More 3d printing fun... look now before the thread is binned.

3d printing is so amazing. How do those fins hold up compared to normal FCS quality fins? Is the material as strong and reliable? The possibilities are endless with 3d printing I need to start using mine at school and make some different fins.

 

The tensile strength of the high impact polycarbonate is lower than glass and resin, but is still more than strong enough.
It sells for $400, it better wipe my arse for me, too. And "more than strong enough" has got to be the most open-ended, ambiguous statement of the week. It's like someone claiming "40% less sugar!" 40% less than what, actually...?

The foil is light years ahead of the fcs bonzer fins... there are so many possible variations which can be explored.
Of course it is. Beam me up, Scotty.

3D printing of polycarbonate requires some pretty advanced printers and techniques. A heated chamber for example, which ensures that there's no distortion and that the bond strength is high.
Stating the obvious, and has nada to do with surfing.

All these fins are individually strength tested and they come up trumps.
It's not official until Randy Rarick test drives this thing.

 

yea, 400 bux? little crazy. this tech is supposed to make things more accessible, not make it the hipster ipad version of a fin. I dont think it is as strong as a fin with layers of cloth in it. I'd go so far as to throw a Benjamin on it.

 

Can someone clue me in on how a fin can be "printed"? I'm not currently informed as to the makeup of these products. How does a printer yield a physical fin with a box as shown in the first photo? Please provide me with the 3D Printed Fins for Kook Dummies explanation and it doesn't have to be long.

 

It bascialy forms it out of "strings" of plastic. Here is an article on it with pics:

http://gigaom.com/2013/08/26/how-do...-engineering-behind-this-emerging-technology/

 

Quick Tutorial courtesy of Wikipedia. Enjoy!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3D_printing

 

Ahhh thanks bros. So is a 3D fin kind of like a Tufflite fin except more of a bonded weave of sorts rather than pure layering?

 

Wow emass there was something ya had no clue about.. I thought ya knew it all! Well at least now we know YOU'RE HUMAN!

 

3D printing allows a Computer Aided Design (CAD) drawing to be replicated into a 3-dimesional object by literally "printing" a substance, layer upon layer until the solid object is created. It differs from computer controlled milling machines, which can also create 3D objects from CAD drawings/files, but the milling machines do it by "subtracting" material (via carving, cutting, drilling, etc.).

3D printing is a hot technology right now.

 

its additive manufacturing vs subtractive. you are polymerizing beads or strings into a solid piece as opposed to starting with a solid block and cutting it down. less waste, in theory

they are doing it via laser sintering with powdered aluminum now, its far out, but needs to get fined tuned to make it affordable

 

Another problem has been the the weight of the objects that have been made by the printers due the limited plastics thus far. Industry for a while has used this process mainly to make prototypes just because of this reason.
Supplier's and supplies have been limited by a few companies, which is keeping the cost on the high side. Don't worry in a few years more plastic manufacturing companies will be using this process once the price can come down.

 

Check this...

A young Haitian boy gets the first 3d printed prosthetic hand.

http://news.msn.com/science-technology/haitian-orphan-gets-nations-first-3-d-printer-prosthesis

 

Bro, never do I claim to know it all. I know a fair amount about many things, and on some days most things. However, I am a lifelong learner and always will be. We acquire knowledge by inquisition and experience, hence, I ask bout these here 3D contraptions. Do I need 3D shades for them?

 

I heard at the Asstrophysics lab at the University of Maine-Orono they are rendering the first ever 3D dummy torso...

 

That's more like it.

 

Modified plastics is located in Orange County ca. He is the guy who supplies most of surfing community with raw products. Ya he's one of the guys who brought back the formula that's close to Clark foam blanks. Yes he also supplies fcs and futures their raw products as well. He comes out my way quite a bit. This past winter we talked a while about the changes in plastics coming in the future. I really want one of the printers because I make orthotics in the ski industry and it will make my job a lot easier. My company unfortunately can't do this since it has 50 stores in 2 states and the printers are just too pricey and a few other reasons as well.
So Emass don't cry too much.
I just know the guy behind the guy by luck and picked his brain.

 

Yeah 400 bucks is a lot for this. If you design your models build instructions properly the plastics are very very strong.

 

dudes been banned from swaylocks like 47 times

go over there and post a thread about him and people will have a melt down