3d printers question?

[echy]

can a 3d printer print out gold?

for example you put a piece of gold in the 3d printer and then the printer makes/ duplicates the gold exactly?

or is the new piece of gold plastic or wax

 

[Godlygamer23]

A 3D printer can only use what's there. It doesn't produce more gold. 

[Sniperfox47]

3D printers also only print in certain materials. Like you could probably in theory make a 3D printer that uses gold to print gold bars via some kind of electrolytic deposition but none exist on the market. Most consumer ones use a plastic polymer or resin

[BlargKing]

You can print gold-coloured filament or resin. There *might* be some filament or resin with gold suspended in it.

 

There are 3D printers that can print metal, but those are well beyond anything a consumer can buy. 

 

If your a strong DIY type, you could print the object you wanted gold in plastic, make a mould of it, and then cast that mould with gold.

 

You could also send the 3D file of the object to a print service. I know Shapeways can do prints either cast entirely of precious metal, or they can plate the object with a precious metal. 

[Hackentosher]

Certain printers (as in the ones that cost more than your house) use metal powder and a laser to melt it together into a part. So theoretically you could print in gold.

[MrMacintosh]

 

It all starts with making a virtual design of the object you want to create. This virtual design is for instance a CAD (Computer Aided Design) file. This CAD file is created using a 3D modeling application or with a 3D scanner. A 3D scanner can make a 3D digital copy of an object.

You would have to prepare a 3D model before it is ready to be printed. That is call slicing. Slicing is dividing a 3D model into hundreds or thousands of horizontal layers and needs to be done with software. When the 3D model is sliced, you are ready to load it to your 3D printer. This can be done by USB or wifi. It really depends on what brand and type 3D Printer do you use. When a file is uploaded in a 3D printer, the object is ready to be 3D printed. The 3D printer reads every slice (2D image) and creates a 3D object.

So, you should to try, maybe someday you'll get the Nobel Award and rush into sunset with 1 000 000$
But if you wonder to find detail information, check 3D Printers 2017