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Printed Circuits as Part of a 3-D Printed Object (Video)
Affordable 3-D printing is still young; just a few years ago, it would have been nearly impossible to have an arbitrary three-dimensional piece of plastic (or resin, or sometimes metal) created from a software description in a box that fits on your desk. But in the several years the printing of *things* has moved fromquaint, quixotic, futzing-about hobby into something that works (fairly) reliably in ever more garages, schools, and hackerspaces, it's gotten good enough that you can now download and print quite a few objects that are available for download, or scan small items to replicate, or scan your friends to print out as statuettes. However, for the most part, these printed pieces are static, and finished. With care, you can print things like a chain, or even a ball joint, but you're still limited mostly to one basic material at a time. (Printing with multiple colors is getting easier, though.) If you want to print a flashlight or a robot, you'll need to add wires and other circuitry as a separate step. That's what the folks at Rabbit Proto (get it?) are trying to change. With the system they're working on, a filament printer is used to fabricate the object itself, but at the same time, both capacitive and conductive features can be baked -- or rather printed -- right in, with a separate print head. We talked with Alexandre Jais and Manal Dia of Rabbit Proto about how the system works, and why you might want to use it. (Alternate video link.)
Stereolithography machines existed, but they were like the Mitsubishi's Avance-25 (both a sinterer, and a CNC mill), well out of the reach of the average person, so the ideas really didn't come around until more people had experience with this technology.
One of the more notable advances I'm seeing is using 3D printing with dissolvable filament in the same way that lost wax castings are done. Make a figure with sprues, embed it in a mold, use a solvent to get the filament out, pour in silver/bronze/metal of choice, let cool, crack the mold off and grind off the sprues, done. This won't make extremely detailed pieces or pieces with a heavy temper (i.e. no 1911 gun parts), but it would make some usable items in metal.
Can't be repaired, and when the DRM is literally printed right in to the device, will 'owning' your purchased product really mean anything in the future?
On the one hand, proprietary product designers will have their customers locked in like never before, and on the other, it seems like you'll have the option to create your own product to order exactly how you like it, especially if you can leverage an open design.
... an arbitrary three-dimensional piece of ...
Oh yeah, desktop CNC mills didn't exist just a few years ago.
CNC mills are far more limited in the arbitrariness of the shape that can be formed. They cannot form internal corners, complex cavities, overhangs, etc. They are also much more expensive and require far more skill and experience to use. On the other hand, even a home user can make aluminum or stainless steel parts with a desktop mill such as a Sherline. Mills and 3D printers are really complimentary rather than competitors. I will sometimes do a plastic rapid prototype on a 3D printer, and after checking the fit and function, mill it in aluminum for a stronger part with a better finish. Plus it looks shiny.
So a CNC mill is limited, except when you buy one from Sherline?
No. This is what I was trying to say: A mill is more limited in the shapes it can form, but it is less limited in the materials it can use. A home user can use a mill to make parts out of aluminum, brass, or stainless steel. A home user cannot do that with a 3D printer (yet). I only mentioned the Sherline because it is one of the smallest and most affordable mills, while still being a very capable machine.