3D Printing a Boat...mold

You are quite right. I apologize and I will correct my mistake: not all metals are suitable to build molds

 

I agree, I work with 3D printing, 3 axis, and 5 axis mills on a regular basis. This 5 axis is capable of cutting a full size suburban (22' x 8') in a single set up. "Renting" one of these machines to cut a male plug then pull in a mold off of that would be much less expensive and give you a much higer quality part than cubing up a bunch of "printed" pieces and fairing them together.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJbOvasjE0k

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TqokK03BJsM

 

can be done but makes no sense.

finishing ABS printed surface is not that much fun I bet. It needs to be pristine to be a mold. And the cost of the material is very high. Let alone the machine (anything bigger). Also will take a looong time.

 

The Problem is, that wouldn't fit in my office and I am sure the wife would say no!

 

really bad idea if that is your reasoning. The final mold will no fit in your office either.

Find out the information for the cost of 3d printed parts (when you do it yourself). It will be very expensive, likely not very rigid (or VERY expensive), a pain to finish smooth. etc.

 

Thank you for your input. I am not planing to assemble it in my office.

As I said, it is just a thought and I will do a test print for a 5 feet boat first, see the cost, make my calculations and if it is not possible, I will have a BIG RC boat to play with!

 

It would take forever with the printers I've seen.

 

I think some people have been building their boat for years! It's a hobby, it's supposed to last!

 

There is a good reason people do old fashioned tooling setups.
They can afford it and it can be done in a reasonable time.

New whiz bang stuff usually cost your arm and my leg.

 

You're in luck!

http://www.ksdk.com/story/homepage/...utions--st-louis-area---second-time/31996371/

 

Looks nice, lets see it work well day in and day out.

There are lots of flashy things being done. No follow up report.

I hope it works for her, and they are able to keep improving them.

 

We covered this more than a year ago. I recall a german company that make SLS machines that were up to 3Mx3Mx12M. They used a coated sand and had over 400dpi resolution. They primarily printed molds for precision metal castings.

I think the thread was call 3D printing for boatbuilding.

 

Well, let's not re-visit it, because technology never changes, and we wouldn't want to waste all those ones and zeros.

 

I have searched but could not find anything!

 

The Boat Designs search function seems to be broken, but
I think this was in there, about the Chinese 3d printing homes, http://3dprintboard.com/showthread.php?2655-3D-Printed-Concrete-Homes-In-China-From-WinSun




What started it was a blurb from some architectural design office showing their beautiful, sleek, back to the future 3d printed sailship, with all the numbers and features and capabilities and business plans, mentioning names of course and how intuitive and wonderful those people were, where their firms were internationally located and their team capabilities, massive experience in progressive thinking, etc. But, it turned out they were only THINKING about it, they hadn't actually done anything. They weren't taking credit for something someone else had done, they were taking credit for something that hadn't been done at all.

Something kind of like this... http://www.psfk.com/2014/08/3d-printed-sailboat-powered-solar-energy.html