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Date:         Mon, 9 Jul 2012 07:31:12 -0700
Reply-To:     Enrique Gamez <enrique0210@SBCGLOBAL.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Enrique Gamez <enrique0210@SBCGLOBAL.NET>
Subject:      Re: printing parts
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"

The big question though, is do you guys have the cad drawings for any of these parts that you need? Those "OBJ" files is what these machines require as input. -eg

From: pickle vanagon <greenvanagon@GMAIL.COM> Reply-To: pickle vanagon <greenvanagon@GMAIL.COM> Date: Monday, July 9, 2012 7:06 AM To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM> Subject: Re: printing parts

My wife brings up this possibility a lot. Some biology labs have 3d-printers to print out basic components on the fly.

While its true that you can print metal-based objects now (some sort of epoxy, metal mix) I think you're still going to have trouble with material properties in most cases.

But I don't know. Apparently there are cases where this could work?

Certainly it would work for all the brown plastic interior parts we're missing.

Don't try to print any pistons though. I guess the question should be: does it work for the thermostat housing?

On Mon, Jul 9, 2012 at 12:11 AM, Dave Mcneely <mcneely4@cox.net> wrote:

> Does anyone know more about this than I do? I don't know much, but have > read about it and heard a report on NPR. A year or so ago I read about a > couple of guys who were rebuilding a vintage vehicle who had to fabricate > their own parts. They printed them on a 3-dimensional printer. A day or > so ago, NPR had a report about printing parts for washing machines, fishing > reels, and cars. Evidently, if you already have the printer and can > program the printing, it is cheaper by far than buying parts. According to > the NPR report, software is now available free or inexpensively. > > Perhaps suitable for individuals to make their own parts, or more likely, > entrepreneurs could print those no longer available Vanagon parts we all > need. > > -- > David McNeely >


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