i am also developing a "cheap" 3d metal printer :-) and your work and energey gives me the energy to go forward with it! keep up the good work you are my "idol"
@@marijntuijl unfortunately i am not a youtuber :-) but when i succeed yes i will make then a youtube video. (but most probably under a different account not my private account)
@@the_normal_guy9308 I did not see that technology used yet, it is powder based and would allow conductive and non-conductive materials with a melting point
I'm studying to be an engineer or material science- not 100% sure yet, and am new to being a maker/designer. I am hugely interested in what you are doing and am taking notes with everything I see you do. I hope I can replicate your work one day and contribute to the knowledge pool of 3D metal printing. I can feel your frustration, but I truly, sincerely appreciate the work that you put into developing this project and I really look forward to your progress. Such an amazing goal!
Awesome stuff mate. Glad to see you back into it, it's a shame to see the end of the slm project but if you are flogging a dead horse then there is no point continuing. That square looks really promising. Thanks for not stopping you are an inspiration to many.
Incredible work! this is the type of disruptive technology that gets me excited to see the future. I hope I live long enough to see that every desktop has one of these. This is a huge amount of public groundwork accomplished by one person.
Was just wondering what you’d been up to, so great to see the progress! Always inspired by your level of execution and dedication, thank you for the work you’re doing!
Excellent work! Since you have resorted to wires now, and with shielding, please take a look at "coaxial electrospinning needles" they are axially integrated needles. I came across them to attempt powder injection to my hho torch (printing with aluminum/chromium oxide) setup. With wire feed directly through, you can have your shielding gas feed directly over your wire. There's plenty of cheap-ish sellers.
Thanks for that, I'll have a look into it. The very first design used a coaxial feed for both the feedstock and shielding gas (basically the thumbnail with a hole in the base, hence the screws) but wasn't well thought out, so I went with something more conventional.
A super fast retraction speed can help with ball formation. I'd recommend a high speed recoding to get the speeds at the start and end of a bead just right
You also have to look at the metal transfer. The two basic types of metal transfer you will be seeing, other than at the start of the weld, is either spray transfer or globular transfer. Ideally you will want spray transfer as it will lay down the most consistent bead of metal. Unfortunately, it is difficult to maintain this with your setup. As the power supply heats up, base metal heats, and wire warms, everything will change and the amps and volts that have you the correct settings at the beginning will need adjustment. The best, and most easy way, to counter this is by using a smart welder. Look at miller welding's MillerMatic line of welders. They will adjust voltage, amps, and feed rate on the fly to keep the weld working as intended.
to get rid of extra ball of weld that builds up on the wire at the end of a weld just snip the wire at the end of each weld. you can put a mechanical sniper in your printer and have it snip its self after each pass. Welding robots do this
It seems like a lot of problem can be attributed to instability of the print head setup. Maybe it would be better to move the print bed instead of the head.
Very good so far. I feel that to contain the argon, you'll end up printing inside a can so the Ar doesn't diffuse away. It will matter more as you get to higher layers.
Been following this build for a while now, always excited to see your videos pop up. It seems like you're having issues getting precise parts, I dont know how impractical shipping would be since I'm in the states, but I'm willing to make you parts if needed. I have a 3axis cnc, a mill, and a lathe
As for gas coverage I'd recommend using TIG gas lenses. They provide laminar flow and are dirt cheap. Keep up the inspiring work! Edit: It seems like 27 gauge needles have a nominal ID of .21mm, which could be of use centralizing the wire as it goes through the nozzle?
I've since redesigned the head, allowing for independent control over each beam. I've been playing with the idea of returning to a central feed design. We'll see what becomes of it.
Something that could print pewter or zamak like a standard FDM would already be astonishing. For this hypothetical setup, in my opinion, the trick to make it happen would be a laser constantly heating the layer on which the metal gets poured. That would be far more cheaper but I understand why you're investing so much on your project: steel would be a revolution. Another approach could be a powerful induction heater that melts the very tip of a metallic filament and an ink-jet style technique, where micro drops of filament are poured one by one. This could make a general purpose metal FDM printer cheap and versatile, given that the only setting to change for a given metal/alloy would be the power output of the induction heater. Varying the height from the plane, the power of the laser that heats the layers already made and the temperature of the gas may also be parameters that one may use to tune the printer. Free public knowledge here, if anybody finds something useful, feel free to use it.
The ball on the wire could be mitigated by pulsing both the laser and the wire feed, intead of always on laser and constant feed rate. some of the trickier TIG welders i know will pulse welds to make them look better (at the cost of strength). if the pulses were spaced closely enough, strength shouldn't be an issue. Perhaps the answer to a difficult to control feed is precisely controlled steps that resemble a steady feed?
