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Posts: 4053
Location: Land of the Musky | Anyone used a 3D printer yet to make prototypes? I am seriously thinking about buying a 3D plastic printer. We use this at my day job and it is sweet! WE think up new things and take it to our design group and walla, we have a working prototype to try out before we spend $10k-$50k building something out of SS.
Here is a 3D plastic printer for $2200.
http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-33809_7-57516381/makerbot-revamps-repl...
http://reviews.cnet.com/3d-printers/makerbot-replicator-3d-printer/...
Very cool steel 3D printers are out there too but the cost is a LOT more.
Thanks for any insight.
James
Edited by Tackle Industries 11/18/2012 10:37 AM
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Posts: 424
| Good idea,James !!!
I would like to take a corse of CAD 2D and 3D
esoxone |
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| It's on my short list of things to buy, designing for boyancy is an issue with those as well as paint sticking. The ABS printers are nice and Ill pull the trigger on one once they've advanced them enough where is makes sense to do production on one |
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Posts: 994
Location: Minnesota: where it's tough to be a sportsfan! | I would doubt they get to the point where you would be happy with them as a production tool. As a sales tool they fit the gap nicely though. Look at production in injection molding done with an actual sttel tool vs an AL proto type tool. Kinda the same. It also shows that everything is done in ABS. |
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Posts: 994
Location: Minnesota: where it's tough to be a sportsfan! | Size looks like it could be an issue but a very cool tool for sure. I would love to have one to play with, but then I said the same thing about a CNC machine when I saw that too. Ha Ha |
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Posts: 366
| I used the 3D printer we had at my university last year for prototyping parts on our design project, and have been thinking about possibility of making lures with it ever since. It was a $400,000.00 machine, and the material was not cheap, but by comparison it was small fraction of what the machining costs would have been. The only thing is I don't know of anyone using it to print around something like the wire harness and weighting that a lure would require. Anyone have ideas on how that would work? The printer head would have to pass through the region that the harness would sit. I suppose, since this would really only be on prototypes that you could simply print the two clam shell sections with the slot for the harness and then have them snap or pin together. This is definitely something that will be on my wish list.
Ryan
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Posts: 278
Location: Finland | there is a Finnish company that makes these machines much more affordable prized compared to those that you guys have over the states, been tying with the idea but i'm sure i wont be getting one even at 780€ since the quality of the end product is not all that impressive, not to me atleast. but still check it out if your interested http://minifactory.fi/blog/ |
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Posts: 531
| I have used them to make prototypes. In college I took a rapid prototyping class, and had access to use the machinery. We had two different style machines. One was a ABS with a hot tip, the other was one that laminated a corn starch type material with a glue sprayed from an something similar to an ink jet printer head.
Both machines were user friendly and awesome to run, but what made them even better was the use of the 3D scanner we had on a Faro Arm. We could scan just about any object, with a claime precisionon of +-.002 inch. In that class we could rip off just about anything with the 3d scanner, then make changes to the 3model in ProE, then print it out. Realistically with in one class period.
Very neat stuff, and kinda scary when you think about how easy it can be to steal somone elses work.
Edited by anzomcik 11/18/2012 4:46 PM
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| Ya, it’s wishful thinking that you could use one for production, you never know though, that technology is advancing quickly. But I doubt you’d see a plant full of printers instead of molding machines. I’ve made stereolithography prototype lips for lures before; the problem for me with the rapid prototyping is the material density. They probably work well for prototyping a hollow two piece bait, but I prefer to manufacture solid plastic baits with a light density foam. I CNC machine my prototypes out of cedar because I know I can mold at that density. I’d love to have one of these on a bench down in my mancave. http://www.tormach.com/product_pcnc_770_main.html
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| James, do you have someone that does 3D part design for you? How do you do your designing?
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Posts: 4053
Location: Land of the Musky | The company I work for now has our parts made with a 3D printer but its one of the monster $100k+ 3D printers. We make our test parts using ABS but its a different kind of printer. It lays down very thin layers of ABS polymer and then prints a bonding agent on the ABS dust. Then it lays down another layer of ABS and repeats the process until the part is made. It then heats the part to bond everything together. Once we are happy with the part its made from SS and put into production.
These little 3D printers look much more effective, fast and cheaper to try out a new lure design or lip design vs paying $500-$2000 per "idea" to try. I have one lure I have spent about $4000 on just to get a lip right. With this printer I could have paid for the printer and punched out about 50 lip designs and still had $1000 left over to add to the Disney fund for the kids 
If you need any additional help let me know. I know of a few guys in the lure business that can help and also may have a few other sources for you to contact. My day job consists of finding "things" and figuring out how to use them. And "things" are defined as anything we need to make something or make money from selling. Happy to help.
