RE: [rp-ml] Fwd: This Intricate Replica of Fenway Park Is an Awesome Example of 3D Printing

Depends what you mean by Awesome! If you mean in terms of geometry complexity then it’s ok but I guess that everybody on this list has seen better but if you mean in terms of the use of 3D printing (or rather additive manufacturing) then it’s absolutely bloody awful and is a powerful example of the weaknesses of the technology and its use.

 

Just by rough calculations you are looking at a material spend of around £36,000 ($58,000 or €45,000) and material spend is obviously far less than the cost of modelling it all up in CAD (and to be fair it looks as though somebody has done a fantastic job of doing that). You then have to add on the time and costs of doing the builds, post processing the parts and putting it all together and after all that you end up with something plain white lacking texture and plastic.

 

Now I dare say that it is a good re-creation of the place and that the model is a nice size and holds a special place in the hearts of all the people who have gone to watch rounders being played there over the years but the reason that it is a terrible example of 3D printing (AM) is because it shouldn’t have been made this way. In some applications 3D printing is a stunning technology but it’s all a matter of relative merits and in this case it has to be compared to model making. The model could have been produced by a model maker much much faster because he or she would not have had to spend months converting blueprints into 3D CAD. The model maker would have produced something textured and coloured and just plain better for a fraction of the cost. When you regard 3D printing from this perspective and in this context using this example it just shows up its flaws and makes it look slower, more expensive with an inferior output.

 

So all in all no it is not an awesome example of 3D printing just an exceptionally bad one.

 

Jeremy Pullin.

 

From: owner-rp-ml@rapid.lpt.fi [mailto:owner-rp-ml@rapid.lpt.fi] On Behalf Of Chathamres
Sent: 09 May 2012 16:10
To: rp-ml@rapid.lpt.fi
Subject: [rp-ml] Fwd: This Intricate Replica of Fenway Park Is an Awesome Example of 3D Printing

 

Awesome Example of 3D Printing

Chathamres
chathamres@aol.com

 

-----Original Message-----
From: Chatham Research <chathamres@aol.com>
To: chathamres <chathamres@aol.com>
Sent: Wed, May 9, 2012 11:07 am
Subject: Fwd: This Intricate Replica of Fenway Park Is an Awesome Example of 3D Printing



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Received on Thu May 10 15:05:28 2012