Jay Leno Uses 3D Printer To Replace Rare Old Car Parts

honestly, that is some pretty ingenious (sp?) thinking. I wish i had the resources to do stuff like this. i wish i had a 3d printer. those things are so cool. I worked with one in my CAM class 2 semesters ago.

i wish i had a cafe racer

If the part is broken, why duplicate it?

the facetious feline

That's cool, I want a 3D printer!

@hooked-on-tronics: The internal features of some parts can't be easily machined, and couldn't be made on a CNC machine - thus the molding process...

kleptoman

@OMG! Ponies!: LMAO

poisonedragon

@hooked-on-tronics: Yes you can actually, scan to file and port file over to any cnc milling machine...

@dingus: This was a triumph...

my school might get one

pellier

I wish he was more like Tony Stark and less like Henry Ford

I use this same technique for creating plaster figurines.

First the model is created in Maya, and afterward I head on over to the local university. I drop off the a DVD with the model on it at the beginning of the day, and at the end get a beautiful creation that's actually made out of essentially "slices" of my model stacked on top of one another.

I never thought about using it for metal before though; brilliant!

@Xterm11: I'll take three.

Con Seannery

@elitesoulman: Give me the music!

Con Seannery

You don't have to be a celebrity to have a 3D printer... just a huge nerd. http://reprap.org/bin/view/Main/WebHome

HeartBurnKid: Agent of R.O.A.C.H.

@ez4u2sa67: But if I had my G1 in metal, it would block the signal!

Con Seannery

@OMG! Ponies!: Everybody Dance Now!

re:hooked-on-tronics... Yes, you can send the scanned 3d model to a CNC machine to be cut from metal, which Jay certainly does. The benefit of the plastic part is you can create a version of the part quickly and cheaply, so you can test the fit before using time and material on a much more expensive system. For people who don't own a 5-axis CNC, it's a good way to check your part before sending it to a metal shop for fabbing (and by send, I mean email!). Cool stuff.

XenaSatyr

Whateverrrrrrrr

Daniel Zamarripa

@hooked-on-tronics: TERKER-DERR!!!

thegreyjedi

That really gets my goat.

WaffleTeamStrike

@weinerschnitzelboy: The CHIN

turwaith

When are they gonna make a 3D printer than can print Tea, Earl Grey. Hot.

Hardcore1

Why doesn't he just use a metal 3D printer. They exist and would likely cost about the same amount to use. Molding only seems sensible if he intends to make a bunch of parts, not just one.

Ross Martin

How exactly does he look like a T-Mobile G1?

Thats pretty clever, actually.

@dingus: Boooo

NurseDave

LMAO "If you are a stand-up comedian who looks like a T-Mobile Android G1"

nicroma

@OMG! Ponies!: I saw them live back in 1991. They opened for Vanilla Ice. I am the coolest man alive.
And why the hate? C&C was just trying to get a nut. To move your butt..yeah, I hate them too.

badhatharry

@OMG! Ponies!: But are you a fan of CNC Music Factory?

dingus

@OMG! Ponies!: They're gonna make you sweat aren't they.

Give this man a job in the auto industry posthaste. If ANYBODY could invigorate the American auto industry, it's Jay Leno.

@OMG! Ponies!: THEY TOOK'R JOBS lolamirite? But yeah, C+C music factory blows.

hooked-on-tronics

Ooh, ooh, are we comparing celebrities to smartphones? Do T-Pain! Do T-Pain!

I stumbled across this at least a month ago, and it still astounds me! What is more ridiculous is how it can print using muti-dimensions. Such as, a model car, an adjustable wrench, or even a full transmission.. and it will print out already fully working (in plastic of course), but regardless.

TinaPompeii

@hooked-on-tronics: I'm not a fan of CNC machines. Nor am I a fan of C+C Music Factory.

And I was thinking that he just recycled old jokes.

Rasha McMillan

@hooked-on-tronics: they probably test fit the plastic part and file it down / build it up as needed before making the cast.

Wake me when you can print bacon.

I wonder if they could just eliminate the middle-man and run the scan directly into a CNC machine? Jay probably has the $100,000 needed for a metal fabricating machine somewhere near the bottom of his pockets.

hooked-on-tronics

For a second I was thinking, why the fuck would you make plastic car parts? Are his cars made of Lego bricks?

Xterm11_is Rhyming

I saw a vid Leno did showcasing this unit and the coolest thing was ... they reproduced an adjustable wrench and when it was done the wrench was fully functional even though made of plastic. That blew my mind.

Brau

yes its called cintering. quite a new process but it is becoming very reliable.

@hooked-on-tronics: also, some parts simply cannot be machined - things with holes and voids inside them, for example, often must be cast.

on a similar note, there are things which cannot be cast or machined that only a 3d printer can create.

im just waiting for a metal-jet 3d printer. hell yeah.

If he scans in his own chin, could he recreate the front end of a 1940 Studebaker?

