This looks quite promising. I can understand why you decided to go for a 3d shape after that beautiful hatch pattern. By the way if you put a small shroud around the laser to keep heat in you will get less splatter and it also allows using shield gases like argon. Especially aluminum and copper oxidize like crazy so shielding makes a huge difference. Keeping the heat in creates a slightly higher local pressure which helps in sintering.
Great job man, but u know u could widen your beam temporarly to harden the material around your path so it doesn't clump as much, widen it by shifting your focus point, also it's important that your laser has no vibrations so your focal point doesn't shift :)
I AM SO EXCITED WITH THIS PROJECT. I am a metal addive manufacturing engineer and have experience with both laser powderbed fusion and hybrid lpbf. Please contact me, I would love to help!
to your info, you are the first and ony channel I subscribed till now. I am working on the same thing, but on a different approach, and yes, R&D is a headache when you have to support it from your own salary and do it in the spare time, so you have my shympathy on this.
I feel like I'm watching the science class edition of an Adult Swim interlude, and i am totally here for it! Awesome R&D, cool grooves, solid editing. Sub'd. This is so encouraging :)
Just a thought: if the substrate is heated to the annealing temperature of whatever alloy you're using, that might solve the problems associated with warping and internal stresses. Also the final product would have a better grain structure with fewer voids. This might be achievable with induction heating. Anyway, super cool project!
I experimented with a similar idea a while ago in order to reduce laser power requirements but found containing the heat amongst sensitive equipment a bit of a challenge. Heating powders also requires very high frequencies and doesn't guarantee uniform conduction. Here's an old pic of my test setup: ibb.co/N7Q23Km. I ended up resorting to conduction, hence the graphite crucible in the center of the cast, as not to be limited to ferrous metals.
make a ply or mdf cupboard line it with fiber glass or a metal cupboard sealed with good welds use some good air seals on any doors so you can create a vacum in the cupboard and use something like Argon an inert welding gas to fill the box have this might help with the welding of layers
This is why they do it in a nitrogen chamber now with a Wire welder... it is the metal surface tension causing balling. I think they have a flux in the mix allowing the metal to flow more..... or even a mineral that resists melting unless its right in the centre of the beam
@@metalmatters looking forward to it... Every once and a while I need a Metal part for my printer or an E-bake part a working 3D metal printer would be a good thing to have... finding it hard to find a solid state 90watt laser only CO2 and Argon that high.
Keep going ! You're experiencing à new way. But, in my opinion, you might experiment inert gas protection on the fusion metal layer, even if you use "stainless steel powder"...
That you did this in regular air is impressive, I think more progress is going to come when you control the atmosphere around the melt zone. There is both inert and semi-inert gases for welding, I think finding a simple, cost effective way to make a controlled atmosphere is going to be essential(hope there is easier way though) and that is also why my mind went to semi-permeable membranes and a compressor instead of just a tank of low cost gas. Argon and Helium(sometimes CO2) are go to gases for welding, I just need to better understand laser melt vs electric arc. We are all pulling for you, and will help when/if we can. My previous idea was because co2 is less reactive than o2 in melt pool oxidation, and dry ice(frozen co2) is cheap/Walmart avail, and if you run the laser for long periods I thought it might need cooling, I thought there might be a way to use all its cooling on the laser and then the warmed co2 gas could flow down and provide a better atmosphere around the weld pool, yet I still have much to think about for understanding spatter causes and gas ionization. The good single beads makes me think 1st meld is good, yet the area fill test porosity makes me think oxidation or remelt spatter(?). Is there any easy way to get a tightly focused camera/imaging that can see the melt pool? Great project, you might find a break thru nobody else has thought of, good luck 👍
really cool! Question about the build plate piston assembly, why not use a lead-screw and a short linear rail? That would eliminate that 0.28mm of play, which will become more significant when the Z starts to grow?
That could potentially work. I had considered something similar but was concerned about powder seepage and how that might affect the linear bearing. I also considered using a ball screw type arrangement but could not find anything with a lead lower than 5mm, the body of a SFU1605 is relatively large also. When I expand the powder bed I will re-explore this issue but for now the separated seals seem to be doing a good enough job of keeping the piston straight.
