The thing with that is that most types of big, industrial-sized 3D printers don’t produce large numbers of parts faster than they can single parts. Yes, it may produce them faster than a home model may (and probably to better resolution), but if one copy of a part takes the machine (say) ten minutes to produce, and it can hold a hundred copies of that part to print simultaneously — then it cannot print a hundred parts in ten minutes. It will take (roughly) a hundred times ten minutes to print those hundred parts.
This is because the printer only prints in one spot at a time: it doesn’t go over the whole printable area every time, it just focuses its print head or laser on the bits where material needs to be built up. That means that it will take about the same length of time to produce each item regardless of how many are being made at the same time, rather than the ability to produce a whole bunch in one go like you could with, say, a mould into which a dozen identical cavities have been cut for material to flow into.
I agree, but I don’t think it’s viable yet for large-scale made-to-order manufacture. Aftermarket parts, yes: buy a plastic kit, then buy a 3D-printed conversion set, for example.
Not really, unfortunately. You have to take material thicknesses and tolerances into account as well: if you draw your model for, say, 1:35 scale and somebody wants it at 1:72, you (probably) can’t just reduce it by ³⁵∕₇₂ and print it because you’ll end up with bits that are too thin and will warp or break, and/or detail that will be too small to come out right and therefore looks bad.
This is because the printer only prints in one spot at a time: it doesn’t go over the whole printable area every time, it just focuses its print head or laser on the bits where material needs to be built up. That means that it will take about the same length of time to produce each item regardless of how many are being made at the same time, rather than the ability to produce a whole bunch in one go like you could with, say, a mould into which a dozen identical cavities have been cut for material to flow into.
I agree, but I don’t think it’s viable yet for large-scale made-to-order manufacture. Aftermarket parts, yes: buy a plastic kit, then buy a 3D-printed conversion set, for example.
Not really, unfortunately. You have to take material thicknesses and tolerances into account as well: if you draw your model for, say, 1:35 scale and somebody wants it at 1:72, you (probably) can’t just reduce it by ³⁵∕₇₂ and print it because you’ll end up with bits that are too thin and will warp or break, and/or detail that will be too small to come out right and therefore looks bad.
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