Formlabs has performed an interesting 3D print experiment that I hadn’t seen before.
At first glance, their attempt to 3D print a drill bit is well, insane. Everyone knows that 3D printed materials can’t withstand such mechanical and thermal stress. However, the company is attempting to showcase their latest engineering resin, Rigid 10K.
They printed a drill bit in FFF PLA — an absolutely terrible choice, guaranteed to fail, as well as their own Tough 2000 and Rigid 4000 on Formlabs gear.
The PLA bit failed miserably, as the friction from the drilling action quickly manifested as heat, causing the tip of the bit to catastrophically deform.
The Tough 2000 resin also failed, but in a different way: it wasn’t rigid enough to maintain vertical orientation and started flopping around.
Their Rigid 4000 did far better, and actually succeeded in drilling a hole in a two-by-four. However, if you watch their video, you can see that the drill operator is very gently pressing the bit downwards, frequently pulling it back. It seems to work, but just barely.
Their demonstration is merely a teaser for a subsequent video experiment where they will test the presumably more-rigid Rigid 10K. We haven’t seen this video yet, but it’s almost assured that they will successfully drill through the wood.
Formlabs’ Rigid resins are thermosets, rather than thermoplastics, making them more immune to thermal effects. That and its rigidity no doubt will allow the experiment to succeed.
While this is all clearly a publicity stunt, it does actually demonstrate something previously unheard of: 3D printing workshop tools. Break a bit? Print a replacement!
I’m wondering if the rigidity of this material is sufficient to print other tools? Could you print a usable wrench, for example? Screwdrivers are probably still out of the envelope of possibility, but material development seems to be heading in the right direction.
The point here is that over the past few years, 3D print materials have dramatically increased in capability, just as the 3D printers themselves have done. It may be that we need to open our minds to more possible applications that in past years would have been inconceivable.