@@metalmatters makes sense. I think you could even enclose the tail inside the body of the piston, to make it completely sealed off from powder ingress, but yeah, good enough for now
the elephant in the room is the laser. you show us things which may help us solve some issues with laser metal sintering but never show us how to make the darn laser which makes the videos useless to us. Please do a extensive series covering building the laser from the ground up, material lists, prices, etc so we can recreate everything up to the steps you are on now fine tuning it all.
I was using a NUBM31 here. It's just an array mounted to a heatsink with a lens placed infront of it. I am sure I've covered it in one of my other videos. I _was_ documenting all of this on my website. It gained little interest, however.
@@metalmatters you used diode laser array? How does it even melt metal? I've never expected a low power non-pulsed laser to be able to melt metal powder.
@@goodfis624 I think it is common for industrial systems to use up to 400W fiber systems but their scan rates are much greater than what this will achieve, and that compromise is partly what makes this possible.
Also just thought of it again, have you thought about an inert gas chamber/enclosure? Both ideas are to help with the spatters. I imagine that's a majority of the problems your having.
your work is truly amazing, hope to see a new update soon. About the development on the Z-axis, what are your hypothesis on the issue? on X and Y you had amazing results, I can't get what happened when you tried to build on theZ.
I suspect the laser power is too high relative to the speed. I think the outer track expands while in a molten state and contracts as it cools thereby pulling powder into itself. The recoating process replaces the lost powder adjacent to the track and hence the cycle repeats itself. This translates to the outer wall progressively gaining additional height with each layer due to the surface tension. The cube ends up with a high wall around it and begins to trap metal powder in the center. This is just a theory at the moment.
@@metalmatters you’re doing some great work! Sounds like a solid theory, maybe a tool path starting from the center would help to address that issue in some way. What are you using to create/code the tool path? I was wondering if you are using shielding gas, as it looks like a wide welding cup on the end of the laser housing. I know stainless steel welds require good shielding from front and back to get the best weld results, but I’m just a hobby welder. Perhaps you could flood the powder on the build plate with gas so that each layer has shielding from the backside as well. Although I guess that would only apply to the first layer, and maybe the edges beyond that, if it applies at all. I really dig this project, thank you for posting your work and progress. Incredible design!!
@@grantballard4362 Thanks Grant! Yes, I have tried a concentric pattern and it has improved the outcome. I'm using Cura + a post editing script. I am using Argon as a shielding gas, just as a MIG/TIG would. I will be addressing a lot of what you mention in the video after next.
@@lucianom8918 Getting a camera close enough to observe what is happening at that scale will probably result in image saturation if not damage to the cmos sensor. I've resolved most of those issues anyhow.
It seems like that the main issue is that you trying to melt too much material per layer so it requires too much heat to melt which cannot be dissipated fast and as a result you get blobs instead of layer lines, still you already answered my main question of a week - how much powah laser needs to melt metal powder
The answer is actually towards power per area. If you turn up the laser power, you must also turn up the laser speed. If you by chance need to lower the laser power, you must again dial in the laser speed.
It was a NUBM31 in this video - 455nm. I've also used 808nm, and 1064nm is the industry standard. I think 1064nm and anything under is suitable for most metals.
i am thinking taking that dust suspending in a volatile (but not flammable) thick paste then hitting aforementioned paste with the laser would end up being a bit more consistent for line width and going vertical. same kind of melting of powder happening but the thick paste would help hold it there. because right now your fighting the particles moving around too much, thats why i am thinking the vertical test didnt work too well. but idk, not engineer
youre going to struggle with managing the temps, you have to realize that once you start a welding process that heat stick around, so as you continue the amps must go down a bit or else youll just be overheating the material and create boogers
@@metalmatters Well you know you can print 2D names. Print and sell the names, per order, still attached to the printing plate. Of course this would be in the form of a medallion.
Mainly due to its stability at temperature with oxygen present and its ability to absorb light. There are many reasons why I didn't pursue Aluminium to begin with, too many to list here. I will elaborate on this at some point but to summarize, it's not a very friendly material to work with. It's highly reactive, reflective, dangerous, has high thermal conductivity etc.
