https://sprout.hp.com/us/en/

Haven't had time to look it over yet. Love to see you guys talk about it
some..

On 7/10/2015 8:07 PM, Just wait a frekin' minute! wrote:
https://sprout.hp.com/us/en/

Haven't had time to look it over yet. Love to see you guys talk about it
some..


I don't know much about 3D printing although I have been casually
following a couple of companies involved in it. I bought small stock
positions in both about 4 years ago. One is involved in the design and
manufacture of the systems themselves. The other uses 3D printing to
create body tissue and organs .... in the hope of eventually being able
to replace body parts/organs. I sold the stock in the first company but
have kept the medical company stock.

Interesting technology that seems to be going through a long maturing
process. I can see growing uses for industrial applications ...
especially things like car part prototyping and modeling. Ford uses it
now ... probably other manufacturers as well. The medical applications
are probably a little further off.

Don't know what personal 3D printers would be used for other than
for novelty items or just fooling around with it. Printing is slow and
the printers themselves are still pricy. Last I heard you could buy a
small 3D printer at Staples. I don't have any use for one.

On Saturday, July 11, 2015 at 1:13:50 AM UTC-4, wrote:
On Fri, 10 Jul 2015 21:07:06 -0400, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:

On 7/10/2015 8:07 PM, Just wait a frekin' minute! wrote:
https://sprout.hp.com/us/en/

Haven't had time to look it over yet. Love to see you guys talk about it
some..


I don't know much about 3D printing although I have been casually
following a couple of companies involved in it. I bought small stock
positions in both about 4 years ago. One is involved in the design and
manufacture of the systems themselves. The other uses 3D printing to
create body tissue and organs .... in the hope of eventually being able
to replace body parts/organs. I sold the stock in the first company but
have kept the medical company stock.

Interesting technology that seems to be going through a long maturing
process. I can see growing uses for industrial applications ...
especially things like car part prototyping and modeling. Ford uses it
now ... probably other manufacturers as well. The medical applications
are probably a little further off.

Don't know what personal 3D printers would be used for other than
for novelty items or just fooling around with it. Printing is slow and
the printers themselves are still pricy. Last I heard you could buy a
small 3D printer at Staples. I don't have any use for one.


It looks like a fun thing for people making one off plastic widgets.
The printers are getting fairly reasonable (hundreds not thousands)
but I assume you also need a CAD software package that costs as much
just to do anything useful with it.

Someone who could actually make some use of a 3D printer would already have the CAD package, and it wouldn't have to be AutoCAD. There are some reasonable ones out there.

Where it would really be useful is in industry for a mechanical engineer who is designing parts and assemblies. It would give you the chance to print your design to check for fit and function before the expensive tooling to make the real parts. Our ME at work really wants one, but we wouldn't use it enough to justify the cost of a good one.

He's a whiz at AutoCAD. We have demo kits that get shipped all over, and they contain a laptop, mini PC, and about a dozen or so custom and COTS pieces of various hardware. He 3D modeled them all in CAD, then placed them (virtually) inside a Pelican case. Then had foam waterjet cut so that it filled the case and had cutout for all the hardware. It all fits like a glove.. Very cool.