isobar said:
Has anyone tried using a 3D printer to make a few discs and see how they work? I know they aren't cheap, however I believe for someone looking to develop a disc, it would be cheaper to run a few samples in a 3D printer and see how they feel. I don't know exactly what plastic resin most printers use though, it might be too hard to use for discs.
This is an excellent suggestion. While the plastic that is used in the 3D printer might not be ideal for throwing, it would at least allow you to assess the aerodynamical properties and how they trade off with mold shape, which is ultimately what we're after. In other words, the 3D printed disc could be put directly into a small wind tunnel (a research grade tunnel that goes to 80 MPH could be built for ~$10K), and the aerodynamical forces and moments could be measured directly. The wind tunnel measurements will then allow you to assess the flight characteristics precisely using the kind of simulations that myself and others already do.
In fact, we wouldn't even need a 3D printer, a high precision robotic (CNC) lathe would be just fine, since we're producing axisymmetric discs. Just input the CAD profile of the disc, set the tolerance, and let the machine go to work. Just found one for sale on ebay for $2K...
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Amera-Seiki-TC-2L-CNC-Lathe-/111006515789?pt=BI_Lathes&hash=item19d881024d
Note that, to cut the proper mold, you would need to get a consistent blend of plastic, measure its shrinkage characteristics precisely, and then reverse engineer the mold shape that would produce the desired disc shape using plastic shrinkage calculation software (e.g., finite element analysis).
So for less money that the cost of producing one $20K steel mold, you could buy all the equipment you would ever need to be able to reverse engineer disc designs, and obtain the best possible designs. You could even use mathematical analysis to optimize mold shapes for various characteristics:
1) A desired rim depth and width, such that the grip is comfortable for the thrower.
2) A mold shape whose flight characteristics are least affected by plastic variation, yielding the maximum intrinsic consistency.
3) Etc., the list of possibilities are endless.
Of course, you would also need to hire somebody who understands all of this, which would cost a bit more. But maybe some of us would be willing to do it for a small fee on a limited basis, to make it more affordable, like a consultancy type of arrangement.