@@AKAtheA I print professionally and glad I don't have to print with aluminum. The condensate, or burn off from the interaction, is more dangerous than you could imagine. Not only aluminum powder, but also factors smaller than the powder itself.
Yes, at the moment I'm just flowing it over the bed. It isn't sustainable though and will change shortly. I suspect the cold flow over the molten pool isn't helping either.
@@metalmatters I've seen a grid pattern, for laminar airflow, directly over the bed. This was to remove the condensate. The area is obviously purged. This airflow is recycled and a small trickle of argon added continually. I'm guessing there will always be stresses from the rapid cooling in the layers.
This is so awesome, keep going! But please do yourself a favour and build yourself a sturdy and precise base first. Your project really deserves some effort and will benefit from it. Get some cheap used hardware such as ballscrews and linear guides and alum. extrusions and move the laser only, not the bed.
I am researcher at the university in France and also making open source lab bench around LPBF technology. How can I contact you (no info found on about) ? Help and collaboration. I am a maker and the project cool!!
Bizzare, a few people have emailed me via that address. It is usually hidden by a captcha. If you send me a message over at metalmatters.co (Username - Junkers) I'll respond to you there. Cheers!
Thank you for your concern. I do use PPE (respirator, goggles, and gloves) and am aware of the dangers. An enclosure will be factored into the build soon enough.
As a metalworker and 3d printernerd.. i can't wait for this to be succesfull!
You are my private hero! keep going!
Hey, can I join your club too? 😉 His research is needed more than ever in FDM. Thanks Metal Matters Man! 😊
That first layer was perfection! A huge accomplishment despite not being able to go vertical yet! This is amazing!
Thanks!
This looks quite promising. I can understand why you decided to go for a 3d shape after that beautiful hatch pattern. By the way if you put a small shroud around the laser to keep heat in you will get less splatter and it also allows using shield gases like argon. Especially aluminum and copper oxidize like crazy so shielding makes a huge difference. Keeping the heat in creates a slightly higher local pressure which helps in sintering.
Fun Fact
That opening sound was from the anime movie Akira
Binge watching channel !
Subbed!
Your Imagination to problem solving is great.
Out of dust, metal magic.
I hope it'll soon be able to print the parts for itself in full metal
Wow, that's a new Level waiting for Updates all the best .
wow wow wow, I smashed that subscribe button with my face! Can't wait to see your progress! please don't stop. Start a partreon account if you have to
Love your project man, I would recommend you to use ARGON or NITROGEN as atmosphere gas , the welding process Will be very different after that.
Great work! keep us posted on your progress. Wish you happy holidays and good luck with everything.
Great job man, but
u know u could widen your beam temporarly to harden the material around your path so it doesn't clump as much, widen it by shifting your focus point, also it's important that your laser has no vibrations so your focal point doesn't shift :)
I AM SO EXCITED WITH THIS PROJECT. I am a metal addive manufacturing engineer and have experience with both laser powderbed fusion and hybrid lpbf. Please contact me, I would love to help!
Thank you! Could you please send me an email via the address listed on my "About" page.
to your info, you are the first and ony channel I subscribed till now. I am working on the same thing, but on a different approach, and yes, R&D is a headache when you have to support it from your own salary and do it in the spare time, so you have my shympathy on this.
Thanks! It certainly eats into your spare time.
@@metalmatters ua-cam.com/video/B-UbDk7LrvU/v-deo.html
I feel like I'm watching the science class edition of an Adult Swim interlude, and i am totally here for it! Awesome R&D, cool grooves, solid editing. Sub'd. This is so encouraging :)
Well done,Looking forward
So happy to have found your channel. Best of lucks!
Just a thought: if the substrate is heated to the annealing temperature of whatever alloy you're using, that might solve the problems associated with warping and internal stresses. Also the final product would have a better grain structure with fewer voids. This might be achievable with induction heating. Anyway, super cool project!
I experimented with a similar idea a while ago in order to reduce laser power requirements but found containing the heat amongst sensitive equipment a bit of a challenge. Heating powders also requires very high frequencies and doesn't guarantee uniform conduction. Here's an old pic of my test setup: ibb.co/N7Q23Km. I ended up resorting to conduction, hence the graphite crucible in the center of the cast, as not to be limited to ferrous metals.
