Original Cobra Replica/ Real Cobra Replica & 3D Printers

[Ralphy]

Originally Posted by rodneym

I imagine in the future, it will all be about the 'file' and not the printer.
I just got 3D printed parts yesterday from General Atomics. Pretty crude but still neat. Also, SpaceX has them and I believe they're 'printing' Inconel. Impressive operation, there. Gives me faith in this country.
As if HP refills aren't expensive enough...

Inconel is the material I most often machine rodneym. We rebuild the engines combustion chamber in our dept.. Reworking worn working dimensions. The surfaces are plasma sprayed and machined to tolerance. Anyhow, the sprays characteristics are unlike the original material. That's why I mentioned can a 3D copy, really be made of the same materials that represent exactness/properties? Ever? I'm no metallurgist.

Sometimes we weld and machine repair dimensions also, not sure why one or the other is chosen.

Inconel having a very high content Nickel, up to 70% and Chromium 30% and Molybdenum up 10%. Makes it very very tough but not hard, good properties under high heat! Racers are using it now. Exhaust is a place.

So how do you replicate to exactness, cast iron, steel, aluminum, magnesium, brass and copper? Even leather, glass, how about the foam in the seats everything that goes into the making.

Thermal Spray or Plasma Spray
http://www.precisioncoatings.com/wha...mal-spray.html

Ralphy