
Another (later poster) got that wrong as well, this *is* as good as hand laid for most applications.
Just you fucking wait.
We're half way to printing a Gallardo.
Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
Unless this layers carbon fibers + resin + hardener making the epoxy bond immediately
Actually it does. Check out the video on the website:
The machine costs next to nothing. Now the ink cartridges ...
Intron: the portion of DNA which expresses nothing useful.
Vapor-hardware is a thing. And you're lookin' at it.
Except, they are already demo'ing a working prototype at a decent size trade show. That's some pretty thick vapor. I know demos != shipped, but I'm going to give this one the benefit of the doubt since it's very similar to well-understood and already available hardware.
Beyond racecars, it could be useful to industries like prosthetics
Carbon-fiber bicycle frames are very labor-intensive to manufacture which is a major reason why they're so expensive. This technology could bring the price down to the cost of an aluminum frame, or maybe even lower.
Are YOU using the TOOL, or is the TOOL using YOU? Think about it!
Jesus Fucking Christ! SOMEBODY, OH SOMEBODY just had to bring guns into this didn't they?
I believe you might have mis-identified me. Just for the record, this isn't Jesus.
"This time in English"
Headline - Domestic Terrorists 3D printing Weapons of Mass Destruction for Sole Purpose of Kindergarden Massacres and Granny Slaying forces Parliament to Implement New Amnesty Period for Handing Over All 3D Printing Related Paraphernalia Including Plastic Items, Icing Extruders, Remote Controlled Cars, and Computers Before Retroactive Ban is Enforced.
Silly English.
while(1) attack(People.Sandy);
bar superficial things like the ability to make ridiculously expensive full-colour prototypes of things that need moulding to make en masse.
Superficial? Hardly. Tooling is incredibly expensive for molded plastic products and 3D printers make producing small quantities of plastic parts MUCH cheaper in many cases. If you think this is unimportant or trivial then you are wrong. This is a Very Big Deal.
Technically the CNC stands for Computer Numerically Controlled, which doesn't seem to make a restriction to additive or subtractive processes.
Though it should be noted that a traditional CNC mill is subtractive, and 3D printing is additive.
No, the real strength from carbon fiber is not from the length of the fibers, but from their small diameter. The carbon-carbon bonds are so strong that the failure point of bulk fiber is from a defect in the material. A nick, scratch, notch, etc. in a material serves as a starting point for crack propagation. The smaller you get the strands of fiber, the smaller and fewer the defects in that fiber. A load bearing section of fiber with little to no defects has a far higher tensile strength than a section of the same material with large defects in it.
Long fibers may be stronger than chopped fibers in practice, but I think that would be more likely due to fiber/matrix delamination issues. The continuos fibers can delaminate from the epoxy and still have enough contact with the epoxy to carry load. A chopped strand that delaminates will effectively stop carrying any load.