Maybe so. I'd like to keep the hardware to a minimum and pulsing those lasers without killing them might involve quite a bit more work. It might just be easier to let the joint cool and separate the wire and weld by treating it like a fuse. There could be problems with this method as well though.
I wonder if for the wire feeder you could use a 3d printer bowden extruder such as the Mobius M4 which is mostly 3d printed parts and a few metal bits from amazon for cheap, since it's geared down and has adjustable tension with a spring. You might need to replace one of the metal rods with teeth (since there's two in the kit) with something that allows for a smaller filament size.
Thanks for all the work you do on this! It’s amazing to watch and the possibility of a working prototype at the end, even if I only ever see it through a screen, is tantalizing. How difficult would it be to add some shielding to the components from heat and reflected lasers? I imagine such shields and sheaths would get in the way but would the safety be worth it?
I wonder if you could use some thin sheet of metal so that it's cheaper to get it off the 3d printing bed and place a different sheet, kinda like using glue to cover the bed so the filament sticks to the thin dried glue instead of the printing bed? My guess is to try different thin metal sheets, maybe tin foil(I don't know)
I would love to progress to a metal printer, but considering all the big boys have gone down the route of SLS of metal powders I think for the hobby level of printing, doing it in resin first to create a mould and then using that mould to create your metal part is the cheaper option that produces higher quality metal parts than you would get from any setup like this.
also im interested in your efforts on the powder bed. i think it's a shame to put all that work to waste. would you willing to share your designs and notes for us to build on and continue this?
@@markos3803 I agree, it is a shame that it didn't amount to anything. I don't want to endorse that approach however. There are a lot of hazards around working with metal powders, and that design was too inadequate to meet those needs. I haven't read anything specifically about the use of laser welders for DED/LMWD, although most wire based systems referred to in papers are essentially that, a side fed laser based welder.
I used a small drill chuck as the main drive roller and a bearing as an idler. I had to use a pair of opposing syringes to guide the wire as there obviously isn't any groove for the wire to follow.
Lol i though thought the thumbnail was three lense in handcuffs xD Like an artistic statement about the more cameras/or whatever, the more I limit myself🤔
Thanks for the time you put in to the vids. A few thoughts in exchange: have read of Invar powders being V good for low-porosity SLS (L-PBF). About the excess metal at the start/end of lines, maybe you could have overcome that by more passes at lower powers, to sort of pre-heat the powder, then final pass. Another Idea: by starting and ending each layer at a sacrificial/waste piece, to be trimmed off at the end. Or perhaps the start of each line had a something like an overlapping movement, sort of starting along the line a few mm with lower power, then building up to nearly full power at the line start, then back along? Sort of an intuitive thought. Hopefully you return to the project some day (dig it up?). Re the wire printer: when you mentioned the wire pushing through melt-pool I imagined the build plate being a 4th axis, turning so that didn't happen. Maybe an Invar wire would have interesting properties? Similar to another commenter: why not have a sealed chamber instead of gas flow? Even if not a 100% sealed, there could be a positive pressure from gas to keep out oxygen. Last thought - I read about Atomic hydrogen welding using an arc in hydrogen shielding gas. Perhaps this could be an interesting method of 1: producing the gas on demand using electrolysis of water. 2. Doing away with the inherent difficulties of working with lasers. Perhaps the arc is created between wires that are fed in? Anyways, this welding can apparently melt tungsten - using that with a tungsten powder in a kind of synthesis could be interesting?
Thanks for suggesting Invar powders. I'll have a look into them. I'm amidst reassembling the printer. I'll have a chance to play around with preheating as this time I'll be using a galvanometer. I have to admit, I'm not overly fond of the idea due to how much heat will leak into the powder bed and how it will affect the metal, but I think it's worth trying. The wire based effort didn't use a chamber due to the expense involved in purging it and how much additional effort it takes just to do some basic experiments. I played around with an arc based process but found it to be too poorly constrained in terms of heat and deposition control. I don't want to rely on any form of milling as a post processing step.
Amazing journey pal! I don't know nearly as much as you about the engineering but what about using aluminium wire in a machine with similar topology to the automatic soldering machines ?
@@metalmatters i think laser welders are going to be dropping in price fast, there are already some cheap ones in aliexpress.. those might be worth a look
Hi ! I was wondering which kind of lasers you used in yourdifferents metal 3d printer . I'm interested in building one but i wanted to document myself a bit more on lasers before. If you have any sites and/or companies to recommend it would be helpful ! Thanks in advance.
The lasers in both this system and the other powder based system are diode pumps. You can find them on eBay or Alibaba. If you get stuck, send me an email via the about page.
