Posted: 6/26/2007 4:46:07 AM EDT
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Are there businesses where you can have something machined, like with a CNC or something? And if you have the "original" can they somehow "scan" it and the scale it up? I got a really cool movie prop pistol resin model kit that would be awesome if it was aluminum. Just wondering if this is possible/probable. Any idea on what something like this would cost? I'm guessing it wouldn't be cheap... but I don't know what the range is in regards to CNC... if $500-1000 is cheap or expensive or not even in the ball park. |
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$500 wont even get you in the door. I charge $150 an hour for time on my CNC, which is a small unit in my garage with limited capability. 2 hour minumum. To "scan" (coordinate measure) and reproduce G code to reproduce that model is probably many many hours. If you had a 3d cad solid model, you might be able to get it done for 1-2k. |
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If you have a CAD/3D solid model, how long does it take on average. I know the machine times vary depending on the type of machine, but a baseline idea. I'm assuming most companies that would do this sort of thing don't have the top of the line machine.... How hard is it to create a CAD/3D solid model? |
Looks very much like this: It's a resin model replica of the Visitor laser pistol from the series "V". While I suppose it's "1:1 scale" it's actually kind of small in my hand, and since I have skinny fingers I can only assume the real prop used had to have been slightly larger, hence my wondering about "scaling" it up in size slightly. This is by no means something I plan on doing immediately... I was mroe just wondering if it's even possible so that if it is I can pursue it down the road when I have a little more "disposable" income. |
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If you wanted to take the time to model it in 3D you could send it in STL format to someone like Quickparts. Off the top of my head, I'd guess at least $2000. But it depends on the material and process you use really, so cost could vary widely. Or try emachine shop if you don't have your own CAD software. They have a 3D modeling program that you can download for free and create parts with. Then send them the part and get a quote. |
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Have you used that eMachineshop? Sounds kinda cool. My brother-in-law knows how to do a lot of this stuff, so of course I'll "casually" bring it up to him when I go on vacation next month. He knows how to do CAD, run the CDC... he had a rapid prototyping business in his basement for a while.... so I assume he has access to the stuff to do this... but if it's something that would be really time-consuming I probably wouldn't ask him to do it. |
I haven't used emachine shop, but I've used Quickparts. I currently do CAD in Solidworks and am in the process of setting up a CNC Mill at work to start cutting some parts. Based on my experience I don't think it would be easy to CNC that gun. It would take your BIL a lot of work. Rapid prototyping would be a different story though. But I don't know if your BIL can do rapid prototypes in metal. Usually rapid prototypes that I've seen ar all done in some form of plastic. |
I know they do rapid prototypes ina lot of different materials. As I understand it they can be done in aluminum and maybe some other metals... which blows me away. IIRC the metals ones are like the ones he would make which started out as powder... the machine would essentially "print" onto the powder with some sort of resin or something... rapid prototyping is definitely one of the coolest things I've ever seen. It's just mind blowing what they can make.
Just thought it would be bad-ass if it were metal is all. Have a little more mass to it. |