Awesome stuff, keep the uploads coming
vacuum chamber could help , or welding gases , sodastream is co2
Are you in the US? Looks great. Do you need metal parts machined?
In NZ but thanks anyway!
Wow! I am interested in it! Maybe I will buy one when you began to sell it. I am from a high school of Toronto.
make a ply or mdf cupboard line it with fiber glass or a metal cupboard sealed with good welds use some good air seals on any doors so you can create a vacum in the cupboard and use something like Argon an inert welding gas to fill the box have this might help with the welding of layers
Zamak metal could be possible to print with cheap diode lasers. I just couldn't find any supplier of it in powder form.
This is why they do it in a nitrogen chamber now with a Wire welder... it is the metal surface tension causing balling. I think they have a flux in the mix allowing the metal to flow more..... or even a mineral that resists melting unless its right in the centre of the beam
Yes, I suspect this also.. as well as too much powder. I hope to have a chamber sorted for the next video.
@@metalmatters looking forward to it... Every once and a while I need a Metal part for my printer or an E-bake part a working 3D metal printer would be a good thing to have... finding it hard to find a solid state 90watt laser only CO2 and Argon that high.
@@JustinJJHCS1 NUBM31 is the model of the laser. I will be experimenting with another laser soon.
@@JustinJJHCS1 I have a 120 watt Co2 laser sitting around. ha ha, sorry not for sale though.
Cool project!
Keep going ! You're experiencing à new way. But, in my opinion, you might experiment inert gas protection on the fusion metal layer, even if you use "stainless steel powder"...
That you did this in regular air is impressive, I think more progress is going to come when you control the atmosphere around the melt zone. There is both inert and semi-inert gases for welding, I think finding a simple, cost effective way to make a controlled atmosphere is going to be essential(hope there is easier way though) and that is also why my mind went to semi-permeable membranes and a compressor instead of just a tank of low cost gas. Argon and Helium(sometimes CO2) are go to gases for welding, I just need to better understand laser melt vs electric arc.
We are all pulling for you, and will help when/if we can. My previous idea was because co2 is less reactive than o2 in melt pool oxidation, and dry ice(frozen co2) is cheap/Walmart avail, and if you run the laser for long periods I thought it might need cooling, I thought there might be a way to use all its cooling on the laser and then the warmed co2 gas could flow down and provide a better atmosphere around the weld pool, yet I still have much to think about for understanding spatter causes and gas ionization.
The good single beads makes me think 1st meld is good, yet the area fill test porosity makes me think oxidation or remelt spatter(?). Is there any easy way to get a tightly focused camera/imaging that can see the melt pool? Great project, you might find a break thru nobody else has thought of, good luck 👍
FYI, the only gasses used that I know of are argon and nitrogen, based on the metal. There is a liquid cooling for the laser. On industrial machines.
really cool! Question about the build plate piston assembly, why not use a lead-screw and a short linear rail? That would eliminate that 0.28mm of play, which will become more significant when the Z starts to grow?
That could potentially work. I had considered something similar but was concerned about powder seepage and how that might affect the linear bearing. I also considered using a ball screw type arrangement but could not find anything with a lead lower than 5mm, the body of a SFU1605 is relatively large also. When I expand the powder bed I will re-explore this issue but for now the separated seals seem to be doing a good enough job of keeping the piston straight.
@@metalmatters makes sense. I think you could even enclose the tail inside the body of the piston, to make it completely sealed off from powder ingress, but yeah, good enough for now
@@prxrb The EOS Integra P450 has a belt separating the print bay from the linear bearing rails in the rear. The belt moves with the recoater.
Good job!
great work bro, keep up the good pace
Wow! Please keep going you are really on to something!
I love what you are doing and wish you success!
Just think: if he used electrochemical metal deposition method and everything worked perfectly, by now his first print would be done.
"and everything worked perfectly"
Great job, keep going ! 👏 you just got a new subscriber
the elephant in the room is the laser. you show us things which may help us solve some issues with laser metal sintering but never show us how to make the darn laser which makes the videos useless to us. Please do a extensive series covering building the laser from the ground up, material lists, prices, etc so we can recreate everything up to the steps you are on now fine tuning it all.