Have you thought about using molten salt (in crystal form after cooldown) to round the surface where the laser is hitting? The melting point of salt is 801 Celsius, molten salt is really good at heat medium
@@metalmatters I honestly do not remember exactly why I wrote that, but I think as solution for particles escaping! I did a lot of research lately for my graduation project, not sure what problems I will face. Now thinking to plug a magnetic generator for a metal powder fusion printer!
Very interesting stuff. I'd like to attempt to compute a solution but I'm currently persuing a safer, multimaterial way of printing in resin. I'm looking to add continuous fibres too to reduce the amount of parts that would need the physical properties of metals. Maybe some kind of atomised metal embeded resin is possible and a $1500 printer + $3500 sintering oven workflow could be a solution.
Wow, seeing all the work you put into the old printer just to have to chuck it in the bin. That's such a hard decision. Your new square looks great however.
200W, 915nm, 200um fiber is all you need to know. They're fairly common. If you do decide to pursue this make sure you buy your safety *goggles* from a reputable Western vendor, realistically at least OD 7.
Have you ever tried to hack into those 20-30W fiber laser engraving machines? They work using Galvanometer and do one-layer at a time scanning, just need to build a z axis descending table and work out a way to output each layer scanning control codes and integrate into the z axis movement. Those machines are available 2nd hand about $1000 only.
I actually bought a Nd:YAG laser from an earlier generation of engraver with the intention of exploring galvanometers. I don't think implementing a laser system is the difficult part. For me, the difficulty arose from trying to build a pressurized chamber that was both economical and safe. There are too many dangers around handling metal powders in my opinion.
@@metalmatters Does pressurized chamber necessary? I thought you just need a heated chamber and regulated inert gas inside. I'm looking forward to seeing both printer projects but personally really want to see the powder bed project working to some extent. By the way, your forum is down？
@@pengjinpan8293 To the best of my knowledge, yes. The most effective way to deal with the issues brought about by the plasma plume is to use a pressurized atmosphere. I won't be working on the powder printer beyond this point for the reasons I've stated here. I took the forum down due to inactivity.
@@tw60407 A lot has changed in regard to the mechanical aspects of the printer, and there is still yet more to do. It's stopped me from working on the process itself and therefore I've little to show for it in terms of output, hence the lack of videos. Things are moving along though. Thanks for the feedback.
How about, for aligning the beams, you take pictures of each dot individually, and compare those images. This should allow you to better define where each beam is pointed compared to the mess you get with all dots on top of each other. Kind of like avoiding the diffraction limit in super resolution microscopy (if that means anything to you).
That's actually what I was doing less the photos. I just wasn't sure if it was happening at the correct focal length. Footage didn't really convey that.
Nice work as always! There are wire feeders for tig(!) welders with resistive heating, you seem to have outdone those in terms of precision. Have you considered using a tig torch instead of lasers? This might work better than a conventional mig/mag with your precision wire feeder
Thanks, and yes I have. That's actually how I ended up with the MIG wire feeder and TIG wire delivery kit. There was just too much waste heat at too lower speed for it to be practical.
@@metalmatters Wow, that's a lot less than what I was expecting. If this was refined further, this could be made into possibly a $3000(just doubled assuming profit the company would want to take) or less home metal 3D printer
Hi there. I love what you are doing and I wanted to check some more of your work, but it looks like your webpage is down. Is it down for good or only temporary?
Thanks! Yes, the webpage is down for good unfortunately. I have done a lot of work since the last video but it has been in vain. I think it might be time to return to SLM.
@@metalmatters Glad to hear you're still here! Sorry to hear it didn't work out. Your content is still good even if the project doesn't succeed. You don't have to only make videos when you have something that works.
@@metalmatters I'll be waiting, I'm already in the process of assembling my sls printer. I want to complete it in a month. And then start refining it for slm. So far, the price can be kept at $ 1000 (with the exception of the galvanometer control board)
Progress isn't too bad but slower than I would like it to be. I briefly experimented with a TIG welder for the sake of 3D printing, too much unfocused heat imo.
@@metalmatters keep it up! I meant the mig welder not tig, as in the one that already has a wire inside and it melts the wire on contact, it’s got potential but needs alot of experimenting
Briefly. It's an interesting concept. I think it would be difficult to achieve good results without developing a high density matrix for the process. I notice that Fabric8labs mainly showcase copper parts too.
@@metalmatters I agree, a matrix like what they have seems like the key. I don't know how much effort it would take to create something like it in the open-source community but I'd love to see it.
