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  • Jay Leno's 3D Printer Makes Old Car Parts - NextEngine 3D scanner and Dimension 3D printer - Popular Mechanics

    "One of the hardships of owning an old car is rebuilding rare parts when there are simply no replacements available. My 1907 White Steamer has a feedwater heater, a part that bolts onto the cylinders. It's made of aluminum, and over the 100-plus years it's been in use, the metal... more

    Reviewed by jasonstone Jun 20, 10:12am ( 19 reviews ) • popularmechanics.com

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  • Rated by cajbjr on Aug 11, 2:46pm

    great idea

  • Rated by banedj on Jun 29, 11:47pm

    Congratulations.

  • Reviewed by Carl-001 on Jun 28, 7:29pm

    3d scanner is good for acquiring 3d geometry, however there are some serious limitations to 3d printing. The most cost effective way to reproduce this would be to acquire the 3d geometry from the 3d scanner and send it to a good cnc machinist. The part will be much better quality than any printed or cast part.

  • Reviewed by pwnsw0rth on Jun 28, 10:22am

    just wait 20 years and we'll all have a dishwasher-sized machine shop in our garage.

  • Rated by SleweD on Jun 28, 9:22am

    i don't like the way that he assumes that because it was made in china it was poor quality. What he's implying is that you have no control over the manufacturing process, what it sounds like is racism. Also, this makes parts out of polymer resin, it doesn't make the part out of the original material, so you'd still need to 'send it to china' or wherever to get it cast in said material (eg. aloominum).

  • Rated by Konimotsinui on Jun 28, 6:09am

    It's nice to know Jay Leno is finally in on this. Congratulations.

  • Rated by Fluffy2002 on Jun 20, 5:04pm

    What an amazing gadget!

  • Rated by jasonstone on Jun 20, 10:12am

    "One of the hardships of owning an old car is rebuilding rare parts when there are simply no replacements available. My 1907 White Steamer has a feedwater heater, a part that bolts onto the cylinders. It's made of aluminum, and over the 100-plus years it's been in use, the metal has become so porous you can see steam and oil seeping through. I thought we could just weld it up. But it's badly impregnated with oil and can't be repaired. If we tried, the metal would just come apart. So, rather than have a machinist try to copy the heater and then build it, we decided to redesign the original using our NextEngine 3D scanner and Dimension 3D printer. These incredible devices allow you to make the form you need to create almost any part. The scanner can measure about 50,000 points per second at a density of 160,000 dots per inch (dpi) to create a highly detailed digital model. The 3D printer makes an exact copy of a part in plastic, which we then send out to create a mold. Some machines can even make a replacement part in cobalt-chrome with the direct laser sintering process. Just feed a plastic wire--for a steel part you use metal wire--into the appropriate laser cutter. " ========================================================== This is a great tool. I was fortunate enough to set up and play with one of these in my last job. They're relatively inexpensive too Jay has more info on his own website that I read a few months back. PM did a good job covering Jay's use of this tech. Certainly an exciting piece of technology.