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Carbon Fiber Printer

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I'm not sure this is exactly the right forum, but dreams of a carbon-fiber printer have come up in several threads about new equipment in the past several months at least.

Notes on the linked article:

The Mark One.

- Produced by MarkForged,

owner Gregory Mark co-owns Aeromation, maker of computer controlled carbon fiber race car wings.

- Roughly the size of a professional espresso machine (2-group)

- $5000.00

- Supports OS X, Windows, Linux.

Sounds awesome.

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Saw this on a tech article but for this to push into hockey there needs to be more carbon fiber in hockey to begin with. One thing I would like to see is the use of carbon titanium. They put titanium in the weave and instead of cracking he object will dent like metal. They use this in racing now so crashes don't have pieces flying all over and so if something is about to break it won't critically fail and rip apart.

It would be great on the bottom outdoors of skates, especially bc I got about 12 games out of my ac2 skates and they are cracked on the bottom already.

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$5K is actually pretty cheap for what this machine is capable of doing. If it can print a wing, it can print a stick. Imagine how you could do a true one-piece stick, each having a different flex, kick point, etc. bespoke. Ofcourse outsoles for skates, made from the shape of one's foot. Those are two uses right there. CAD/CAM helmets and goalies masques. If I had a spare $5K, I could make that back in a hurry!!!!!

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The build size is 12″ x 6.25″ x 6.25″. That'd be quite a small stick. This should sell well and I look forward to future printer designs. It's only a matter of time before this printer is scaled larger. I'm sure automotive race teams and Ferrari's R&D would love a larger version of this.

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The build size is 12″ x 6.25″ x 6.25″. That'd be quite a small stick. This should sell well and I look forward to future printer designs. It's only a matter of time before this printer is scaled larger. I'm sure automotive race teams and Ferrari's R&D would love a larger version of this.

It could print blades, maybe not sticks. I guess a wing is smaller than a stick. None the less- it could print many cool things for hockey. At $5k- this is pretty cool.

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It could maybe do with custom flex points but there is more in a stick than just the CF. If it can do outsouls and there is a way of replacing them without ruining the boot then so many hockey players would love this. the goalie mask stuff I can see much easier but once again shells are only part of the equation, if we start making kits that can fit into a custom shell then that may lead to a whole other offlet.

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Keep in mind that 3D printing is time consuming. My company's polymer 3D printer would take about 20 hrs to print a hockey blade. The way this CF printer works should make it faster than ours, but I would still think it would take over an hour to print the blade. You will also have post process work due to support material cleaning, deburring, etc. This printer is a great advancement for sure, but it's immediate impacts will most likely be felt by R&D engineers not consumers.

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Keep in mind that 3D printing is time consuming. My company's polymer 3D printer would take about 20 hrs to print a hockey blade. The way this CF printer works should make it faster than ours, but I would still think it would take over an hour to print the blade. You will also have post process work due to support material cleaning, deburring, etc. This printer is a great advancement for sure, but it's immediate impacts will most likely be felt by R&D engineers not consumers.

I see where a custom blade would be where this shines. After all, a proper CF mould for production costs a fair bit of dosh. Definitely the R&D aspect is wicked cool. By the time I got a suitable mould for parts, I would have invested several days (if not weeks) of time. This would be good to test a curve for a stick, for example. And it is 100% reproducible because it is a programme.

Even when a blade (or anything from a mould) pops out, there is flash, deburring, and other finish work to do- nothing comes out finished.

I admit to being a neophyte on the 3D printing, but as a fabricator, this machine makes me drool!!!

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3D Printing also allows you to print Molds. You can easily render molds from the inverse of a 3D part drawing and then print it out.

3D printing also allows complex internal honeycomb geometries, which can make parts siginificatly lighter and cheaper without reducing overall strength.