I've actually dropped the DED project. Too many compromises had to be made and I still had some overarching issues which I couldn't resolve. I have been working on the SLM project however: ua-cam.com/video/qNF3d99Jk5M/v-deo.html. Dealing with some mechanical issues at the moment. Will have it up and running soon.
Trying to think outside the box, what if you put the printer inside a box? Empty the box of air, as much as reasonably possible, with a vacuum pump. Then fill with CO2, so you don't have to worry about gas flow over the weld. It might be worth it just as an experiment.
if retraction is making the pooling at the end of the extrusion more thats gotta be from the wire puIIing the pooI of metaI during the retraction because unIike with plastic the metaI doesnt break tension with the retraction. The probIem stiII is that its on the nozzIe and wiII be deposited at the beginning on the next Iayer. maybe if you wait Ionger before moving to the next Iayer for it to cool or even extruding a bit of wire then retracting to give the metaI in the nozzIe and the nozzIe itseIf space and time to cooI and alIow it to cIeanIy break off the extrusion.
I feel bad that you had to ditch the slm project. You had put in so much effort. I'm going to build an slm machine starting next year. Good luck with your ded machine. What do you think of fdmetal, like desktop metal. I think chances of success could be more in that than DED.
@@metalmatters I'm interested in the slm / dmls for the same reason. It is direct and it is superior in mechanical properties. And that's the only thing I've got experience in. Although it's messy, that's ok, i can get functional end use parts. I'm building a high temp fdm for now, gonna make some money with this and start with the slm. It's gonna need a lot of money, even if i use Chinese parts. I think it would take atleast 30,000 usd to build one.
i am also developing a "cheap" 3d metal printer :-) and your work and energey gives me the energy to go forward with it! keep up the good work you are my "idol"
Do you post the progress anywhere?
@@marijntuijl unfortunately i am not a youtuber :-) but when i succeed yes i will make then a youtube video. (but most probably under a different account not my private account)
Maybe you guys should do some collaboration and share ideas. It might shortcut the process for both of you.
@SnApO what technology are you using? powder based, laser, mig welder? And what material are you trying to print?
@@the_normal_guy9308 I did not see that technology used yet, it is powder based and would allow conductive and non-conductive materials with a melting point
I'm studying to be an engineer or material science- not 100% sure yet, and am new to being a maker/designer. I am hugely interested in what you are doing and am taking notes with everything I see you do. I hope I can replicate your work one day and contribute to the knowledge pool of 3D metal printing.
I can feel your frustration, but I truly, sincerely appreciate the work that you put into developing this project and I really look forward to your progress. Such an amazing goal!
Once again thank-you for sharing these ups and downs. It is fascinating to watch and take in. Your updates are always a high point for my UA-cam time.
Awesome stuff mate. Glad to see you back into it, it's a shame to see the end of the slm project but if you are flogging a dead horse then there is no point continuing. That square looks really promising. Thanks for not stopping you are an inspiration to many.
Oh this is getting good. it's getting so close to just being like, perfectly usable
This project gives me hope that a DIY metal 3d printer is achiveable soon and also your energy is amazing
Incredible work! this is the type of disruptive technology that gets me excited to see the future. I hope I live long enough to see that every desktop has one of these. This is a huge amount of public groundwork accomplished by one person.
I'm so glad you're back, I've been waiting for your videos for a year now
Was just wondering what you’d been up to, so great to see the progress! Always inspired by your level of execution and dedication, thank you for the work you’re doing!
That's incredible work! This is the first I've seen of your channel and I'll be eagerly watching your upcoming work!
Excellent work! Since you have resorted to wires now, and with shielding, please take a look at "coaxial electrospinning needles" they are axially integrated needles. I came across them to attempt powder injection to my hho torch (printing with aluminum/chromium oxide) setup. With wire feed directly through, you can have your shielding gas feed directly over your wire. There's plenty of cheap-ish sellers.
Thanks for that, I'll have a look into it. The very first design used a coaxial feed for both the feedstock and shielding gas (basically the thumbnail with a hole in the base, hence the screws) but wasn't well thought out, so I went with something more conventional.
A super fast retraction speed can help with ball formation. I'd recommend a high speed recoding to get the speeds at the start and end of a bead just right
Awesome, can't wait for round 3!
I've got some bad news from the future
Big fan of your work and perseverance. Looking forward to when you get a prototype up and running
Congratulations on the work so far. Impressive perseverance
some of those lines look really promising!
