3D Printers Can Make Nla Go Away

[brendang2000]

While having lunch today with a friend, I mentioned I need the plastic center shifter surround for my car and he thought I could probably have it made with a 3D printer.  While I believe these are still available, it raises the question that if parts are NLA but someone still has that part, couldn't we have them scaned and made again?  I know they are even making metal and flexable parts with 3D printers, so maybe this will happen soon.  Now if only I could afford one, know how to use it and have the part I need to scan.......wait..there's the hole in my plan:)

[pmg]

Jay Leno has been doing this for some time. See for instance: http://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/jay-leno/technology/4320759 and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZrJsrTT4EA

The trick of course is this works great for plastic parts (ABS, PLA) but metal is a pain. Office Depot has machines you can rent time on (it's like Kinko's but in 3d!) for simple stuff. If it's truely NLA you can print the part in plastic and send it away to get a mold done.

 

If time is not an issue, one can get some parts done in cobolt-chrome, steel, brass, bronze, silver, gold, and platinum at shapeways.com - simply send them your file and they'll get a turned around. (Materials page+cost here: http://www.shapeways.com/materials)

 

As far as scanning the parts goes, MakerBot sells a product for under a grand that will get your part digitized in a CAD friendly format: https://store.makerbot.com/digitizer - alternatively you can use that old Xbox 360 Kinect and some open source software to scan it with these instructions: http://www.instructables.com/id/EASY-Kinect-3D-Scanner/

 

Should be fine for a plastic shifter, wouldn't trust the 3d sintering stuff for something like a 2nd gear synchro.

Edited July 29, 2014 by pmg