Printing is an additive process, milling is a subtractive process.
If the 'printer' would be used to directly make a functional car part (I don't care if it is made of some high grade plastic, as long as it is used directly in a load bearing situation) that would be revolutionary, this is just a rich guy playing with his toys bashing a profession that he hasn't a clue about.
Machinists the world over would cringe if someone said 'if they make the wrong part you still have to pay for it', that should read 'if you spec the wrong part you end up paying for it', there is a huge difference there.
He mentions in the article that some of the 3D Printers have the ability to make metal parts using thin steel wires.
Now, of course, Jay Leno has buckets of money to throw around to hire professionals and get professional level equipment, but he's got a point that this stuff is coming down in price all the time and that it is disruptive.
No disrespect to machinists, but getting all the measurements right is non-trivial. Letting people take 3D models, either scanned or CAD'ed and then use sub-millimeter accurate automated tools to create the parts is huge.
Yes, those metal parts will then have to be sintered. This works but leaves a fairly brittle piece, nothing you'd want to entrust your life to.
The parts that are being replaced were engineered to a certain spec, you can't just come along with your 3D printer and 'print' a copy of the original shape in a different material than the original and expect it to work long or safe.
I agree that getting all the measurements is non-trivial, but the way to use that data is to then send it to a milling machine to recreate an exact copy (not just shape, also material grade).
Sub millimeter accuracy will not do it for real parts, you'd have to go down to about 0.01 mm for anything beyond the trivial.
Machinists and their gear routinely achieve such accuracies in an enormous variety of materials.
Rapid prototyping, fine. Checking shape for fit, also fine. But to suggest that you can 'print' working parts with the same characteristics as machined parts from a 3D printer after scanning a machined original right now is simply not true, and to suggest that such a one-off is cost effective is really nonsense.
But it quite possibly will be true at some point in the future.
Sintered parts are everywhere, especially gears. In your car. Perhaps not in the tranny but window motors, wipers etc. They are used when plastics are not strong or temp resistant enough.
Emachineshop is a giant step in the right direction and they have been around for a long time, so they get points for being early, but they are only a part of the picture.
Check out http://www.cnczone.com thousands of people making Automation and sharing manufacturing knowledge.
Printing is an additive process, milling is a subtractive process.
If the 'printer' would be used to directly make a functional car part (I don't care if it is made of some high grade plastic, as long as it is used directly in a load bearing situation) that would be revolutionary, this is just a rich guy playing with his toys bashing a profession that he hasn't a clue about.
Machinists the world over would cringe if someone said 'if they make the wrong part you still have to pay for it', that should read 'if you spec the wrong part you end up paying for it', there is a huge difference there.