Thanks for the files Hobson
Tonz wrote:
what scale can these be?
That only depends on how big the 3d printer is, most are fairly small, but some are up to 500mm x 500mm x 500mm, which would give you a scale of about 1/7. In terms of how small, some printers are really accurate and you could have something suitable for a keychain.
Tonz wrote:
what $$$ are we looking at?
This would depend on what material you want it made out of, the quality required and where you took it. Places like Officeworks can do them, but for a 1/7 scale probably between $500 - $1000 at a guess, this would mostly be due to the time it would take, guessing 2-3 days of printing. There are also people who have printers at home who make money on the side by printing stuff, this is usually a lot cheaper, think a couple of hundred dollars maybe, and finally there would be knowing someone who has one and asking them to do it, then it would likely be the cost of material plus a bit extra for the electricity for running it straight for 2-3 days, so around $50-$100 maybe.
Tonz wrote:
are they cheaper with bulk (more than 1) production.... I doubt it
With 3d printing generally not much cheaper in bulk as the biggest cost is the time it takes to print and the material. There aren't any setup or special fabricating/tooling costs like traditional manufacturing techniques so bulk doesn't really save set up time or anything like that.
Tonz wrote:
but then what am I to know, still not quite believing this type of thing can be made, but at same time with 80 year old unkle
...fathers brother
has recently had a hip replacement in UK done with these things.
It's an amazing technology that really is changing how things are made, Koenigsegg use it to 3d print the turbine housing for their turbos to make them spool better, the printing allows for complex designs that can't be cast or machined, Airbus and Boeing are 3d printing components for jet engines currently and in the near future they will be 3d printing entire jet engines for their airplanes, F1 extensively uses 3d printing for rapid prototyping and even down to cheap prosthetics for children are now crowdsourced from people with 3d printers in their home.
