I saw an interesting thread about melting or bonding the kite canopies to make them stranger and lighter. That's been bugging me for some time now and now that the question is out, who will answer it? It's no secret that 3D printing will invade all facets of our lives, including our ability to live longer(printing organs), so who'll dare claim that this is going to be an impossible feat?! I dare All of the big kite companies, claiming research and innovation, to get on to the new moon race and be the first to come up with a 3D printed kite! This will be the biggest immage making campaign, you could ever aspire to, it'll be a "free" adverisement for years to come, and may just make you the first proffitable Kite Company. Whoa.......Who's got what it takes?!
MACTNKA wrote: I dare All of the big kite companies, claiming research and innovation, to get on to the new moon race and be the first to come up with a 3D printed kite
I agree! It's being done in the sail maker industry for years now. I think the main issue is which material can we use. Sails are made of kevlar, but it's been ruled out by kite makers, because of durability.
An other "issue" might be : profit magins. It's cheaper to make a kite sewed by ladies in Bangladesh than to invest in a huge automated robot.
The robot doesn't need a break and the free advertisement might make it worthwhile! Also once you've made the first mold for the kite, you can keep printing on it for years as needed. No overstocks, just order it online, and the robot will have it printed, wrapped and shipped in 20 min:)
MACTNKA wrote:The robot doesn't need a break and the free advertisement might make it worthwhile! Also once you've made the first mold for the kite, you can keep printing on it for years as needed. No overstocks, just order it online, and the robot will have it printed, wrapped and shipped in 20 min:)
You are totally right! And also having a perfect shaped kite, a single piece of cloth without any seams, I can't imagine the performance benefits!
The video doesn't show a 3D printed sail, however they are using an automated mold and gantry to fly the human technicians "Peter Pan" like over the sail. Also, the laminating process might result in a heavier canopy?
Ripstop remains as the material of choice. The seam tapes used at the moment have shorter life then a thread. And there is not that much sewing these days with 3 struts. I don't see it happening unless there is a replacement for ripstop besides it would not be crispy any more.
Of course it can be crispy. You can apply different layers of material at the thickness you'd like. You can have a few layers of kevlar then a layer or two of foil material used in foil kites! Talking about crispy:)
William Munney wrote:The video doesn't show a 3D printed sail, however they are using an automated mold and gantry to fly the human technicians "Peter Pan" like over the sail. Also, the laminating process might result in a heavier canopy?
Maybe but it would be as close as a printing solution. You can imagine the "peter pan" technicians' job can be robotized.
Actually, if you look this other video about the same process, it looks as close as you can get to a "printing" solution to me: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2riGIUR ... YnXwwvhM_w
But yeah, the unknown is the weight + durability for the kite's crashes