by diburning
I don't know if any of you have seen one in action, but to reproduce a small object, such as a bullet, it takes HOURS. Imagine how long it will take to print a locomotive shell!
Railroad Forums
Moderators: 3rdrail, stilson4283, Otto Vondrak
Travelsonic wrote:CJN's post is kinda confusing, all the talk of getting masters to be replicated, etc- considering when I see 3D printing, I see a process for developing models very different than the current practices of using molds, physical prototypes, etc, unless my understanding of the process from design to 3D-model-printed-with-a-3D-printer is very different than what it is... meaning, I figured you designed it with CAD software, and the software used those specs, etc, to "print" whatever it was using the printer, in which case designing the parts, etc would need people with the skills, and the specs for what is being replicated.No confusion, at all. Just watch what goes on in the video accompanying the initial post. A "master" wrench is scanned with a hand scanner and a replica supposedly is produced directly from that. There is no CAD software writing, or designer interaction, indicated with the process shown. That's what I allude to in my post when I ask where will the master come from to be scanned, as in a highend brass loco? Granted, most 3-D rapid prototypers base there creating ability on specific written programing, but that is not what is inferred by the process demonstrated here.
Cosmo wrote:Sorry, but I just don't see our hobby "ceasing to exist" anytime in the next 40-50 years. I'm betting that some modelers will be able to obtain these printers in 20,I'm afraid that one needs only to look over our hobby's current demographics and economics to appreciate that the handwriting is really already on the wall. The vast majority of today's hobbyists are 55 and older. Most of them will no longer be active participants in 10-15 years. There is very little new blood coming into the hobby from age groups below 50, a drastic alteration from the situation that existed in the past. Hobby prices have soared over the last decade. Fewer and fewer major manufacturers remain from year to year and the same is true of the hobby's publications. And today public interest in model railroading, even in its simplest forms, is at an all-time low, with toy train sets and associated materials having all but vanished from the public sector marketplace. No pursuit can thrive in obscurity.