I don't have nearly as many awards as you might think. I really don't
go to that many shows. The big ones I go to, I usually get a bronze or
honorable mention. The small ones, I get 1st or 2nd, as I said, often
by default. Big fish in a little pond thing. And figures just aren't
that big a deal in my neck of the woods. Armor and Aircraft is where
it's at. I get no respect from those guys. The car modelers though, are
always really nice. That's my guilty pleasure, as a modeler. Cars.
Renshape was like $600 for a 4'x6' (or 8', can't remember) brick, last
time I checked. More than I have to spend on my own, that's for sure.
It's a dream for modelers though. I'm surprise no one has marketed it
in smaller quantities to scale model builders.
So you've been in the industry for quite a while then? I started
in 1996, and only worked until 2001, with three companies. I've been a
contractor off and on since. Had one company go bankrupt, then the
small outfit I was with sold to another big company, who then dumped
the facility out here and took the industry with them. Two lay-offs and
a buyout. Story of my life.
The second Power Pumper model was grown with SLS (Selective Laser
Sintering). The body parts were too big for the build pistons, so we
had them built in sections that would fit, and then had to fab them
together with 5 minute epoxy. I had to repair and repaint that one a
few times for the customer. It got beat up at trade shows.
Before my company shut down our facility up here, I had just
gotten into SLA and SLS (was hoping to move into CNC work eventually).
I was planning on moving out of the shop for good and doing RP (Rapid
Prototype, the guys who run SLA/SLS) full time, but I didn't have a
skilled enough replacement for me in the shop, and then we got laid
off, before I could get someone up to speed. I was the only person in
the company at the time who was trained on the DTM Sinterstation 2500+
SLS machine though, because I was the only one who took the time to
take the training. I got one SLA guy up to speed on the 2500, and then
slinked back into the shop to breath more sanding dust and paint fumes.
I got to mess with a lot of interesting technology there. 3D
Systems had a machine that worked like Fuse Deposition, but extruded
the layers in paraffin wax. We experimented, in conjuction with Nike,
who had one of these machines, with the idea of tool making for soft
polyurethane prototype casting (for wtch bands and such), as well as
solid model experimentation.
Results were not great. The solid models came out better than the
tool, but both were too soft and brittle to handle, and were thus
worthless as prototypes. The tooling idea was neat though. The tools
only took hours to make, and the wax had certain release capabilities,
but the fine details broke off almost immediately, and the more solid
details soon followed. Often, the tools broke in half while demolding.
Two or three servicable castings was all we could ever get.
Of course 3D Systems bought DTM out in 2001, and now also makes the SLS
machines. It's funny. When I was running those machines, the SLS
machine only had a galvo that opperated in one axis, while the SLA
machines opperated in two. 3D Systems had the patent on the dual axis
galvo concept, so DTM couldn't use it. The result was that SLS parts
had an "ugly" side, that SLA part didn't, because the laser could only
be reflected in the one axis. Not sure if you've finished out SLS, but
it is quite a bit harder to finish out than SLA, so that was always a
drawback, but the machined part strength and quality, coupled with SLA
turnaround time, made SLS a good choice. Since the merger, I guess both
machines now have the dual axis galvos. I've been out of the industry
since that happened, so I've not seen recent SLS parts.
On the subject of models for court, I had a friend who made models for
movies, and he once made a model of what he thought looked an awful lot
like something from Star Wars. Turned out, it was to be used in court
by a guy who said Lucas stole it from him. I think he won, but I don't
remember.
Aerospace sounds like a neat industry for a model maker to work in.