Need a part?

[Phil Nelson]

With current technology, it's practical to make (comparatively) simple, lightweight things like plastic knobs.

To know what to create, the printer needs an STL (stereolithography) file that describes your object in three dimensions.

That is the rub for the shade-tree 3-D printing enthusiasts. I'm not expert in using CAD software and I don't have a 3-D scanner lying around my workshop, so if someone handed me a free 3-D printer today, I wouldn't be equipped to use it.

Perhaps years from now, the cost of all this stuff will come down enough to make it practical for hobbyists. It might simplify life for the guys who make lots of repro knobs. Instead of shelves full of molds for casting knobs, your computer has a folder full of 3-D description files. Send the right file to the printer and load it with the right colored goo, and then press the Print button.

The difficult part, as I understand it, is making the 3-D description file in the first place. I think today's cheap printers are also limited in what sort of material they can squirt out. Fun to think about, anyhow.

Phil Nelson
Phil's Old Radios
http://antiqueradio.org/index.html

P.S. I doubt that copyright would pose any problems. Nobody has a stake in protecting the design rights to 60-year old plastic knobs, etc. There is no real money to be made by fabricating them (hobbyist markets are meaningless in the larger business economy) and selling repros does not threaten anyone's current business. You are in no danger of being sued by Farnsworth-Capehart if you fabricate a 1948 661-P knob.