3D printing with metal may be getting easier & cheaper

[WMGroomAK]

Another item to add to the list of things I probably don't need but would really like to have...  Desktop Metal has announced some details as well as pricing behind it's new 3D metal printers, which will supposedly print objects out of different alloys of steel, aluminum, titanium and copper.  These parts are supposed to be similar in quality to more traditional injection molded items.  From the Tech Crunch article:

 

https://techcrunch.com/2017/04/25/desktop-metal-reveals-how-its-3d-printers-rapidly-churn-out-metal-objects/

 

Quote

While metal 3D printers have been around for decades, they’ve been limited in terms of materials, speed and accessibility. That’s, in part, because metals have such a high melting point. It’s not as easy to shape them as it is to shape plastics, for example.

 

Desktop Metal calls its core technology “microwave enhanced sintering.” The company’s printers put down layers of metal and ceramic powders that are mixed in a soft polymer. The cartridges and alloys that work with the printers are made by Desktop Metal and other major providers in additive manufacturing. Once a mixed-media item is printed, it goes into a furnace where it is rapidly cooked. Heat burns off the polymer. Gases are filtered by charcoal.

 

Meanwhile, the metal is fused together but at a temperature that won’t make it melt and lose its shape. Wherever ceramic was laid down in a printed design, metal remains separated and doesn’t fuse. The pieces created by Desktop Metal machines can be separated by hand.

 

As for pricing, the Desktop Metal Studio system will ship in September and cost $120,000 to purchase or $3,250/month to rent.  The Production system will ship in 2018 and cost $480,000 to purchase.  I can think that this will be great in hospital applications if the printed objects are medical safe.  Otherwise, I would just like this to play around with, but I definitely don't have a spare $120k laying around to play with...  Maybe Luke and Linus can get one to play with in the studio...  Just think of all the camera mounts they could make or other pieces of unique computer brackets and bits and pieces...

[Orangeator]

Or you could go the route of getting a CNC machine with a plasma cutter... Would be 1/8 the price of this and have close to the same capability. Just more assembly required after wards. My dad built his own several years ago for like five grand. It is a massive machine, cuts countless materials.

[Enderman]

9 minutes ago, Orangeator said:

Or you could go the route of getting a CNC machine with a plasma cutter... Would be 1/8 the price of this and have close to the same capability. Just more assembly required after wards. My dad built his own several years ago for like five grand. It is a massive machine, cuts countless materials.

The entire point of a metal 3d printer is to make things that are not possible with CNCs...

[ZestyJalapeno]

3 minutes ago, Orangeator said:

Or you could go the route of getting a CNC machine with a plasma cutter... Would be 1/8 the price of this and have close to the same capability. Just more assembly required after wards. My dad built his own several years ago for like five grand. It is a massive machine, cuts countless materials.

Which CNC machine? Credit to your dad, I would like to know the dimensional tolerance of a home-made CNC machine. As far as skill floors CNC machining is a few tiers above 3d printing...building one is on another level since you need systems integration and mechanical knowledge, especially for complex geometry/medical applications, since the body does care about those few microns in dimensional variance.

 

ALM is very accessible if you know who's who. You could honestly call up an ALM firm and get them to print whatever geom you want as long as you know what you're doing when you design them, at a fraction of the cost. Just this week I was sourcing brass fins for a passively cooled desk project of mine. 

[Orangeator]

30 minutes ago, Dogeystyle said:

Which CNC machine? Credit to your dad, I would like to know the dimensional tolerance of a home-made CNC machine. As far as skill floors CNC machining is a few tiers above 3d printing...building one is on another level since you need systems integration and mechanical knowledge, especially for complex geometry/medical applications, since the body does care about those few microns in dimensional variance.

 

ALM is very accessible if you know who's who. You could honestly call up an ALM firm and get them to print whatever geom you want as long as you know what you're doing when you design them, at a fraction of the cost. Just this week I was sourcing brass fins for a passively cooled desk project of mine. 

I attached two pictures of the CNC he built in our garage. This wasn't a kit either, he designed it in auto cad himself and cut extruded pieces of aluminum as the frame. He programmed it and set all the software up and wired it. It was one of his most favorite things to create/build. Took him a solid 8 weeks. In the pictures it is set up to cut wood as he just made a massive sign to go over my parents bed. I don't know the dimensions it can cut, but it is quit large for an homemade CNC machine. (excuse the messy garage, we are currently about to move and everything got tossed in it haha)

31 minutes ago, Enderman said:

The entire point of a metal 3d printer is to make things that are not possible with CNCs...

Oh wow that is incredible, never realized how much more you can do with a 3D printer Always been around CNC machines.

[tlink]

3 hours ago, WMGroomAK said:

The cartridges

well well well i wonder if they learned a lesson by looking at the normal printer market. "accessible" as in: useless machine for which you can't afford to print with because of the 'secret formula' cartridges™ tax.

[tlink]

also this doesn't sound like injection molding at all, this is more like powder molding. (basically putting metal dust and chunks into a shape and heating that so they bind but not really melt, its weaker than milled metal or cast metal)

[WMGroomAK]

Just now, tlink said:

also this doesn't sound like injection molding at all, this is more like powder molded.

I don't think anything in the article talks about it being MIM, it just talks about the quality of the final product being similar in quality to MIM products.

[tlink]

edit whoops, i see what you meant. but like i said, it will probably be more like powder molded since it doesn't really melt which is what makes it stronger.

[WMGroomAK]

2 minutes ago, tlink said:

edit whoops, i see what you meant. but like i said, it will probably be more like powder molded since it doesn't really melt which is what makes it stronger.

Agreed, one of my questions is how well this technique allows for the powder/metal to weld together and how durable the final product is.  If it can get close to MIM durability though, it could be intriguing, especially if the product is medical safe.  I could think it would be useful for something like a joint replacement, where the original joint structure could be MRIed and the scan could be sent down to the Lab for printing of a custom replacement joint on site.

[Curufinwe_wins]

Powder sintered bearings are already in use all over the place (if you have a power tool at home from the last two decades it probably has one or more in it). I wonder if this version is actually cheaper or better than the "admitted in the article" decades old metal additive manufacturing methods.