3D printer to be sent to the ISS in August

[Mikez]

I have some doubts that it will work properly in micro-gravity.

May I know why, I'm curious ?

I suspect the reason is that gravity is involved in the process of laying down the layers. Micro-gravity may affect this.

[1715148045]

1715148045

[1715148045]

1715148045

[1715148045]

1715148045

[1715148045]

1715148045

[TheButterZone]

Oh noes!  They're going to be printing guns in outer space!!!

Seriously, I wonder what micro gravity will do to the layering.

This is a good question, for sure it will affect the layering in a way or another.

I'm waiting to see how will this work, as I like the 3D printing field.

What do people do with 3D printer?

Is there a commercial use for it?

It's used in many applications, and yes, commercial ones, latest applications, was guns, which really killed people.

The only people killed by 3D printed guns were the people firing them.

[leezay]

Oh noes!  They're going to be printing guns in outer space!!!

Seriously, I wonder what micro gravity will do to the layering.

This is a good question, for sure it will affect the layering in a way or another.

I'm waiting to see how will this work, as I like the 3D printing field.

What do people do with 3D printer?

Is there a commercial use for it?

It's used in many applications, and yes, commercial ones, latest applications, was guns, which really killed people.

The only people killed by 3D printed guns were the people firing them.

Isn't the gun one time use only?

[Spendulus]

Oh noes!  They're going to be printing guns in outer space!!!

Seriously, I wonder what micro gravity will do to the layering.

This is a good question, for sure it will affect the layering in a way or another.

I'm waiting to see how will this work, as I like the 3D printing field.

What do people do with 3D printer?

Is there a commercial use for it?

It's used in many applications, and yes, commercial ones, latest applications, was guns, which really killed people.

The only people killed by 3D printed guns were the people firing them.

Isn't the gun one time use only?

No.  AR15 receiver was tested up to 200 rounds.  This is still a joke, commercial parts 100k is nothing.

[Spendulus]

I have some doubts that it will work properly in micro-gravity.

May I know why, I'm curious ?

I suspect the reason is that gravity is involved in the process of laying down the layers. Micro-gravity may affect this.

I don't think so, but that'd be easy to test....run a 3d printer upside down or sideways. 

One obvious issue is that at startup, the extruder head comes up to speed.  As it does, the filament starts oozing out.  then the thing goes to a start point, starts laying a thread down and goes to the build position.

With the standard printer in zeroG, the ooze would just accumulate on the extruder head, which would be a big mess. 

So there are minor differences.  Enough to probably keep one Hacker Maker busy for a few hours.

Or a NASA department in perpetuity.

[Spendulus]

Yes but they deal in the impossible today. So maybe one day circuits then BOOM technology explosion.

I am not going to argue that, after all this IS the 21st century.

[u9y42]

What do people do with 3D printer?

Is there a commercial use for it?

Mass production technology will still most like to dominate the market for the foreseeable future.

3d printer may be good for prototyping and small market item.

That's mostly true; on the other hand, you have stuff like Contour Crafting and the Chinese equivalent (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=587121.0), which are basically very large 3d printers designed to print whole houses (well, not including wiring/plumbing, though these can be laid out by the machine anyway).

[Spendulus]

What do people do with 3D printer?

Is there a commercial use for it?

Mass production technology will still most like to dominate the market for the foreseeable future.

3d printer may be good for prototyping and small market item.

That's mostly true; on the other hand, you have stuff like Contour Crafting and the Chinese equivalent (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=587121.0), which are basically very large 3d printers designed to print whole houses (well, not including wiring/plumbing, though these can be laid out by the machine anyway).

I don't think it's mostly true, because even though the per item cost may be less for injection molded plastic items, the consumer had to go out to get them - add driving time and so forth, the part is then much more expensive than if it had just been made in the garage.

[u9y42]

I don't think it's mostly true, because even though the per item cost may be less for injection molded plastic items, the consumer had to go out to get them - add driving time and so forth, the part is then much more expensive than if it had just been made in the garage.

Fair enough, but not everyone has a 3d printer in their garage, knowledge of how to operate one, inclination to go through the trouble of learning, or in most cases, even awareness of its existence. We still have a long way to go before this technology is widely used, unfortunately.

[Spendulus]

I don't think it's mostly true, because even though the per item cost may be less for injection molded plastic items, the consumer had to go out to get them - add driving time and so forth, the part is then much more expensive than if it had just been made in the garage.

Fair enough, but not everyone has a 3d printer in their garage, knowledge of how to operate one, inclination to go through the trouble of learning, or in most cases, even awareness of its existence. We still have a long way to go before this technology is widely used, unfortunately.

Absolutely correct, this is an emerging technology.

[Globb0]

I don't think it's mostly true, because even though the per item cost may be less for injection molded plastic items, the consumer had to go out to get them - add driving time and so forth, the part is then much more expensive than if it had just been made in the garage.

Fair enough, but not everyone has a 3d printer in their garage, knowledge of how to operate one, inclination to go through the trouble of learning, or in most cases, even awareness of its existence. We still have a long way to go before this technology is widely used, unfortunately.

These people wouldnt find it easier to make something with injected moulding either. the overhead would be much more than having something made by a 3d print company for a low volume/one off item

[Spendulus]

I don't think it's mostly true, because even though the per item cost may be less for injection molded plastic items, the consumer had to go out to get them - add driving time and so forth, the part is then much more expensive than if it had just been made in the garage.

