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- Jul 25, 2012
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Much of this discussion reminds me of Andrew Yang's arguments for starting a "universal income." He says that automation is putting lots of people out of work. That is true without a doubt, but automation has been putting people out of work for decades before Andrew Yang was even born. There may come a time in the future when automation may make working for a living obsolete and the need for a "universal income" might become a great idea. But we're not there yet. Yes, automation has put some people out of work. But to be frankly honest, I don't think we're likely to see automation make the human worker obsolete in my lifetime. So Andrew Yang's "universal income" is an idea who's time is not here yet. Its pretty much the same with 3-D printing. I have no doubt that eventually the BoD will ok the use of self-designed/built 3-d fin cans for cert flights. But we're not there yet. Why? Because far too many current 3-d printed parts being used in hobby rocketry, including fin cans, are FAILING. I've seen a bunch of them fail myself.
For the time being, as has been already said in other words, "the jury is still out" on 3-d printed fin cans. We are not yet at the point that we can ok their use for certification flights. Anybody besides me remember the controversies around hybrid cert flights? Some were certified even though they didn't get anywhere near the altitude that was expected? Was their flight actually the motor size that they said it was going to be? If the on-board tank only filled half way before ignition, was it really a level three flight? Was it actually only an "L" motor? Questions arose that needed answering before we could really know if hybrid flights were achieving what they were supposed to be achieving. I still have my doubts to be honest. Empirical data is the only answer.
For now, 3-d fin cans are in that same limbo area. And until we gather a whole lot more information we shouldn't take the chance on doing cert flights with them. Its just that simple. Will the time come that we will? Most probably. We're just not there yet.
Brad
For the time being, as has been already said in other words, "the jury is still out" on 3-d printed fin cans. We are not yet at the point that we can ok their use for certification flights. Anybody besides me remember the controversies around hybrid cert flights? Some were certified even though they didn't get anywhere near the altitude that was expected? Was their flight actually the motor size that they said it was going to be? If the on-board tank only filled half way before ignition, was it really a level three flight? Was it actually only an "L" motor? Questions arose that needed answering before we could really know if hybrid flights were achieving what they were supposed to be achieving. I still have my doubts to be honest. Empirical data is the only answer.
For now, 3-d fin cans are in that same limbo area. And until we gather a whole lot more information we shouldn't take the chance on doing cert flights with them. Its just that simple. Will the time come that we will? Most probably. We're just not there yet.
Brad