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Xmetals In 2015?

If the product isn't making money, Lux didn't keep it around. I'm not saying 3D printing titanium is mass pro viable today but I do believe it will be viable within two to three years. The machine to print in titanium apparently costs a million dollars. Oakley/Lux hold the patent on titanium sunglasses so they would be wise to invest and explore such production technology.
 
I would like to concur with Kronos, the titanium 3D printing I have seen has been for prototypes and subcontracted out to academic institutions to do the work. This avoids the capital outlay for one off proof of principle jobs.

Overall I am still in awe at the X-metal production process and believe that that is/was the allure of the frames. I can sit in my man cave and marvel at the creation, knowing it was forged in temperatures close to those found in the fires of hell:focus-97: :)
 
I do believe it will be viable within two to three years
Ummmm.... no.

Plastic printing has been around for a while now, and it's still nowhere near fast enough nor scalable enough to displace injection molding or other types of established manufacturing.

"Printing" metals (not exactly the same thing, but we'll go with it) has been around a few years already. No one is jumping on it. Well no, I shouldn't say that, people are, and their products are priced out of the market with the top selling point being "pay more than necessary for a 3D printed part!!"

One off, prototype, small batch that won't offset tooling/molds? Yeah, print away. Real production? No. Not anytime soon.
 
Ummmm.... no.

Plastic printing has been around for a while now, and it's still nowhere near fast enough nor scalable enough to displace injection molding or other types of established manufacturing.

"Printing" metals (not exactly the same thing, but we'll go with it) has been around a few years already. No one is jumping on it. Well no, I shouldn't say that, people are, and their products are priced out of the market with the top selling point being "pay more than necessary for a 3D printed part!!"

One off, prototype, small batch that won't offset tooling/molds? Yeah, print away. Real production? No. Not anytime soon.
Actually I think rolls Royce is sintering titanium parts for their turbines. I remember an article about it. I don't remember exactly, but I'm fairly certain for production because of the cost to machine them.
 
Not the same thing.

MIM and Sintered powdered metal have been around a while and are replacing machined parts. Laser selective sintering being the printing we're talking about? Not technically printing since printing implies deposition, but yes, they're being used as noted; prototype, small batch runs. Rolls Royce does lots of fun things, my experience with them is less than stellar in terms of their demands and scope creep.

Could the technology replace single machined parts? Yes. That's not what consumer goods are, in most cases.
 
I have to continue to agree with rustpot on all this - I'm not an expert on sintering (my experience with it is around research on S30V) but it seems best summarized as a form of casting using powdered metals, while 3D printing is best summarized as the opposite of machining, depositing layers to build a shape instead of removing them from a blank. And it's too slow for mass production demands.

But there's a lot more to it than just if the technology exists and the process viable. X-metals were the result of Mad Scientist mentality. That doesn't exist anymore. JJ was motivated to do it not just by potential market demand but also (perhaps mostly) to prove it could be done. Aside from lacking the same mentality, Lux already has the business reference of how x-metals went the first time around. They may be well coveted here, but I think it's safe to say that, in light of the entire sunglass market / industry, new x-metals do not make a compelling business case.

Not meaning to rain on anybody's parade - it'd be great if new x-metals came out, if they had a comparable quality to the originals. But I'd rather be realistic than hang on wishful thinking. I mean, really, we've now gone from "they're coming back" rumors to pure speculation about if they could come back due to emerging technologies...
 

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