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Porsche Is 3D Printing Hard-To-Find Parts For The 959 And Other Classics (jalopnik.com)
Porsche Classic, Porsche's classic cars division, has turned to 3D printing obscure parts that people might need on occasion. From a report: They already have about 52,000 parts available, but for the truly arcane ones, it's cheaper to 3D print them than make the specialized tools to create them over again. In addition to that 959 lever, Porsche is also 3D printing eight other parts. They are made from steel and alloy and the plastics are made using an selective laser sintering printer, which Porsche describes as: "A process where the material is heated to just below melting point and the remaining energy is applied through a laser to fuse the plastic powder at a selected point." So there you have it! The next time something is busted on your 959 or 356, don't cry and abandon the car, stalled on the side of the road. Call up Porsche. They'll science something for you.
Have we already gone full-on idiocracyin just 12 years?
They didn't take it out back & blow it up, but machining tools don't last forever.
Some of them were probably used (with modifications) in subsequent model years, most of them just wore out & weren't replaced since they weren't making that exact part anymore. For the rest, molds and tooling takes up space or rust and the materials they're made out of can be recycled into new parts. There isn't a lot of money to be made in keeping tooling for a 30+ year old car that they only made about 300 of to begin with.
You only know about PLA and you apply that knowledge to everything that says "3D printed".
Fascinating.
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Now, the question for me is: as an owner of one of these cars, what would it cost to license the spare parts database so I can have a printing company of my choice make and finish the parts to my specifications?
You can always sell old tooling to retro parts makers.
....Never mind if we ever get to a point where you can 3D print your own AK-47 that can fire 30k rounds without the receiver breaking or the barrel exploding in your face like the original can or ... hand grenades? ... RPG's?
You could make small arms with conventional machine-shop tools. Why is this always an issue when people talk about 3d printing??? No-one is saying, "if you let people buy a hobby lathe, they could start turning out hand grenades and rifle barrels."
Considering that there are only a couple hundred 959's in existence, I'd say a licensing effort would be pointless. They are no doubt charging dubiously huge fees for these 3D printed parts, but if you own a 959 money is already no object.
Also, Porsche charges astronomical licensing fees for anything associated with their brand. Just look at video games for example.. Many times you will see RUF cars instead of actual Porsches in games because they want too much for licensing.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I have backups to corrupt.
Actually, that's not the reason why. The reason was EA had an exclusive license to use Porsche in its games Need for Speed and Real Racing. Exclusive, as in no one else was allowed.
This agreement ended in 2016, after a 16 year exclusivity deal, which means you are now free to license Porsche for real, and I believe Forza and several others have in 2017.
I can finally get parts for my Porsche collection said no Slashdot member ever.
We'll make great pets