James
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Posts: 15
| I know this a old thread but I was wondering if anybody has been able to try anything yet. I work with 3D cad every day all day for my job and we have a 3D plastic printer that I use to make some small prototypes at work. I was just wondering if the plastic holds up enough to do testing. I have been thinking about modeling up some bait ideas that I have in Solidworks and making some prototypes. |
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Location: South-Central PA | Sounds like this could be a great design tool!
jeremy
Edited by bowhunter29 1/29/2013 8:38 AM
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| Go for it and let us know. If your machine has an ABS equivalent material you should be fine. What is your build size? The downside for me with those machines is the material density. I prefer solid plastic baits and the specific gravity of the materials used just won’t be light enough. You’ll need to design hollow two piece bait that you bond together afterwards. For muskies I’d at least go .078” wall thickness when you shell out your design. Design in some ribs so you can separate sections for split shot needed for weighting/rattles. Some male/female interlocking bosses help for alignment and give you a place to put your figure “8” hook hangers. I’ve only designed one bait this way but it turned out pretty good. Along the outside edge I designed a sort of tongue and groove detail to hold the adhesive in place and provide a good seal.
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Posts: 15
| Yeah the machine prints ABS. The build area is 8x8x12. I think I will have to start modeling something and see what happens. |
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Posts: 1906
Location: Oconto Falls, WI | I wish I had one of these machines! It would have made my last project a bit easier and quicker to prove out. |
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| Just over 2 grand now… It’s starting to get tempting to print lures…
https://store.makerbot.com/replicator2.html
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Posts: 479
Location: Eden Prairie & Pine Island | James,
Intrigued as well here for proto's, but if you pull the trigger on the printer at $2k or more, don't you still need a good CAD program or a 3d Scanner to get your ideas in a format that the printer can make? I have no CAD skills and would likley rely on a 3d scanner...I would really like to take some bass size lures (particularly rubber) and make Muskie size proto's with them in hard plastic that I could use for pouring a mold to cast the rubber ones out of...any ideas on how this can be done? I'm thinking a good 3d scanner is going to be even more espensive. Thanks.
Edited by GMan 2/21/2013 9:57 AM
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| I know this thread is a few months old but I am planning on doing this when I receive my 3d printer soon.
http://www.makibox.com/ (About $200-$300 plus shipping) Mine is already ordered but they are about to ramp up production.
I don't plan on using the plastic printed models other than for creating molds out of them and then creating many actual lures for testing from these molds. This also gives me the option to make them flexible if need be.
Will likely use Rhino 3D, Solidworks, or inventor (but for cheaper I believe google sketch-up could be used)
If I have success (and actually get to go fishing at some point to test them) I will post back. |
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Posts: 4053
Location: Land of the Musky | czmorris,
Please post some pictures when you have a few done. Can't wait to see it.
LOL if someone can make a working assault rifles and handguns with a 3D printer we should have no issues making a few fishing lures! 
James
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Posts: 1100
| Something like this?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8snnp1bdckI&feature=youtu.be
This is a 1/5 scale version of a shad i draw in solidworks.
The machine in the video are free for all the students to use, (we have 10 of them) and if we need something special made on one the relay expensive machines, they should be pretty help full.
This is after 26 minutes.
http://img14.imageshack.us/img14/3695/20130430165234.jpg
The new term for 3D printing is "additive manufacturing" before it was known as "rapid prototyping" but because there are more and more products that comes directly from the 3D printers they changed the industrial name to "additive manufacturing"
It was properly one of the most exiting lectures we had this semester
The university where i study have machines that can print in ceramics(with color if needed) there are tough enough to cast zinc alloys in, without further processing.
Beside that they can print in all sorts of plastics, and even regular paper also with color.
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Posts: 44
| I have used an ALPS printer at my previous employer for making decals for models and it is an older technology, but it has the ability to print white and chrome, silver and gold foils. We used photoshop to print waterslide decals and you can print whatever you would like, however it is a little tricky to figure out. I believe we bought the printer from a distributor in New Zealand. |
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Posts: 496
| Getting one at work here in the next week or so ! Yea the boss says no lures for the first few weeks ....DOUBT IT |
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Posts: 369
| Even though I do not own a 3D printer, there are lures that have been made from them. This is just a picture I found on the web:
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 3D.jpg (62KB - 435 downloads)
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