Listening to another pitch about how AI can empower workers at various jobs across my industry, I was striken by the comparison in the title
3d printing, just like generative models, have it’s actual niche uses, where it’s obvious downsides are irrelevant and they come handy, e.g. prototyping, replacements, small-series production
Where it comes to the top-down AI promotion trend, it feels not unlike the idea of printing the whole product - a car, or a house, from the smallest details - applying the least effective method, doomed to have a worse than average outcome due to technological limitations
And screws, the thing that we nailed down long before, and that is completely incompatible with that mode of production, is a screaming, growling, shrieking example of how helpful tech can be mispurposed in the most stupid way
One thing it’s good for is that if you have the screw/nut on the bed with the part, you can scale both equally and the screw/nut will work with the part still, even if the threading is no longer a standard pitch/size. For a one-off or prototype that’s fine, but if you’re going to mass produce, it’s better to fix it in CAD to a standard size and use manufactured fasteners.
Yep. If it’s meant for mass production, that’s solid advice for ALL components, not just screws. Anything that’s not a standard part will need to be adapted to other production techniques anyways, as 3D printing is extremely inefficient for mass production.