You also have to look at the metal transfer. The two basic types of metal transfer you will be seeing, other than at the start of the weld, is either spray transfer or globular transfer. Ideally you will want spray transfer as it will lay down the most consistent bead of metal. Unfortunately, it is difficult to maintain this with your setup. As the power supply heats up, base metal heats, and wire warms, everything will change and the amps and volts that have you the correct settings at the beginning will need adjustment. The best, and most easy way, to counter this is by using a smart welder. Look at miller welding's MillerMatic line of welders. They will adjust voltage, amps, and feed rate on the fly to keep the weld working as intended.
This is a story of a stranger who I shall never meet, yet hold the deepest respect for.
to get rid of extra ball of weld that builds up on the wire at the end of a weld just snip the wire at the end of each weld. you can put a mechanical sniper in your printer and have it snip its self after each pass. Welding robots do this
Very nice project !! Im following your work with a lot of interests
Amazing job and good luck to get your final results as expected. Its still a journey of testing and development. 👍👍👍👍
You are crazy - the world needs more people like you!
It seems like a lot of problem can be attributed to instability of the print head setup. Maybe it would be better to move the print bed instead of the head.
Very good so far.
I feel that to contain the argon, you'll end up printing inside a can so the Ar doesn't diffuse away.
It will matter more as you get to higher layers.
Been following this build for a while now, always excited to see your videos pop up. It seems like you're having issues getting precise parts, I dont know how impractical shipping would be since I'm in the states, but I'm willing to make you parts if needed. I have a 3axis cnc, a mill, and a lathe
Appreciate that
Hello, man! Can your machine make motorcycle engine parts
This is such good work. I can't tell you how much we appreciate this.
You could look at linear advance forthe bulging (happens with plastic too, although probably for different reasons).
Very cool project, excited to watch your progress. Subscribed!
Another Video!!!!! Love your stuff man, was just checking your channel a couple days ago for an update, what great timing 👍
Sometimes it makes sense to just start anew - keep pushing!
absolutely incredible, high quality video, high quality project
Thanks!
btw why not use something like plasma torch without gas flow to melt steel dust and use it as 3d printing?
As for gas coverage I'd recommend using TIG gas lenses. They provide laminar flow and are dirt cheap. Keep up the inspiring work!
Edit: It seems like 27 gauge needles have a nominal ID of .21mm, which could be of use centralizing the wire as it goes through the nozzle?
I have some 27G syringes and they are very flexible. I'm sure you could sleeve them but you do need a reasonable clearance to avoid jamming.
Always amazing and fascinating to watch you work through your process👍👍
OMG FINALLY!!!! I was waiting for this for so long!!!!!
Very fair, you learned a lot and it's better then falling into the sunken cost fallacy
Good job. Keep it up!
You are the definition of perseverance
Impressive work mate!
If you decide to go back to a center feed could you use a servo or stepper controlled flexture to aline the beams and feed?
I've since redesigned the head, allowing for independent control over each beam. I've been playing with the idea of returning to a central feed design. We'll see what becomes of it.
Never surrender (only pivot)!
Something that could print pewter or zamak like a standard FDM would already be astonishing.
For this hypothetical setup, in my opinion, the trick to make it happen would be a laser constantly heating the layer on which the metal gets poured. That would be far more cheaper but I understand why you're investing so much on your project: steel would be a revolution.
Another approach could be a powerful induction heater that melts the very tip of a metallic filament and an ink-jet style technique, where micro drops of filament are poured one by one.
This could make a general purpose metal FDM printer cheap and versatile, given that the only setting to change for a given metal/alloy would be the power output of the induction heater. Varying the height from the plane, the power of the laser that heats the layers already made and the temperature of the gas may also be parameters that one may use to tune the printer.
Free public knowledge here, if anybody finds something useful, feel free to use it.
i just stumble across you my fellow antipodean. you are a garage genius!......subscribed
What if instead, you approach it like welding body panels and run spot weld so the weld pool can cool? This way you dont run into the puddle?
The ball on the wire could be mitigated by pulsing both the laser and the wire feed, intead of always on laser and constant feed rate. some of the trickier TIG welders i know will pulse welds to make them look better (at the cost of strength). if the pulses were spaced closely enough, strength shouldn't be an issue. Perhaps the answer to a difficult to control feed is precisely controlled steps that resemble a steady feed?
Maybe so. I'd like to keep the hardware to a minimum and pulsing those lasers without killing them might involve quite a bit more work. It might just be easier to let the joint cool and separate the wire and weld by treating it like a fuse. There could be problems with this method as well though.
Keep it mate, that's brilliant!
I wonder if for the wire feeder you could use a 3d printer bowden extruder such as the Mobius M4 which is mostly 3d printed parts and a few metal bits from amazon for cheap, since it's geared down and has adjustable tension with a spring. You might need to replace one of the metal rods with teeth (since there's two in the kit) with something that allows for a smaller filament size.
have you considered a brute force approach to the beading on the wire after welding? clip the wire after every end of a weld!
