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A comment on Wendelstein 7-X: Gigajoule energy turnover generated for eight minutes. Parent comment

Re:Wendelstein 7-X: Gigajoule energy turnover generated for ... by nomel on Friday August 11, 2023 @11:55PM (#37096882)
Coming from 3d sculpting to CAD was...eye opening. It really makes you realize how much of design constrained by the CAD tools, which are mostly constrained by manufacturability.

If true 3d printing* ever gets cheap, it'll be interesting to see how much form will be able follow function, rather than manufacturing cost.

* true 3d, as in overhang are allowed. Something like a cheap FDM is more 2.5d, since overhangs aren't allowed.

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Re:Wendelstein 7-X: Gigajoule energy turnover generated for ... by oefnak on Saturday August 12, 2023 @01:08AM (#37097208)
You can print with supports to print any shape.
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Re:Wendelstein 7-X: Gigajoule energy turnover generated for ... by nomel on Monday August 14, 2023 @01:38AM (#37117823)
Supports made from the same material are extremely limiting, like for parts that contain others. For FDM, dual material is required, one of them being, in some way, “dissolvable”. There are some water soluble filaments that make true 3d possible.
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Re:Wendelstein 7-X: Gigajoule energy turnover generated for ... by eternityforest on Saturday August 12, 2023 @03:48AM (#37098008)
Overhangs up to 45 degrees work fine, and usually steeper. Bridges also work, most of the time, although I am having trouble with them at the moment.

They're not quite unconstrained, and the layer adhesion strength makes some geometries not strong, but they're much more than 2.5D.

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Re:Wendelstein 7-X: Gigajoule energy turnover generated for ... by rkagerer on Saturday August 12, 2023 @04:39AM (#37098251)
Well, there's SLS which is tolerant of overhangs and other exotic features. Formlabs has a machine in the 5 digit price range, and I wouldn't be surprised to see competitors come out with a 4-digit one in the near future.
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Re:Wendelstein 7-X: Gigajoule energy turnover generated for ... by eternityforest on Sunday August 13, 2023 @01:31PM (#37112067)
You could probably build a 4-axis FDM machine for less than that too, which might be better for average users(No powder mess)
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Re:Wendelstein 7-X: Gigajoule energy turnover generated for ... by nomel on Monday August 14, 2023 @12:17PM (#37122812)
The axis count isn't the limiting factor. 4 axis will still require soluble supports to achieve what SLS can (captured parts).
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Re:Wendelstein 7-X: Gigajoule energy turnover generated for ... by dmm10 on Saturday August 12, 2023 @10:58AM (#37100836)
With powder bed printers overhangs and detached captured parts aren't a problem. Try making your own from an old inkjet printer.
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Re:Wendelstein 7-X: Gigajoule energy turnover generated for ... by Halfwhit on Sunday August 13, 2023 @10:39AM (#37110453)
Where could someone interested in doing this learn more?
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