pic: 3D Printed Gear Spacing Check

[Ryan Dognaux]

Originally Posted by Mk.32

I assume a sponsor printed these for you? Seeing that printer is a $60k piece of hardware.

And since otherwise wouldn't the cost of the plastic be as much if not more then the vex alum gears (which are pretty cheap). Printing on a Dimension I have access to, mostly for none FRC related projects, the plastic runs $7 in^3 before discounts.....

Yes. I work for The Boeing Company in the Immersive Development group. There's a great publicly released video of our printer in action here: http://www.boeing.com/Features/2012/..._09_11_12.html

Cost really wasn't a factor on these prints. On occasion when there is room in the print volume and we don't have any additional models to print, we're allowed to print demonstration parts or, in this case, parts that may benefit the robotics team. Boeing mentors work closely with the high school students and we are looking to bring technologies & practices that Boeing engineers get to use on a daily basis to the students on the team to help inspire them.

Here's another picture with a test part we had made by our new sheet metal sponsor -