Thanks for all the work you do on this! It’s amazing to watch and the possibility of a working prototype at the end, even if I only ever see it through a screen, is tantalizing.
How difficult would it be to add some shielding to the components from heat and reflected lasers? I imagine such shields and sheaths would get in the way but would the safety be worth it?
have you seen the printer that uses electro plating to effectively print metal parts?
As per the second to last comment, yeah. I assume that is what you're referencing.
I wonder if you could use some thin sheet of metal so that it's cheaper to get it off the 3d printing bed and place a different sheet, kinda like using glue to cover the bed so the filament sticks to the thin dried glue instead of the printing bed?
My guess is to try different thin metal sheets, maybe tin foil(I don't know)
Heated Copper would be by first guess.
I would love to progress to a metal printer, but considering all the big boys have gone down the route of SLS of metal powders I think for the hobby level of printing, doing it in resin first to create a mould and then using that mould to create your metal part is the cheaper option that produces higher quality metal parts than you would get from any setup like this.
I've gone back to working on an SLM printer. That should be able to yield a respectable degree of precision. Still a little more work ahead though.
Fantastic work.
What if you use those handheld laser welders? The beads they make in the videos looks clean and consistent
I think even the 500w units might blow the budget on this build. Thanks for the suggestion though.
@@metalmatters im about to buy such a 1500w welder to try that, have you seen any related work anywhere? or paper?
also im interested in your efforts on the powder bed. i think it's a shame to put all that work to waste. would you willing to share your designs and notes for us to build on and continue this?
@@markos3803 I agree, it is a shame that it didn't amount to anything. I don't want to endorse that approach however. There are a lot of hazards around working with metal powders, and that design was too inadequate to meet those needs.
I haven't read anything specifically about the use of laser welders for DED/LMWD, although most wire based systems referred to in papers are essentially that, a side fed laser based welder.
@@metalmatters have you looked into the SLS4ALL project?
What gears did you use to feed the wire? I can’t find any that feeds 0.25mm wire.
I used a small drill chuck as the main drive roller and a bearing as an idler. I had to use a pair of opposing syringes to guide the wire as there obviously isn't any groove for the wire to follow.
Is it just pressure that pulls the wire through the wheels?
Yep. You want a decent amount (sorry, I don't have any figures).
My other question is how do you remove the oil off the stainless steel wire?
Lol i though thought the thumbnail was three lense in handcuffs xD Like an artistic statement about the more cameras/or whatever, the more I limit myself🤔
Love following your channel. Good job!
Thanks for the time you put in to the vids. A few thoughts in exchange: have read of Invar powders being V good for low-porosity SLS (L-PBF). About the excess metal at the start/end of lines, maybe you could have overcome that by more passes at lower powers, to sort of pre-heat the powder, then final pass.
Another Idea: by starting and ending each layer at a sacrificial/waste piece, to be trimmed off at the end. Or perhaps the start of each line had a something like an overlapping movement, sort of starting along the line a few mm with lower power, then building up to nearly full power at the line start, then back along? Sort of an intuitive thought. Hopefully you return to the project some day (dig it up?).
Re the wire printer: when you mentioned the wire pushing through melt-pool I imagined the build plate being a 4th axis, turning so that didn't happen. Maybe an Invar wire would have interesting properties? Similar to another commenter: why not have a sealed chamber instead of gas flow? Even if not a 100% sealed, there could be a positive pressure from gas to keep out oxygen.
Last thought - I read about Atomic hydrogen welding using an arc in hydrogen shielding gas. Perhaps this could be an interesting method of 1: producing the gas on demand using electrolysis of water. 2. Doing away with the inherent difficulties of working with lasers. Perhaps the arc is created between wires that are fed in? Anyways, this welding can apparently melt tungsten - using that with a tungsten powder in a kind of synthesis could be interesting?
Thanks for suggesting Invar powders. I'll have a look into them. I'm amidst reassembling the printer. I'll have a chance to play around with preheating as this time I'll be using a galvanometer. I have to admit, I'm not overly fond of the idea due to how much heat will leak into the powder bed and how it will affect the metal, but I think it's worth trying.
The wire based effort didn't use a chamber due to the expense involved in purging it and how much additional effort it takes just to do some basic experiments. I played around with an arc based process but found it to be too poorly constrained in terms of heat and deposition control. I don't want to rely on any form of milling as a post processing step.
Bridging is going to be interesting.
Positivize Pressure caused you to scrap the other model/design? OK, what about using negative pressure with like magnates, would that work?
