3D Printer uses?

Daniel Macina

Daniel Macina

Well-Known Member
I found a really good deal on a 3D printer and I’m just curious if you guys have any uses for them in the knife shop. I can see uses in casting and some prototyping but I’m not sure if it’s something I really need. Any thoughts? Merry Christmas everyone!
 
You can make almost anything with a 3D printer Daniel. Personally I would consider it a luxury for a small knife shop. The trick is finding programs that will run what you want. Or learning how to program the machine itself. I'm not familiar with how the smaller 3D printers work, but where I used to work you needed a 3D software program like AutoCAD to print out the correct code for the printer. However, there are some freeware programs out that will accomplish the same thing.

Here's a link that has some basic information on 3D printing. It might help you decide if 3D printing is for you.
 
Need is a strong word... I thought of them for making templates and maybe sanding sticks but that is about all I came up with.
 
I've been trying to justify a 3D printer for a couple of years. I want one in the worst way, and can't think of a single thing to actually justify it. Ed is doing sanding sticks, and that is really cool. But I can buy a lot of sanding sticks from Ed faster than I can get a machine, learn the software, and make my own.

That said, I am fascinated by 3D printing and I can't wait to see where the technology evolves.
 
If you know what their worth and think it's a good deal, think you would enjoy playing with it. And it wont affect your families life in a negative way. Buy it!! I always wanted some kind of CNC table cutter, water or plasma but they ain't cheap even if their a good deal!! I have no reason to even want one but I do! LOL!!
 
One would be really low on my list of things to get. First of all I need to replace the anvils that were stolen and then I might think of getting a heat treating oven.

Doug
 
Tim is the wizard with the 3D printer! Although he makes the sanding sticks, he has discovered that the lower cost ones (the ones he uses were "kits" and worked, but for more functionality he had to use the printer, to print additional parts for the printer itself....each of those were in the $450 range.)

We've talked about 3D printing folder scales/handles, but again, it requires specific materials and parts for the printers....namely a special print head that will work with the "metallic" filaments, with is way spendy. It's also VERY time consuming. Each of the two printers that Tim has, will print three sanding sticks at a time...and that takes 8-9 hours per "run".

Now, all that being said, Tim and I have explored investing in a "mid range" 3D printer.....that would do most things we can think of, without needing to buy a whole slew of extras...... $5-6K is the price tag. Anything less then that, and it would end up being that much by the time we purchased all the "extras" needed for the various tasks we thought up...... so....for now, we're sticking with the ones we have, and will just keep printing "little" stuff like the anvils and sanding sticks. :)
 
Thanks fellas! I don’tk know why but I just find them cool after doing some research. Can’t justify buying it right now but it might be fun in the future.
 
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