@drewthat: I'm waiting for that as well, classic display please!

i've got those two bad boys ten feet away from me, they're pretty cool toys. also have 6 CNC machines just outside my office door...Skipping the middle-man often isn't an option, often the point of the 3D printer is quick prototyping for customer approval or final approvals etc. setup time on a 3D printer is really no time vs setup on CNC machine. Once object is scanned with NextEngine software, it still needs to be programed (G-Code) to send over to CNC, typically with Solidworks/Camworks. NextEngine is a great tool. their office is Santa monica is like walking into MTV, they must be racking in the dough.

AdrienneLebron

@hooked-on-tronics: CNC machines aren't really equipped to deal with 3D models. all the operations required to create a part must be orchestrated by the operator. i mean, i'm sure someone has a setup that can figure it all out on its own, but i've never heard of one.

@ninjamurf: How do we do line breaks now? I wanted a break there after the quote but it squashed it all together?

ninjamurf

"He scans the part in a NextEngine 3D Scanner in about 20 minutes at a 160,000 dots per inch resolution." *ahem* it's 160K dots per SQUARE inch. It's only 400 "dots per inch" (or dpi.) Not a printer in the world that can do 160,000 dpi. Just saying, if your a tech blog...you might want to actually get the tech correct.

ninjamurf

@Xterm11_is Rhyming: Dude's got a helluva collection, I wouldn't put it past him.

s0crates82

@hooked-on-tronics: I guess the advantage to editing the model is that if you scan a part that was broken or damaged somehow you can then heal and repair the scanned model in Sldwrks/Catia. I think for simple parts it might just be easier to measure and create a model, but it may be worth just scanning for more complex things.

t0n3

@hooked-on-tronics: Jay gave me a tour of his garage a couple of years ago and he does have a CNC and a water table and and and... He is a great guy and has an amazing collection.

Patrick O'Neill

@Ross Martin: As far as I understand, the 3d metal printers create parts that aren't quite as strong. They way they work (by my understanding) is by squirting out a little bit of liquid material (metal, in this case) which then cools in place. You end up with lots of little air spaces between the parts, which never quite fills in.

Also, you won't get the heat-related properties that you'd want - the internal stresses in these parts would be ridiculous. Which is why you'd want to use the method that Leno uses, where you cast the part. Of course, that's expensive in and of itself, because you have to make a custom mold for each part that you want.

But he can do that, because he's probably fabulously rich. Lucky bum.

farcedude

@hooked-on-tronics: Problem with that is you need to make up for the wear, test fit and re-engineer it before you can re-make the part to be as effective or better than the worn out original.

Froggmann

How do you change the comment view so that you can see the posts top down, instead bottom up?

Tea. Earl Grey. Hot.

LuluMyles

@elitesoulman: DO...DO DO DA...BOOM BOOM BA!

@Ross Martin: a lot of the obscure parts that break on really old cars were cast, not machined out of the gate. so to maintain the "new-old-stock" appearance, and to remain true to the car itself, you cast your part, and then finish machine it

@hooked-on-tronics: Unless a piece is fairly small, it's most likely much cheaper and easier to cast a part than carve it. Think of something like exhaust headers, the block a CNC would have to start from would be enormous and probably go through several bits, where casting it is pretty simple.

HitScan

I saw this article. The NextEngine 3d Scanner is amazing for any type of 3d Scanning - but to recreate rare auto parts is pretty darn cool.

@hooked-on-tronics: That particular scanner needs you to then take the "scans" and link them together. It kind of scans one bit, then rotates a little, then scans a bit more. Doesn't quite get the tops or bottoms, so you need to do those separately. Still, the outcome is a pretty good quality mesh and the provided cleanup and reduction tools (for lowering the poly count on unnecessary vertices) are also pretty good. And I've used one of the many types of 3D printers too... erm, my point... oh yes, that's it, using that particular scanner and printer combo, you wouldn't be able to pass the mesh data directly to the CNC. There I do make sense eventually. Occasionally.

Jawdy

I was reading this in Pop Mech or some other rag when I was on the crapper. IMO this is a pretty awesome idea. Ricer-Boiz are going to have so many extra body kits for when they break theirs doing sick parking lot drift sessions.

zukes-of-hazzard

@hooked-on-tronics: Most parts that are done via this method are not particularly conducive to regular CNC machining. The method he is using is much cheaper, quicker, and easier. There is software that will automatically do the programming necessary to cut this, but you will also end up requiring many custom tools to be made, and a much more expensive machine, typically a 5 axis machine. edit: Hmm, now that i've clicked on show all comments, I see this has already been well addressed.

BlackSmokeDMax

Jay, just buy GM. They are dirty cheap now. You can afford it.

This reminds me of the reprap and makerbot. You can even do this at home for less than $1000 now. Give it a few years and I think the price points and quality of the end product from the low-end makerbot and this higher end professional model will intersect.

SynMonger

@badhatharry: I won't hate, but I do prefer Technotronic, myself.

jcous