The Rocket Printing Hype Train Thread

[Robotengineer]

This has been floating around on reddit for months. They also want us to take a poll.

[LABHOUSE]

good, something probably expensive that the majority of us will never do.

Im not saying its not neato, but being realistic here.

Dreammaker overlord is multi colours, cheap(ish) (only if you take into account it is multi colours and the print volume compared to the size of itself), and has a print area of 17x17x17, so some of us may be able to 3d print our rockets, just not through the company (unless cheaper than it looks).

[GusTurbo]

Even if this is expensive like Shapeways, I'm glad the option is there, even if I won't use it. Also, based on the KSP Blender addon, there may be community-driven 3d printing available soon.

[Robotengineer]

Removed by moderation team

This announcement was on the eucl3d reddit user. It is kind of ironic that the .craft to blender was published just a couple of days ago.

Edited February 25, 2015 by DuoDex

[AngusJimiKeith]

Me, I'm wondering just how hollow and lightweight these things can be made while still remaining strong enough to be.. well.. airworthy.

Rocket with room in the bottom for an Estes or microhybrid rocket motor?

Airframe with enough space inside to fit control rods, servos, control surfaces, maybe a ducted fan or two?

Assuming PLA or ABS, 3D printed stuff is pretty tough. I've flown a 10% infilled ABS structure with a fairly good sized hollow space in the middle (storing avionics) to 80k feet on a weather balloon, had it fall back at 15 m/s or so, and survive unscathed. The next flight, it came down on a rock and had only a small puncture. I'm currently designing a both a fixed wing model aircraft and a bi-copter to be 3d printed, and I expect them to both perform fine structurally.

EDIT: As for price, I bought 2 kg of filament for $40. Even with a decent profit margin, if it's standard plastic prints, they shouldn't be terrible. Certainly not Shapeways level.

EDIT2: Nope.

Edited February 25, 2015 by AngusJimiKeith

[tygoo7]

This is a very cool idea but I am afraid that it will cost a lot like the current 3D prints.

[andrew123]

I'll have to get a few of my vessels printed... Or maybe one, if the price is in the range of an impulse buy. Anything above 40 dollars would just be a no no, considering it's a plastic figurine.

If it was a CNC printed steel model...

[Robotengineer]

The image at the website looks a lot like the shapeways prints.

[AngusJimiKeith]

And a bit of searching reddit later, confirmed they are the same material as Shapeways models. I would NOT recommend flying them. Also, the price will be up there.

[andrew123]

And a bit of searching reddit later, confirmed they are the same material as Shapeways models. I would NOT recommend flying them. Also, the price will be up there.

That's a shame. I was planning on sticking RC turbines and servos on my prints.

[White Owl]

Not gonna lie, I'd love a big shiny model of my Roc shuttle to hold in my hands and swing through the air while making whooshing noises. That would be absolutely fantastically awesome.

But the Roc was built almost entirely out of mod parts. Probably about half were procedural parts of one kind or another. Any chance those could work?

And I gotta say... texture is a huge deal for me. Airplanes must be smooth and shiny. But every single picture I've yet seen of any 3D printed object looks rough and gritty. Can the technology not yet do smooth surfaces? Or is that just a million dollar option or something?

[Superfluous J]

I don't know why but I always think this 3d printed stuff looks like it's worth about 1/100th what you pay, or less.

[Starwhip]

Oooh, it's pretty!

Too bad the 3D printer I've got access to doesn't do color like that.

[B787_300]

It looks like it is the colored sandstone...

[Robotengineer]

It looks like it is the colored sandstone...

It is. redditpost

[B787_300]

Ugh there are now 3d PLASTIC printers... Shapeways has one (only available to their testers right now) that do color... which would be much more durable

[AngusJimiKeith]

Ugh there are now 3d PLASTIC printers... Shapeways has one (only available to their testers right now) that do color... which would be much more durable

And lighter weight, and cheaper!

The biggest drawback of plastic printers is that they can really only do one color at a time, two if you have a really nice one.

[Guest]

Ugh, sandstone? Also they'll probably only do stock parts which cuts out literally all my craft (because ~KSPW/OMODS~ amirite?). Not to mention the price for printing a craft made out of only stock parts...

Yeah, someone else have fun with that. We'll probably see vanity shots in the forums within days of it going live, though.

[federicoaa]

Seen just now:

"We're partnering up with Eucl3d to bring your KSP creations to the real world."

link:http://www.reddit.com/r/KerbalSpaceProgram/comments/2x1ufw/were_partnering_up_with_eucl3d_to_bring_your_ksp/

[NovaSilisko]

I'm a little disappointed it's something only players with a level of disposable income will really be able to get in on...

[klgraham1013]

Interesting. I wonder if there's some sort of complexity limit?

[NovaSilisko]

Also wondering how it will handle stuff like radial decouplers, or trusses, or winglets, or solar panels...

[magico13]

That prior post which foresaw Maxmaps not having seen the correct guess here in this thread, and tweeting that nobody guessed correctly... You nailed it exactly. That is exactly what happened.

Yep. I guessed 3D printing of craft prior to that tweet, 5th Horseman mentioned Maxmaps probably hadn't checked this thread. To be fair, I guessed it was with Shapeways. So I was technically wrong.

I don't think I've designed a craft worth more than about $10 though :/

[temporalExile]

The best part about this is that someone has to eat a shirt now

[Wooks]

Hmmm... cool, I guess?

And yes, here in the forums we guessed what it was. But, hey, this is just the official KSP forums, not that it counts, right?