Here in Chile in few days will arrive a new 3D printer that work with ABS plastic. Those printers woks within 0.1 mm precision, more than any wood modeler can build, and many r/c boats are made with ABS plastic.
Anyone from the very developed Europa or USA have experience with hulls made in those printers?
I’m designing two hulls, a very narrow canoe for light winds and a scow for strong winds and have the idea to “print” those design more than build them in the traditional way.
I have no experience, but have been following the 3d printers as they come down in price. I have not seen any that can print large enough (that I could afford) to do a hull of any boat I am interested in, you must be looking at Footy hulls? Also, the “finish” of the finished pieces that I have seen, is not a shiny, polished look, but would need some filling and sanding to get it to a mold-able finish.
This could be the preferred technology for boat building in the future! Let us know how your works, and, of course, we need pictures!
The ones I saw on television seeed to be limited to a maximum dimension of 10-15 cm.
The printer that will arrive to Chile is limited to 30 cm, but the company manager tell me that they can weld parts, the welder is part of the system, and that is impossible to find the weld, and the part don’t loose precision after welding.