[GreenKeys] Anyone 3d-print Answer Back drums?

[Jones, Douglas W]

From: Gary Oliver [go at wa7shi.us] Tuesday, October 27, 2015 7:41 PM

>  it seems like this might be a good way to make lots of (fairly) cheap Answer Back drums for the model
3x teletypes.  I'd certainly like to have a few for playing around.

I agree.  I know that steriolithographic 3d printers, with 300 voxels per inch resolution, could definitely do a good job of this.  I have a friend who does a fair amount of 3d printing using extruded ABS filament, and I suspect that printing answer-back drums is at or beyond the resolution limit of that technology.

I have priced steriolithographic 3d printing (we have a local jeweler who does it commercially -- he even makes 3-d printed titanium artificial hip joints for joint-replacement research projects).  Printing in material with strength comparable to nylon or phenolic on his printers would run several hundred dollars minimum.  But note:  This pays for approximately an 8 inch square printed approximately an inch deep.  This could easily yield 25 or more answer-back drums if printed on their sides.  His printer does not require any support scaffolding for complex shapes.

                  Doug Jones
                  jones at cs.uiowa.edu