Quote:
Originally Posted by irman
I agree, but the article also mentions *Design* ...
My point was that *designing* a plane as they ended up with, has been done for umpteen years before by people who did not have the education those students have.
When I saw what they ended up with, I was not impressed at all.
That they did it with 3D printing, I thought was a neat thing to have done.
A complete different story !!
Could they have not come up with something more out of the ordinary ?
That particular design for a remote controlled airplane, can be had *a dime a dozen*.
I have tinkered with RC planes for umpteen years, and we make RC planes *to scale* from available 3 view photographs. We never came up with such a simple *Trainer* plane ....
That was my point.
Attached some of the *models* we made from those pictures.
NO 3D printing !!!!
The closest we have come (in the planes as shown), is make drawings on CAD, and then have a CNC shop cut the patterns for us ....
Use the patterns to make a foam model, then sacrifice the model to make the fuses.
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You're forgetting though most students prior to Design/Build/Test have never built anything before. And they have to go through the rigor of proving a particular design is kosher and applied theory. Don't forget most professors are stuffy old men who want everything passed through them prior to actually making something. They probably had a month, TOPS, to actually build this.
The basic gist is, *design* of the plane as you put it involved a lot of math.
All you did is miniaturize pre-existing designs (I see a T-45 trainer, an A-10, and a Gulfstream) that engineers did all the legwork proving that the math works. To me, what you do I can do in my sleep. You don't *design* .... you COPY.
Combine that with having to learn 3D printing and learn how to use the machine, etc. in the classroom setting, whilst juggling a job most likely, whilst juggling other classes, PLUS juggling the hormones that are raging through them, PLUS juggling TRYING TO FIND A JOB,
And then you have the audacity to say 'it's not impressive'? How insulting!
I'd like to see YOU try to do it. Probably couldn't given the same amount of time. You're probably just a tinkerer and couldn't do it given the same amount of time (~3.5 months for a typical semester) AND NO OVERHEAD of juggling all those things I mentioned before.
I for one am impressed. They took the theory they've been learning for three years in college and actually applied it.
And getting back on topic, the important implication is that printing technologies in 3D are rapidly progressing. Soon, I can imagine folks buying one of those, buying the glue and stuff you need for it, and if you need a tool, PRESTO, you have one.
Pretty soon I could imagine more complicated components being printed, ones that can handle internal combustion, for example.
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