More to the point, 3D printed knobs are not nearly as interesting as the ones made from a solid, at least with any 3D printer mere mortals can afford. The acrylic pen blanks (or wood) have a visual complexity from the pattern in the material and can be finely finished to show that off.
"Subtractive machining" gets you there. Carve stuff from a solid block and make chips.
An affordable 3D printer (additive) can make functional stuff, with a degree of having to adjust for reality and not infrequently deal with printing errors, but it's not really all that visually appealing, and the surfaces have an innate texture from the manufacturing process. Now, where's that box of knobs I ran off a 3D printer years back so I can show you that?
Can't find those right now but here are some "test cube" images. Printers typically need a fair degree of fiddling with to get temperatures correct, sort out registration issues, deal with actual size due to shrinkage, etc. The model for this cube with various features is all smooth and perfect, and the results frequently less so, so one ends up making a considerable amount of plastic scrap while adjusting to get output that is the correct size, not a mess, etc. The lower right one is far from perfect but about as good as the printer running these could manage.
If you really want to go there the basic printers are not terribly expensive, but you won't get anything like Matt's nicely turned knobs out of it. And a lathe you could do those on is a similar cost (unless it's way cheaper and can do much bigger things too, because someone is trying to sell a house and wants it gone.)
There are also services where you can have someone else make your model with their machine, and that can include access to more expensive machines, and subtractive machining of the model from a solid as well as the additive methods. Sparing you the scrap, adjustments, etcetera; but of course it's hiring the job out. Whether that's more fiscally sensible depends on scale, and whether you even want to depends on what you want to be doing.
"Subtractive machining" gets you there. Carve stuff from a solid block and make chips.
An affordable 3D printer (additive) can make functional stuff, with a degree of having to adjust for reality and not infrequently deal with printing errors, but it's not really all that visually appealing, and the surfaces have an innate texture from the manufacturing process. Now, where's that box of knobs I ran off a 3D printer years back so I can show you that?
Can't find those right now but here are some "test cube" images. Printers typically need a fair degree of fiddling with to get temperatures correct, sort out registration issues, deal with actual size due to shrinkage, etc. The model for this cube with various features is all smooth and perfect, and the results frequently less so, so one ends up making a considerable amount of plastic scrap while adjusting to get output that is the correct size, not a mess, etc. The lower right one is far from perfect but about as good as the printer running these could manage.
If you really want to go there the basic printers are not terribly expensive, but you won't get anything like Matt's nicely turned knobs out of it. And a lathe you could do those on is a similar cost (unless it's way cheaper and can do much bigger things too, because someone is trying to sell a house and wants it gone.)
There are also services where you can have someone else make your model with their machine, and that can include access to more expensive machines, and subtractive machining of the model from a solid as well as the additive methods. Sparing you the scrap, adjustments, etcetera; but of course it's hiring the job out. Whether that's more fiscally sensible depends on scale, and whether you even want to depends on what you want to be doing.
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