Is it just me, or are there others wondering what these
machines are intended for?
How can the apparent goal of self-replication (of a largely metalic
machine) be
accomplished by squirting layers of hot-melt plastics? Or
carving foam??
They're fascinating to watch .. but other than
rapid-prototyping (making plastic models of things), and/or
as a conceptual challenge, of what utility are they for
getting -real work- done??? Or is that not the point?? Is it
all really academic for you folks? Engineering student toys,
in other words. That's how it sounds to me, so far. Maybe
it's enough to get it built and moving, with little thought
as to what can actually be -done- with the thing?? A useless
robot, in other words. But utility may not be the point. In
which case, why is the whole thing relevant here?
Things have to be really beefy to do heavy, yet precise, work
in steel, and I don't see how eliminating mass is going to
work at all for us home- shop types doing metal. Plastic
bearings wouldn't last long at all, either.
Yes, I know a tripod is a very strong structure. And I do get
the concept of the things. But, there has to be mass
somewhere, doesn't there?? How can a decent spindle holding
real milling cutters hang off spindly legs?? Or is there a
'scale' thing here I'm not getting?
I DO admire those who think out-of-the-box, tho. And I sure
hope you smart folks can come up with a revolutionary
home-built, -useful- for everyday work, machine.
Ron Yost .. looks at his quaint mill and lathe and ponders
the universe.
Something else for you to ponder -
Rapid prototyping in itself can be real work, the ability to quickly come up
with a few mockups is quite handy. One use for these machine is for
jewellers, carving stuff out of wax, then casting it out of metal.
A hexapod has more degrees of freedom than a normal mill, they come close to
the abilities of a 5-axis one. Consider an engine block with angled ports,
on a normal mill you'd need to tilt & rotate the block to drill or polish
them, but a hexapod can do it without moving the block.
I've seen pictures of very hefty hexapods, so scaling isn't a problem. Look
at how fast normal mills are today compared to 20 years ago.
The mill & lathe combination in the workshop probably won't change anytime
soon, you don't need a hexapod to drill a few holes in a bit of steel.
Inertia plus the fact there's nothing a hexapod can do that a normal mill
can't means there won't be a rush to replace them. A bit like 4-cylinder
engines vs rotary ones. If the rotary was 10 times as good, then we'd all
have them. A little better or just the same means 'why bother?'
Be careful about dismissing something as a toy, history is littered with the
remains of those who made that mistake, from steam shovel makers about
hydraulic diggers, to mainframe computer makers about personal computers.
Tony
