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Subject: 
Re: making your own LEGO parts
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.general
Date: 
Sun, 19 Dec 1999 16:33:41 GMT
Viewed: 
870 times
  
In lugnet.general, Tom Boucher writes:
We've (Well, I should say the development guys at IBM) have started using
this process to make some of the plastic parts in our servers.

Needless to say, unless you've won the $1 Billion powerball and have a few
bits of cash floating around in the multi million dollar area and want to
plunk down on it, go for it, I've got a few pieces to replicate.

Otherwise, will be cool when you can just 'print out' stuff 10 20 years from
now, if that's the way tech is going.

l8r

Tom

"Michael Horvath" <mikehorvath@juno.com> wrote in message
news:FMt72I.J23@lugnet.com...
A while ago I was watching the Discovery channel and saw a program in • which
some scientists somewhere were building plastic models using a computer. • From
what I understood, there's a big vat of molten plastic which cools and • hardens
as it rises out of the heated tub.  A laser then trims the cooling plastic • to
the desired shape and dimension.  I was wondering if this process could be
used to build your own LEGO parts?  It would be like having a printer • attached
to your computer that builds objects instead of just displaying them.
Mike
The nearest 'practical' equivalent I can think of, are the 'micro' CNC milling
machines, these allow surfaces to be very accurately milled, and start at
anout 10000 dollars. I have access to one used for making 'one off' prototypes
of stuff, but the cutters have a fairly short like (about 50m of cut - not a
lot when you work out how far it has to move for even a small part), and cost
20 dollars a time, making this an expenive way to make a piece, but it is
quick, and great fun to watch!.



Message is in Reply To:
  Re: making your own LEGO parts
 
We've (Well, I should say the development guys at IBM) have started using this process to make some of the plastic parts in our servers. Needless to say, unless you've won the $1 Billion powerball and have a few bits of cash floating around in the (...) (24 years ago, 19-Dec-99, to lugnet.general)

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