I was using a NUBM31 here. It's just an array mounted to a heatsink with a lens placed infront of it. I am sure I've covered it in one of my other videos. I _was_ documenting all of this on my website. It gained little interest, however.
What is the substrate shown? Thank you and keep this up, looks promising!!
It a 5mm thick disc of 316 stainless steel. Thanks!
@@metalmatters tyvm what’s the powder?
impressive results, keep it up. What is the laser?
Also, music?
NUBM31
Swimmingly by Dylan Sitts
Baron Grand - iN cOMMAND
@@metalmatters you used diode laser array? How does it even melt metal? I've never expected a low power non-pulsed laser to be able to melt metal powder.
@@goodfis624 I think it is common for industrial systems to use up to 400W fiber systems but their scan rates are much greater than what this will achieve, and that compromise is partly what makes this possible.
Would some sort of a dry flux help you achieve a consistent surface? Maybe a blend of dehydrated borax? Idk but awesome stuff none the less
Not sure. I might have to look into that.
@@metalmatters don't take my word for it, I'm just full of ideas that probably don't work. 😂🤣 wish I could contribute
Also just thought of it again, have you thought about an inert gas chamber/enclosure?
Both ideas are to help with the spatters. I imagine that's a majority of the problems your having.
@@hulkgqnissanpatrol6121 I haven't had to, many people have suggested it haha. It'll come in the video after next.
@@metalmatters nice, can't wait
and maybe a phone vibrator to make the powder setle
your work is truly amazing, hope to see a new update soon. About the development on the Z-axis, what are your hypothesis on the issue? on X and Y you had amazing results, I can't get what happened when you tried to build on theZ.
I suspect the laser power is too high relative to the speed. I think the outer track expands while in a molten state and contracts as it cools thereby pulling powder into itself. The recoating process replaces the lost powder adjacent to the track and hence the cycle repeats itself. This translates to the outer wall progressively gaining additional height with each layer due to the surface tension. The cube ends up with a high wall around it and begins to trap metal powder in the center. This is just a theory at the moment.
@@metalmatters you’re doing some great work! Sounds like a solid theory, maybe a tool path starting from the center would help to address that issue in some way. What are you using to create/code the tool path?
I was wondering if you are using shielding gas, as it looks like a wide welding cup on the end of the laser housing. I know stainless steel welds require good shielding from front and back to get the best weld results, but I’m just a hobby welder. Perhaps you could flood the powder on the build plate with gas so that each layer has shielding from the backside as well. Although I guess that would only apply to the first layer, and maybe the edges beyond that, if it applies at all.
I really dig this project, thank you for posting your work and progress. Incredible design!!
@@grantballard4362 Thanks Grant! Yes, I have tried a concentric pattern and it has improved the outcome. I'm using Cura + a post editing script. I am using Argon as a shielding gas, just as a MIG/TIG would. I will be addressing a lot of what you mention in the video after next.
@@metalmatters do you have a macro and slow motion camera to confirm? Maybe that can help
@@lucianom8918 Getting a camera close enough to observe what is happening at that scale will probably result in image saturation if not damage to the cmos sensor. I've resolved most of those issues anyhow.
It seems like that the main issue is that you trying to melt too much material per layer so it requires too much heat to melt which cannot be dissipated fast and as a result you get blobs instead of layer lines, still you already answered my main question of a week - how much powah laser needs to melt metal powder
The answer is actually towards power per area. If you turn up the laser power, you must also turn up the laser speed. If you by chance need to lower the laser power, you must again dial in the laser speed.
At first me was like, wow that's red hot. But noooo it's just orange.
dude you are a maniac)) cool)) can a chamber with an inert gas improve your result?
I suspect it will. I'm working toward that at the moment.
@@metalmatters cool)) I will follow your work))
What laser is it? Have you tried different wavelengths? I know 1024nm is sometimes used in laser cutting steel 👍👍👍
It was a NUBM31 in this video - 455nm. I've also used 808nm, and 1064nm is the industry standard. I think 1064nm and anything under is suitable for most metals.
Looks awesome
what kind of laser are u using? can you link che product?
