Direct Metal Laser Sintering

Could technologies like DMLS be the key for designer spaceships?

http://nextbigfuture.com/2010/04/additi ... laser.html

Imagine a world of home-made garage-tinkering for do-it-yourself rocket engines and even small SpaceShipOne style spacecraft.

Call it the Formula-One team approach to aerospace endeavors.
Another related technology I'd heard of is E-beam Melting. I'm thinking that the only real obstacle for widespread use is their cost. But if that's overcome, then the sky's the limit.

What are the limitations of such technologies for spacecraft design?

Why imagine why not get building your own reprap http://reprap.org/wiki/Main_Page make your own "print head" you could have one to print metal powder and rip the laser out of a dvd writer to do your own sintering tho personally i think printing with sapphire or ruby and having an engine with better thermal and corrosive capabilities might be a better idea but the "print head" would have to be a bit more complicated and take into account more safety considerations. Its been a while since i last looked at their page and it looks like you could win a few k if you build a better one its something id quite like to do sometime but at the moment i am spending my time and resources doing the N-prize but its an idea i like to share, encourage and see succeed i once got invited to see some of the early versions at Bath Uni and was impressed by what had been done already and its future possibilities.

The limitations to these technologies is their structural integrity, how the created parts handle vacuum and things like susceptibility to atomic oxygen. If you're going to use them in space, then you have to be able to handle the raw materials in zero G - something already being investigated. We tend to not even weld stuff together today which we send into space - parts are mostly machined from solid billets! Friction-stir welding is just being brought online for the largest systems, but when you talk about laser sintering to create a solid component from dust - that's a completely unknown. It's a great idea, and one that should be vigorously investigated, but it'll be a few years before folks will accept it as not extremely risky.

http://www.nasa.gov/topics/aeronautics/ ... _beam.html

if i read this correctly, it would be something that could be applicable in a zero-G environment, as there is no loose powder, but a feedstock (wire i think) also it allows for the use of multiple, even dissimmiliar materials at once

Yeah, I suppose it could be used to locally assemble parts in outer space too.

But even just back here on Earth, to enable ordinary people to become aerospace designers in their garages, these technologies could prove to be useful.

You might laugh at that idea, but if you look at how the PC triggered a socio-economic revolution in personal productivity and in our lifestyles, it seems likely that the home fabber could do the same thing.

The newer professional models are only affordable to corporations:

http://zcorp3dprinter.com/zprinter_450.shtml

But there are smaller home models which are becoming affordable for the home:

http://www.desktopfactory.com/

As with PCs and 2D printers, mass adoption by home consumers could give a drastic boost to the design evolution and cost reduction. Initially, you may just be making toys for your kids on a whim, or lightbulb fixtures and other knicknacks for the home. Eventually, everyone could be fabbing quality parts for their car, boat, skidoo - or even their airplane.

Just as your workstation at work is a beefed-up version of your home PC, likewise there will be beefed-up versions of these fabbers to make high-quality aerospace parts as part of a burgeoning aerospace design workshop community.

Imagine even just the impact on the environment, if we could instead ship powdered raw materials to local fab workshops to dynamically make parts out of on demand, instead of shipping all kinds of finished goods everywhere across the country and across the world. Even in the human body, we send the raw materials through our bloodstream to our cells which then use them to fabricate desired end-products locally.

HP's new design jet is supposed to be 'affordable'...

http://www.popsci.com/technology/articl ... signjet-3d

And the 3d printing cheapie box:

http://www.makerbot.com/

It looks like makerbot is a fork in the opensource reprap project i saw what look like an early darwin under the desk in one of the videos its nice to see its growing and evolving.

The V-Flash is supposed to offer the best performance relative to price, in the market segment closest to affordability:

http://www.modelin3d.com/vflash_benefits

Maybe these copy places like Kinko's or even small hobby stores could afford to buy these things and keep them on hand. I'm just trying to imagine which market would be best served by access to such devices. Hobbyists/craftsmen seeking to make the latest miniature model sportscar? Interior decorators seeking to make custom fixtures and decorative trinkets? Fake costume jewelry makers? Toymakers?

Which mass market would most want to use rapid-prototyping gadgets?

Sure, we know engineers and architects would like such services, but they hardly constitute a mass market.

Once you have a consumer mass market to serve, then the product would evolve much more quickly, just like microwaves, VCRs, or any other consumer electronics gadget.