Why the lasers instead of an electric arc? Seems like you're using the arc for preheating, so why not go all the way with that?
Amazing journey pal! I don't know nearly as much as you about the engineering but what about using aluminium wire in a machine with similar topology to the automatic soldering machines ?
unreal work mate. Kia kaha!
If using wire, is laser anymore the best way to go? What would be the benefit of laser, compared to arch welding?
I believe so. In terms of output, better resolution and faster translation speeds from better heat concentration.
@@metalmatters i think laser welders are going to be dropping in price fast, there are already some cheap ones in aliexpress.. those might be worth a look
Thanks so much for posting this! Super interested
Hi !
I was wondering which kind of lasers you used in yourdifferents metal 3d printer . I'm interested in building one but i wanted to document myself a bit more on lasers before. If you have any sites and/or companies to recommend it would be helpful ! Thanks in advance.
The lasers in both this system and the other powder based system are diode pumps. You can find them on eBay or Alibaba. If you get stuck, send me an email via the about page.
Niiiic, that's quality hobby research!
You could use a Handheld Welding System With Auto-Wire Feeder and modify it !!
Nice Stuff! looks promising!
Looks very promising.
Have you thought about using molten salt (in crystal form after cooldown) to round the surface where the laser is hitting?
The melting point of salt is 801 Celsius, molten salt is really good at heat medium
No, can't say that I have. Why would I want a round profile where the laser is hitting?
@@metalmatters I honestly do not remember exactly why I wrote that, but I think as solution for particles escaping! I did a lot of research lately for my graduation project, not sure what problems I will face. Now thinking to plug a magnetic generator for a metal powder fusion printer!
Very interesting stuff. I'd like to attempt to compute a solution but I'm currently persuing a safer, multimaterial way of printing in resin. I'm looking to add continuous fibres too to reduce the amount of parts that would need the physical properties of metals.
Maybe some kind of atomised metal embeded resin is possible and a $1500 printer + $3500 sintering oven workflow could be a solution.
Really great work! Thanks for sharing.
q why you need preheat when u use mig welding and ss wire ?
Reduces the heat input needed from the lasers
@@WirelessDude569 lasers welding ? why he need welding machine ?
Wow, seeing all the work you put into the old printer just to have to chuck it in the bin. That's such a hard decision. Your new square looks great however.
Have you tried using a jeweler's oxyacetelyne torch instead of lasers?
No
Very good Progress
Nice job! Hopefully, this version turns out to be a great success. Can you please share what laser module model is that?
200W, 915nm, 200um fiber is all you need to know. They're fairly common. If you do decide to pursue this make sure you buy your safety *goggles* from a reputable Western vendor, realistically at least OD 7.
Have you ever tried to hack into those 20-30W fiber laser engraving machines? They work using Galvanometer and do one-layer at a time scanning, just need to build a z axis descending table and work out a way to output each layer scanning control codes and integrate into the z axis movement. Those machines are available 2nd hand about $1000 only.
I actually bought a Nd:YAG laser from an earlier generation of engraver with the intention of exploring galvanometers. I don't think implementing a laser system is the difficult part. For me, the difficulty arose from trying to build a pressurized chamber that was both economical and safe. There are too many dangers around handling metal powders in my opinion.
@@metalmatters Does pressurized chamber necessary? I thought you just need a heated chamber and regulated inert gas inside. I'm looking forward to seeing both printer projects but personally really want to see the powder bed project working to some extent. By the way, your forum is down？
@@pengjinpan8293 To the best of my knowledge, yes. The most effective way to deal with the issues brought about by the plasma plume is to use a pressurized atmosphere.
I won't be working on the powder printer beyond this point for the reasons I've stated here. I took the forum down due to inactivity.
Any progress in the last 6 months? Your videos are awesome
@@tw60407 A lot has changed in regard to the mechanical aspects of the printer, and there is still yet more to do. It's stopped me from working on the process itself and therefore I've little to show for it in terms of output, hence the lack of videos. Things are moving along though. Thanks for the feedback.
How about, for aligning the beams, you take pictures of each dot individually, and compare those images. This should allow you to better define where each beam is pointed compared to the mess you get with all dots on top of each other. Kind of like avoiding the diffraction limit in super resolution microscopy (if that means anything to you).
That's actually what I was doing less the photos. I just wasn't sure if it was happening at the correct focal length. Footage didn't really convey that.
Where you buy this laser modules ?
Nice work as always!
There are wire feeders for tig(!) welders with resistive heating, you seem to have outdone those in terms of precision.
Have you considered using a tig torch instead of lasers? This might work better than a conventional mig/mag with your precision wire feeder
Thanks, and yes I have. That's actually how I ended up with the MIG wire feeder and TIG wire delivery kit. There was just too much waste heat at too lower speed for it to be practical.