Thanks
i am thinking taking that dust suspending in a volatile (but not flammable) thick paste then hitting aforementioned paste with the laser would end up being a bit more consistent for line width and going vertical. same kind of melting of powder happening but the thick paste would help hold it there. because right now your fighting the particles moving around too much, thats why i am thinking the vertical test didnt work too well. but idk, not engineer
Waiting for your success.👍
Keep this up! this would be amazing
youre going to struggle with managing the temps, you have to realize that once you start a welding process that heat stick around, so as you continue the amps must go down a bit or else youll just be overheating the material and create boogers
It's a valid point. I think I have an idea on how to manage it.
Yo great stuff keep up the work
So, how do we support this? where's the patreon?
That's a good question. I'm not really sure what I could give people in return though..
@@metalmatters Well you know you can print 2D names. Print and sell the names, per order, still attached to the printing plate. Of course this would be in the form of a medallion.
Nice, i will follow your progress. Is there any reason you start with steal and not with aluminium or another metal with a lower melting point?
Mainly due to its stability at temperature with oxygen present and its ability to absorb light. There are many reasons why I didn't pursue Aluminium to begin with, too many to list here. I will elaborate on this at some point but to summarize, it's not a very friendly material to work with. It's highly reactive, reflective, dangerous, has high thermal conductivity etc.
aluminium powder at this particle size in air would 1) literally light on fire 2) oxidize to crap
@@AKAtheA I print professionally and glad I don't have to print with aluminum. The condensate, or burn off from the interaction, is more dangerous than you could imagine. Not only aluminum powder, but also factors smaller than the powder itself.
bruh..
you are a legend!
nice work
What are you using for oxygen purging? Are you flowing argon over the build area to prevent oxidation, porosity and spatter?
Yes, at the moment I'm just flowing it over the bed. It isn't sustainable though and will change shortly. I suspect the cold flow over the molten pool isn't helping either.
@@metalmatters I've seen a grid pattern, for laminar airflow, directly over the bed. This was to remove the condensate. The area is obviously purged. This airflow is recycled and a small trickle of argon added continually. I'm guessing there will always be stresses from the rapid cooling in the layers.
Awesome! How much you invest in this development
Overall? Probably $5 - 6K NZD.
Great!
The moving bed is gonna cost you quality. This is why most SLS metal printers use a moving laser, and only move the print vertically.
brill! subbed
This is so awesome, keep going! But please do yourself a favour and build yourself a sturdy and precise base first. Your project really deserves some effort and will benefit from it. Get some cheap used hardware such as ballscrews and linear guides and alum. extrusions and move the laser only, not the bed.
could i have more information about the laser and driver you are using? thanks in advance.
It's a NUBM31 with a dedicated driver. You can find them both on Ebay.
@@metalmatters how are you focusing the array into a dot
@@metalmatters hi again sorry for being aa bother, could you tell me the size of the stainless powder. thanks
It's using a biconvex lens, 60mm diameter, 63mm focal length. The size of the powder is #325 mesh.
@@metalmatters do you have a link to the lens as i can not find one anywhere
someday we will be able to print our own gpu and cpu
Does it use a laser? Like those glass printers that melt sand
Sand based printers typically use CO2 lasers. This uses a diode laser.
love it
What laser do you use?
NUBM31
I am researcher at the university in France and also making open source lab bench around LPBF technology. How can I contact you (no info found on about) ? Help and collaboration. I am a maker and the project cool!!
Bizzare, a few people have emailed me via that address. It is usually hidden by a captcha. If you send me a message over at metalmatters.co (Username - Junkers) I'll respond to you there. Cheers!
Please use PPE and make an enclosure for your printer. The metal powder is very harmful.
Thank you for your concern. I do use PPE (respirator, goggles, and gloves) and am aware of the dangers. An enclosure will be factored into the build soon enough.
I'm just hoping he is not continually doing Lasik surgery.
Phoenomenal
how do you print the second layer, I didn't get it??
I think the robot just dropped a layer of powder on top.
E la filo continuo 🤔🙊🤣
man keep it up ! Abo ist raus.
welcher Laser ?
NUBM31
U must work to NASA
Imagine printing your own CPU's.
That’s...
Не делай эти надписи на черном фоне!!! Ночью смотреть невозможно, глаза режет, как стробоскоп!
Накладывай просто на фон
Now... print a glock or 1911