Fair enough, but not everyone has a 3d printer in their garage, knowledge of how to operate one, inclination to go through the trouble of learning, or in most cases, even awareness of its existence. We still have a long way to go before this technology is widely used, unfortunately.

These people wouldnt find it easier to make something with injected moulding either. the overhead would be much more than having something made by a 3d print company for a low volume/one off item

I was thinking the question was something like mass produced...injection molded in Asia, shipped to the distribution center and thence to stores and thence to consumers, would somehow beat out on demand garage printing.

I really don't buy that.

[Mikez]

I have some doubts that it will work properly in micro-gravity.

May I know why, I'm curious ?

I suspect the reason is that gravity is involved in the process of laying down the layers. Micro-gravity may affect this.

I don't think so, but that'd be easy to test....run a 3d printer upside down or sideways. 

One obvious issue is that at startup, the extruder head comes up to speed.  As it does, the filament starts oozing out.  then the thing goes to a start point, starts laying a thread down and goes to the build position.

With the standard printer in zeroG, the ooze would just accumulate on the extruder head, which would be a big mess. 

So there are minor differences.  Enough to probably keep one Hacker Maker busy for a few hours.

Or a NASA department in perpetuity.

This sorta reminds me of a story I heard some time ago(it may be just a myth, but it's nonetheless interesting). Upon reaching micro-gravity astronauts and people at NASA noticed that the regular pen can't write in such condition, due to the lack of gravity that pushes the ink down.
After a couple of years and good few million dollars later, they invented a special pen that could write in the most vicious enviroments.
Russian cosmonauts faced this issue too. They used pencils!

[TheButterZone]

I have some doubts that it will work properly in micro-gravity.

May I know why, I'm curious ?

I suspect the reason is that gravity is involved in the process of laying down the layers. Micro-gravity may affect this.

I don't think so, but that'd be easy to test....run a 3d printer upside down or sideways. 

One obvious issue is that at startup, the extruder head comes up to speed.  As it does, the filament starts oozing out.  then the thing goes to a start point, starts laying a thread down and goes to the build position.

With the standard printer in zeroG, the ooze would just accumulate on the extruder head, which would be a big mess. 

So there are minor differences.  Enough to probably keep one Hacker Maker busy for a few hours.

Or a NASA department in perpetuity.

This sorta reminds me of a story I heard some time ago(it may be just a myth, but it's nonetheless interesting). Upon reaching micro-gravity astronauts and people at NASA noticed that the regular pen can't write in such condition, due to the lack of gravity that pushes the ink down.
After a couple of years and good few million dollars later, they invented a special pen that could write in the most vicious enviroments.
Russian cosmonauts faced this issue too. They used pencils!

http://www.spacepen.com/about-us.aspx

[ChiliPowder]

I thought 3d printing was still fairly unreliable and could mostly just make layered plastics? I know about the gun and what not but are we actually able to 3d print anything of actual use now? Besides plastic nic nak stuff?

[DavidHume]

I thought 3d printing was still fairly unreliable and could mostly just make layered plastics? I know about the gun and what not but are we actually able to 3d print anything of actual use now? Besides plastic nic nak stuff?

The technolgy shows promise. More research still needed to make it useful and cheap to use.

[u9y42]

I don't think it's mostly true, because even though the per item cost may be less for injection molded plastic items, the consumer had to go out to get them - add driving time and so forth, the part is then much more expensive than if it had just been made in the garage.

Fair enough, but not everyone has a 3d printer in their garage, knowledge of how to operate one, inclination to go through the trouble of learning, or in most cases, even awareness of its existence. We still have a long way to go before this technology is widely used, unfortunately.

These people wouldnt find it easier to make something with injected moulding either. the overhead would be much more than having something made by a 3d print company for a low volume/one off item

The problem is they don't have to find it "easier to make something with injected molding"; most are perfectly happy to pay others to do it for them at the moment. Hopefully that will change as this technology becomes better known, and people start seeing its potential.

I thought 3d printing was still fairly unreliable and could mostly just make layered plastics? I know about the gun and what not but are we actually able to 3d print anything of actual use now? Besides plastic nic nak stuff?

Hmm, is printing houses (http://rt.com/news/155220-3d-printer-houses-china/) and small replacement parts and tools for the ISS good enough for you? (disclaimer: yes, these are still mostly in tests at the moment, and as DavidHume says, some more refinement is needed)

[Quartx]

3D printing is the future, I would'nt be surprised if the 2nd 3d printer sent there prints food, and CHOCOLATES

[Globb0]

Industrial scale 3d printing is already a reality with the likes of metal subframes and stuff.

The consumer stuff is a bit more "fun" but they have to sell units.

I think the printing of foods or proteins sounds interesting.

[Tzupy]

I have some doubts that it will work properly in micro-gravity.

May I know why, I'm curious ?

I don't know if this is what Tzupy was talking about, but perhaps along the lines of what a commenter on the site mentioned, the reduced gravity would require the printing process to be modified to ensure no defects were introduced into the printed objects. And maybe these modifications would require additional material or energy, making the process less efficient. Still, I'm pretty sure actually sending replacement parts to the ISS would require far more resources than simply printing them aboard directly.

Found more information about it, so now I believe it should work:
http://www.madeinspace.us/made-in-space-and-nasa-to-send-first-3d-printer-into-space