Windmill Blade Molds 3D Printed By National Labs (energy.gov) 70
MountainLogic writes: Last year ORNL produced a 3D printed Shelby. This year, the National Labs are using the mother of all 3D printers to make windmill molds cheaper and faster to produce in the US. The size of the current 150 foot utility scale blades are being extended with these techniques. US DOE is providing a leading role to advance US manufacturing technology and competitiveness. Welcome back rust belt, we missed you.
Link to TFA (Score:5, Informative)
http://energy.gov/eere/article... [energy.gov]
For mobile users till that gets fixed.
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I'm not on mobile but I never notice those links inside the green title bar. There's too much visual noise around the title already.
when you hear WHOOSHING, think helicopters... (Score:2)
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There's a large demographic of /.'ers who are literal,
Are they literally literal?
Huh? (Score:1, Insightful)
Why not 3D print the blades directly? I was told, in no uncertain terms, that 3D printing is the future, and anything else is just Luddite.
I was told 3D printed houses, 3D printed cars,3D printed airplanes,3D printed Mars colonies,3D printed rockets,3D printed food,3D printed organs.
Now all you have is a big mold? So what?
Re:Huh? (Score:4, Informative)
3D printed objects aren't the strongest due to the way the layers are laminated together. I imagine the last place you'd want a weak join is on a 150+ foot long blade swishing through the air. Better to make the mold and then form the actual blade in the mold.
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Or today's Concorde with the one from 1976.
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I don't even know where to start with such a moronic statement.... Maybe when you graduate and get into the real world for a few years you might see things differently, like as in closer to reality.
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And so it will. 3D printed blades may well eventually be stronger and lighter than molded versions. But not today, when 3D printing is still in its infancy.
Just like when transistor radios first came out they couldn't hold a candle to a proper vacuum tube radio. They were radically smaller, lighter, cheaper, and more durable, and basically created the portable music market, but they lagged far behind in the most important feature of the existing radio market: sound quality.
Or maybe not . Even today vacu
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OMG, that's so true!!! Just look at what NASA is sending to the moon now-a-days, compared with 1969!!
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3D printed objects aren't the strongest due to the way the layers are laminated together. I imagine the last place you'd want a weak join is on a 150+ foot long blade swishing through the air.
You betcha.
Especially since a spinning blade gets more efficient as it gets faster. Higher speed = lower torque for a given horsepower density, so a higher tip speed ratio (TSR) wastes less energy "twisting" the air downwind.
Efficient wind turbines run at a TSR of 6 or higher - which means that in windy conditions the
RTFA (Score:2)
Perhaps, just perhaps, thats why they are printing the MOLDS not the blades?
But, I know thats a bit much to ask, actually comprehending what you read..
BTW, you also also wrong about strength, you can directly print in sintered titanium if you want (but this wont be..)
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You do realize that you are responding to someone who was responding to someone else right?
AC:
Why not 3D print the blades directly? I was told, in no uncertain terms, that 3D printing is the future, and anything else is just Luddite.
I was told 3D printed houses, 3D printed cars,3D printed airplanes,3D printed Mars colonies,3D printed rockets,3D printed food,3D printed organs.
Now all you have is a big mold? So what?
But, I know thats a bit much to ask, actually comprehending what you read..
Perhaps you should remove the log in your eye first...
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Also, laying up composites is a very fast process. It is also an additive process like 3D printing. 3D printing a 150' turbine blade is not fast. 3D Printing excels for some things, but it does not and never will, excel at everything.
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I was told, in no uncertain terms, that 3D printing...
No, you weren't told that. At least not by anyone credible. That's just your feverish little mind making stuff up to fit your 3D-printing-is-hype narrative.
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Laying up composites is much, much, faster. And it actually is an additive process as well. 3D printed molds can be made much, much faster than traditional molds. You don't need to make a model, and you don't need to use a subtractive process.
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Reading is Fundamental. They printed a MOLD in order to mass-produce the blades using regular manufacturing techniques.
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Molds are quite expensive to make... would be my guess.
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They should make the mold out of ice or something. Then melt it and pour it out.
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A metamold?
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Molds are fabulously expensive to machine. Molding is a high capital endeavour, mostly because of the cost of molds and presses. It's very profitable, but you have to sell a lot of product to recoup tooling costs.
Not sure why anyone is silly enough to believe this is going improve anything in the US, however. It's not like Asian manufacturers are incapable of stealing the IP, operating a 3-D printer, building cheaper blades and shipping them in here, tariff free, as usual.
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Because these are 3D printed molds.
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Because these are 3D printed molds. ... they are cheaper and faster to make.
CNC machining is not particularly quick, easy or cheap.
Re:Cheaper and Faster???? (Score:4, Informative)
Because you don't need a plug. Says TFA. Presumably that is a positive shape that has to be produced first out of which the mold is made. With 3d printing you can make the mold directly.
I guess with CNC (subtractive manufacturing) you can only make a blade shape, but not its negative while with 3d printing (additive manufacturing) you can make either.
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I've made smaller molds (several feet) using both techniques. For this application milling the molds from a high density foam will be much cheaper. The 3D printing is just a gimmick. I've made molds using 3D printing ABS and one of the nice features is the epoxy resin doesn't stick well to the ABS. So you can just use Acetone to seal the printed surface and use it at a mold with very little prep.
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According to Stratasys, for small runs and development, 3D-printed plastic molds [stratasys.com] are faster to make and cheaper than CNC-milled aluminium or steel molds.
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According to Stratasys, for small runs and development, 3D-printed plastic molds [stratasys.com] are faster to make and cheaper than CNC-milled aluminium or steel molds.
Well, of course SSS will claim that, after all they sell 3D printers. How about comparing molds of similar materials.
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You asked why 3D-printed molds are better than CNC-milled molds. I listed the reasons. They're lower cost, good for development and really short manufacturing runs. Apart from those scenarios, they're not better. They probably have limits on which types of plastic can be molded too.
Nevertheless, it's quite impressive IMHO.
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China can make all the molds and blades they like, but until they figure out a way to actually ship 50 foot blades around, it really doesn't matter does it?
so only I caught this? (Score:2)
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if it's green and fungus like it's mold
otherwise it's a mold.
Wait, what?!?
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Let's consult a dictionary [merriam-webster.com].
Mold: a cavity in which a substance is shaped.
Mould: A chiefly British variation of mold
Who *wouldn't* download a car? (Score:2)
"SPA/BSA: You wouldn't download a car!"
"ORNL: Actually..."
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They made it, according to the article, as a test bed for electric car components. So, there isn't a heck of a lot more than just the frame and body. They didn't 3d print most of the suspension, or the tires, or the seats...
Windmill? How quaint (Score:2)
Windmill Blade Molds 3D Printed By National Labs
That does sound a lot friendlier than "wind turbine."
Comment (Score:1)
Mother of all 3D printers, you say? So if we kill that one, no more "3D-printed" nonsense? Hm...