[continued from previous message]   
      
   able to do some crappy minimal work with it, and then I spent a several   
   times its original price upgrading nearly everything about it.  Spindle,   
   motors, controller, etc.  It still failed in the end, and I scavenged   
   the good parts off of it for other projects.  For something that works   
   pretty good and worth repairing when it does have an issue you are going   
   to pay a couple times what I put into that cheap machine.  Something   
   that can reliably cut modestly accurate (crappy) aluminum molds without   
   a lot of tedium, upgrades, or repairs.  The cheapest machine I use today   
   to cut aluminum molds was about 10 grand and it would cost 25-30 to   
   replace it today with an out of the crate usable machine.   
      
   A 3D printer is cheap with "pretty okay" ones starting around a thousand   
   dollars or less.  A lot less.  Maybe some upgrades would be largely   
   useful to start, but not necessary.  I'm no expert (obviously) on 3D   
   printers, but the popular brands being used by small commercial print   
   farms (garage shops or maybe just a step up) just aren't that expensive,   
   and there are usable 3D printers for hobbyists that are even less.  The   
   base price on the printer I ordered to "try out" was less than 500, and   
   less than 1K even with a four filament feed box attachement, full   
   enclosure, heated chamber and print bed, hardened steel nozzle for   
   abrasive filaments, a couple spools of filament, and some other extras I   
   tacked on.   
      
      
   *  I have been making crappy videos, mostly to promote my business and   
   business products, for a long time.  I have cheap action cameras, an   
   Insta360 X5 (arguably a top end action cameras), a digital SLR, and I   
   have (and have had) a number of camcorder style digital cameras with   
   actual optical zoom.  I've been doing it a while.  My first digital   
   cameras used the large CF cards.  One I still use sometimes is only 720P   
   and has an actual hard drive for data storage.  I still use my cell   
   phone most of the time for shop videos.  There are lots of   
   "professional" YouTubers who use cell phones for their videography, and   
   atleast one I saw recently with almost a million followers who said they   
   use almost exclusively iPhones for the camera work.  I have actually   
   considered buying up used phones, nuking most of their capacity, and   
   using them just as cameras myself.  You don't need the latest and   
   greatest either.  Several generations back cell phone cameras were   
   better than good enough for this sort of work.   
      
   ** I know a little bit about injection molding.  I'm not being modest.   
   I mostly make low precision low pressure injection molds or low   
   precision gravity casting molds.  For high pressure injection I only   
   know a little.  My desktop machine technically counts as high pressure   
   injection, but even with a cheater bar on the handle I doubt I even   
   approach a ton of injection pressure when hanging off the handle.  That   
   being said, I do "know" that most common polymers make stronger parts   
   when injected at the lower end of their temperature range for flow and   
   at higher pressures.  This makes item 3 a non starter for me.  I'm not   
   saying there are not odd cases that would be hugely useful.  Just that   
   the one I mentioned is probably not ever going to be tried in my shop.   
   I may make a 3D mold and try medium pressure injection, but I can't see   
   ever using the 3D printer as an injection machine.   
      
      
      
   --   
   Bob La Londe   
   CNC Molds N Stuff   
      
   --   
   This email has been checked for viruses by AVG antivirus software.   
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   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)