Patrick Matthews

Here's another great application, those pesky cowl ventilators. The link also demonstrates that one can have a "store" (I do) at Shapeways to sell one's creations: Matthews Model Marine Cowl Ventilators

How about the cost? Well, your own time is free, otherwise you couldn't afford to build model ships. But the printer is not. Shapeways has a few different materials, see their site for costs. Typically it's US$2 or so per cubic centimeter of part volume, plus a few bucks per part for handling. With locations in Europe and the US, shipping is reasonable to most of us. Part volume can add up quickly... the 23 inch long hull above, modeled with as thin a wall as I felt safe with in SLS nylon, is about US$150. And if I were to double the wall thickness, the cost would double. Other small parts have been bought in for just a few dollars... all depends on size. Prices for metallic parts are significantly higher!

Some more examples of parts I've done...

How to design your model? A prerequisite to 3D Printing is the ability to create your part with 3D CAD software... most of us cannot afford to have someone do this for us! I'm lucky and spoiled, I have access to professional software that can design planes/trains/& automobiles. But that also means I am clueless about "affordable" CAD packages, sorry! I hope others can chime in here. Also, while I can design all sorts of mechanical things, I am clueless about creating "organic" shapes like figures and carvings. Others know how to do this and there are packages designed for this kind of work... I just don't know them!

Where to get your parts printed? NOT at home. You and I cannot afford the type of machine required, too many zeroes in the price. Also, secondary cleaning and curing processes require additional machines and waste handling. Instead: 1. Borrow time on a machine at work. (Good luck with this!) 2. Go to any of several houses that basically rent out time on their machines. Shapeways is very well known, and offers Objet and SLS processes. iMaterialize is another interesting one I haven't tried, but they offer metal parts from lost wax patterns.

Now, the process has many interesting benefits, but also many drawbacks... it's not perfect for every job, but it's improving... and yes it really has the potential to shake things up! Let's review types of printing processes: FDM Fused Deposition Modeling: A nozzle squeezes out strips of molten plastic... much like a cake decorator. This is what cheap home printers use. Forget about it, it's worthless for fine modeling. The best professional FDM machines can't make a part you'd want to use, and affordable home machines are MUCH worse... just put them out of your thoughts. SLA, the original stereolithography: The standard for fine printing. An elevating work table is in a pool of liquid polymer. A UV laser draws on the surface of the liquid, hardening the polymer. The table drops a bit, and the process repeats. The part is relatively soft and requires support under all overhangs. This is generated as a fine mesh in the parent material, and must be stripped off when the part is done and prior to final part cure in a UV "tanning booth". The stripping can also break fine details from thin and spindly parts. Objet/Polyjet/Multijet: A printhead (much like an inkjet printer) squirts out droplets of resin which are immediately cured by UV light. Again, a support structure is required around the part, and this is laid down by the same printhead as a soft wax, completely encasing the part. The wax is stripped off by a low temperature melting operation (!), and the part may be further cleaned... one method is to use vegetable oil (!) in an ultrasonic cleaner... your parts may be delivered with the oil still dripping off. This process can also make fairly fine details, and doesn't have the issue of SLA's integrally attached mesh. You can also make jewelry grade waxes for investment casting. SLS, Selective Laser Sintering: A dry powder is fused together by the laser, again layer by layer. The unfused powder surrounds the part and is self-supporting. Many material variations: - Nylon powder- Part is directly created in 100% nylon. Surprisingly strong. Also has a porous sandstone texture. - Coated casting core sand: Directly make cores for foundry work. - Coated ceramic clay: Make coffee cups! Glazing covers much of the layering. - Coated metal powder: Make fragile "green" parts in stainless steel, which are later infused with molten copper to make very strong parts; Or direct sintering ($$$) to make parts in gold, silver... All of these processes build up parts layer by layer, and even the best process will leave visible striations. For some parts, it is possible to sand and seal the surfaces... but too much fine detail makes this nearly impossible! Some parts (like my anchor chain) are so small that the eye will never see the layering effect.

An interesting subject for many, and I couldn't find another active thread here... so this can be it! I'll start it off, but please add your own experiences and questions too. I showed that I can make interlocking parts such as stud link anchor chain in this thread: http://modelshipworld.com/index.php?/topic/2159-3d-printed-stud-link-chain/ And I'm doing an entire model ship here: http://www.shipmodels.info/mws_forum/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=151938 I've also covered some of my experiences here http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1088812 and here: http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1467560&highlight=sikuliaq&page=9 There are many other forum threads out there, but you may be interested in TBowman's HMS Scorpion, a large scale project: http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1716548&page=9#post23251932 THAT should inspire you!