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Keep in mind that 3D printing is time consuming. My company's polymer 3D printer would take about 20 hrs to print a hockey blade. The way this CF printer works should make it faster than ours, but I would still think it would take over an hour to print the blade. You will also have post process work due to support material cleaning, deburring, etc. This printer is a great advancement for sure, but it's immediate impacts will most likely be felt by R&D engineers not consumers.

This is the point to keep in mind also. 3d printers have been around for over a decade, they have their uses and drawbacks but there is a reason it's rarely used for mass production.

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This is the point to keep in mind also. 3d printers have been around for over a decade, they have their uses and drawbacks but there is a reason it's rarely used for mass production.

This, though, is the magic and benefit of 3D printing. Printing a blade mold with a custom curve doesn't require an individual like you or I to set up a factory to fabricate a unique object.

It's a small scale technology for everyday people, not industry. It solves the problem of people needing a very small number of a unique fabricated object but being unable to meet a factory's minimum order.

The printer in the link is really interesting. It automates the composite laying process by printing layers of PLA, nylon, carbon fiber, and fiberglass. It will be a good day when you can rent time on one and print a custom blade from a non-proprietary, open source hockey blade model for less than $50-60. Let's hope the technology gets there, and let's also hope that incumbent industries don't choke the development of it with copyright/IP legislation against it.

edited for typo

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I think custom protective pieces could be printed as well, in tandem with a scan of the part you want protected. Or just a copy of $100-Jofa floating slash guards, or something. A carbon fiber end plug that reproduces a hand-made wooden one. A holder out of new materials, which makes me think of this again:

3D printing also allows complex internal honeycomb geometries, which can make parts siginificatly lighter and cheaper without reducing overall strength.

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. A carbon fiber end plug that reproduces a hand-made wooden one.

ooooh... an end plug with a custom knob and/or grip shape built into it. maybe hard to justify cost/benefit, but would be really, really cool.

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But not, unless I'm mistaken, out of carbon fiber/composite materials. Maybe I'm wrong; I've never seen a custom Oggie. But I do have one of their "classic" grips and its structure seems to be ABS or a similar plastic with rubber over.

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But not, unless I'm mistaken, out of carbon fiber/composite materials. Maybe I'm wrong; I've never seen a custom Oggie. But I do have one of their "classic" grips and its structure seems to be ABS or a similar plastic with rubber over.

It's carbon fiber now, the custom ones.

I've been using them for almost 2 yrs. You can get different flexes as well.

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This, though, is the magic and benefit of 3D printing. Printing a blade mold with a custom curve doesn't require an individual like you or I to set up a factory to fabricate a unique object.

It's a small scale technology for everyday people, not industry. It solves the problem of people needing a very small number of a unique fabricated object but being unable to meet a factory's minimum order.

The printer in the link is really interesting. It automates the composite laying process by printing layers of PLA, nylon, carbon fiber, and fiberglass. It will be a good day when you can rent time on one and print a custom blade from a non-proprietary, open source hockey blade model for less than $50-60. Let's hope the technology gets there, and let's also hope that incumbent industries don't choke the development of it with copyright/IP legislation against it.

edited for typo

Lets not also forget that if you don't know how to model something in 3d there will be a cost to getting it set up as well.

Our Solidworks 3D cad is about $5-8K a seat, which we renew each year. You'll also need training. Operating a 3D printer is not like using a microwave, and 3D modeling is no walk in the park. Throw in a computer capable of running 3D CAD software.

Most 3D printer retailers also offer services, so you could just have them print it for you. Would be much easier/cheaper than doing it yourself.

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Bumping this thread because I just read about this new development: Carbon3D.

Their process is called CLIP = Continuous Liquid Interface Production. As compared to ordinary 3D printers, this produces a final product closer to an injection molded piece in terms of integrity and finish. It sounds like the MarkForged printer is maybe halfway between traditional FFF layer style printing and this. I have to admit, my certainty on that guess is very low: I'm way out of my specialty here. It's intriguing nonetheless.

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