3D to 2D slices

[Joe Hillmann]

Where do you get the powder from and how thick are the layers? I see you have bigger machines than I do. Do you think it could be done with a 40 watt yag if it is run slow enough? Or is that just not enough power no matter what the speed is?

[Dan Hintz]

Bruce,

You need to add the power of your YAG to your sig... I'm already envious of the ULS's power, might as well go all the way and make me outright hate you

[Bruce Boone]

Don't hate. I got it to work with the CO2 laser also. I ran 100% power and about 2% speed, and that was too much power. On the YAG, I seemed to get better results by defocusing it by a couple of mm's. I could definitely get way too hot on the YAG, so it doesn't seem to need all that much power. There are powders of bronze, silver, copper, and steel out there, like Hadar's.

[Chuck Stone]

hmm... I'm sitting here with powdered metals.. never thought about using the laser for sintering.
Don't know that my lowly 30W would do it anyway, but I've got copper, nickel silver, bronze,
brass.. all -325 mesh. Think that might work?

[Bruce Boone]

It needs to be really small particles. There's no harm in trying. Full power at the slowest speed.

[Joe Hillmann]

As long as the thread has been thoroughly hijacked.... http://www.rm-platform.com/index2.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_view&gid=11& Itemid=5

I find it interesting that they can get the metal to bond with as low as 2 watts with a pulsed yag at 5kHz (with pulsed yag the output can be several hundred times what it would be if it were unplussed when pulsed slow, and 5 k is pretty slow)

[Eric Ucci]

Jeff,
Forget everything you've been told and check out "123dmake" from Autodesk. It will blow your mind.
I'm an Inventor user, so I can understand how much time is going into this process for you. 123d make does a couple things only, but it does them flawlessly. As long as you have a watertight stl 3D object, it will instantly generate the layers and the cut files for you.
One caveat...
It currently only runs on Mac OS. Autodesk is supposed to release a PC version soon. It's one of Adesk's acquisitions of a software company that was making a really cool product


Check it out!

[Bruce Boone]

I was looking at that today in a design engineering magazine. I'll have to wait for the PC version. It looks like it will be fun for kids to do as well. In that same magazine, I saw where you can lease the new 3D desktop printers for only about $250 per month! They make 3D plastic parts in an ABS material and have .010" resolution between layers. That would be fine for larger prototypes like mouse designs and similar things. I'm liking the direction of this kind of stuff. I had prototypes made by stereolithography back when it was first available, and the parts were very fragile and the material shrank a lot. The new stuff is almost as tough as real plastic parts.

[Rich Harman]

Thanks for pointing that out. The trial version expires in Feb. I wonder what it will cost...

[Kevin Groenke]

Rhino has a "contour" command that can slice as well. Its easy: select objects>contour>select axis>input thickness>input distance apart: Rhino generates the curves, surfaces or solids depending upon geometry selected. Then use RhinoNest to fit them onto a sheet and cut them out with your laser, cnc, plasma, waterjet, etc. If you've got 5 axis capability, this is an awesome way generate a physical object from a digital model using sheet material. If you've got only 3 axis, you better like either steps or sanding

Slicer.rb is another SketchUp plug in that works similarly.

[Jeff Wilkins]

123d Make looks like the ticket. I have a few students with Mac's at home so they are going to give it a shot this weekend. I will post what we figure out hopefully next week! Thanks for the info.