Great Job! I operate two DED laser wire metal printer in our lab at IIT Bombay. If I could help in any way please let me know.
Can you please share a link to those lasers
You can find them on Alibaba - "915nm 200um". If you want second hand units then send me an email.
How much did the materials for this all cost?
Between the electronics, lasers, optics, and machined head.. roughly $1500
@@metalmatters Wow, that's a lot less than what I was expecting. If this was refined further, this could be made into possibly a $3000(just doubled assuming profit the company would want to take) or less home metal 3D printer
Hi there. I love what you are doing and I wanted to check some more of your work, but it looks like your webpage is down. Is it down for good or only temporary?
Thanks! Yes, the webpage is down for good unfortunately. I have done a lot of work since the last video but it has been in vain. I think it might be time to return to SLM.
@@metalmattersNo! Nothing is in vain! Please post your last update at least, your work is passionating. Anyways, thank you.
Where did you go?
Still here. Still working on things. My attempts build a wire based metal 3D printer did not work out.
@@metalmatters Glad to hear you're still here! Sorry to hear it didn't work out. Your content is still good even if the project doesn't succeed. You don't have to only make videos when you have something that works.
NICE , i alway wait your project ♥
Good afternoon, and the forum with discussions and your project is still closed?)
Hi. I've since taken it down due to inactivity. It's unlikely it will return. I may setup a discord in the future.
@@metalmatters I'll be waiting, I'm already in the process of assembling my sls printer. I want to complete it in a month. And then start refining it for slm. So far, the price can be kept at $ 1000 (with the exception of the galvanometer control board)
@@metalmattersdiscord is a good idea, no cost or investment other than self-moderating it or having community mods do it.
great work! hows is your project going ? also have you considered using a mig welder to print ? I've seen few example it def has potential
Progress isn't too bad but slower than I would like it to be. I briefly experimented with a TIG welder for the sake of 3D printing, too much unfocused heat imo.
@@metalmatters keep it up! I meant the mig welder not tig, as in the one that already has a wire inside and it melts the wire on contact, it’s got potential but needs alot of experimenting
Great work and thanks for sharing! :D
Wowee, bring it on!
Looked into Electrochemical Additive Manufacturing (ECAM)?
Briefly. It's an interesting concept. I think it would be difficult to achieve good results without developing a high density matrix for the process. I notice that Fabric8labs mainly showcase copper parts too.
@@metalmatters I agree, a matrix like what they have seems like the key. I don't know how much effort it would take to create something like it in the open-source community but I'd love to see it.
Hoping you don't completely drop the slm project. It would be cool to see the pros and cons of slm vs ded.
I've actually dropped the DED project. Too many compromises had to be made and I still had some overarching issues which I couldn't resolve. I have been working on the SLM project however: ua-cam.com/video/qNF3d99Jk5M/v-deo.html. Dealing with some mechanical issues at the moment. Will have it up and running soon.
Trying to think outside the box, what if you put the printer inside a box? Empty the box of air, as much as reasonably possible, with a vacuum pump. Then fill with CO2, so you don't have to worry about gas flow over the weld. It might be worth it just as an experiment.
if retraction is making the pooling at the end of the extrusion more thats gotta be from the wire puIIing the pooI of metaI during the retraction because unIike with plastic the metaI doesnt break tension with the retraction. The probIem stiII is that its on the nozzIe and wiII be deposited at the beginning on the next Iayer. maybe if you wait Ionger before moving to the next Iayer for it to cool or even extruding a bit of wire then retracting to give the metaI in the nozzIe and the nozzIe itseIf space and time to cooI and alIow it to cIeanIy break off the extrusion.
I feel bad that you had to ditch the slm project. You had put in so much effort. I'm going to build an slm machine starting next year. Good luck with your ded machine. What do you think of fdmetal, like desktop metal. I think chances of success could be more in that than DED.
Thanks for that. Yeah, I think it is typically a 3 stage process involving binders / pressurized kilns etc. I'm looking for something direct.
@@metalmatters I'm interested in the slm / dmls for the same reason. It is direct and it is superior in mechanical properties. And that's the only thing I've got experience in. Although it's messy, that's ok, i can get functional end use parts. I'm building a high temp fdm for now, gonna make some money with this and start with the slm. It's gonna need a lot of money, even if i use Chinese parts. I think it would take atleast 30,000 usd to build one.
@@247chiranjeevi What volume are you aiming to achieve?
Feed co2 into the wire feed to eliminate air leak
once its finish will you print out a metal mario?
really getting there!!