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  1. Damn. I bought another 3D printer.

    Wednesday, 14-Oct-20 10:06:10 UTC from web
    1. @adiwan Does this one do metal? Are you going to 3D print a rifle and silence your neighbors at long last?

      Wednesday, 14-Oct-20 14:45:25 UTC from web
      1. @scribus HAHAHA. Sadly no 3D printer that can handle metals. I bought yet another Creality Ender 3 for 150 Eurobucks. A few of my current ones are misbehaving and I'll have then one spare and vanilla one. The others I will extensively upgrade and modify.

        Wednesday, 14-Oct-20 14:49:38 UTC from web
        1. @adiwan Yeah, I'd bet anything above, like, pewter would be a nightmare (and probably even that). I'm pretty interested in these housing-scale applications I've been seeing. I remember reading something as a kid back in the mid-90s about the theory, with cranes suspending cement mixers to pour layers and build up walls according to the blueprints.

          Wednesday, 14-Oct-20 18:11:47 UTC from web
          1. @scribus Well... You can use a CNC/3D printer with a welder that pushes automatically a metal rod to built up the metal like a traditional FDM 3D printer, only with metal. This is a valid technique for manufacturing, however the finish is horrible. It needs an additional step with a CNC router (ideally 5-axis) to remove the unevenness of the surface.

            Wednesday, 14-Oct-20 19:21:50 UTC from web
            1. @adiwan I'd really be more interested in, like, smelting and molding and pouring and hammering and all that blacksmithing jazz, myself.

              Wednesday, 14-Oct-20 23:10:39 UTC from web
              1. @scribus Then it's probably more of interest for you to use a stinking normal FDM 3D printer, printing a model with PLA plastic, putting it in a clay mold, burning the PLA out of the mold, and then pour your metal in the cavity. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkEYj8wtK3aEW8vSGhlB43g

                Thursday, 15-Oct-20 06:05:04 UTC from web
                1. @adiwan Have thought about it, actually.

                  Thursday, 15-Oct-20 15:07:09 UTC from web
        2. @adiwan @scribus Not much of a point either, since we already have metal 3D printing in the shape of 4+ axis mills. You just put in a sufficiently big piece of metal and load the 3D model to the CNC software and let it work.
          Mill of hot extrusion, metal printing will stay too dangerous and expensive for domestic use for at least a few decades I think. Most homes don't even have the space to fit the machinery or the wiring to run it.

          Monday, 19-Oct-20 21:01:41 UTC from web
          1. @nerthos Oops, *mill OR hot extrusion

            Monday, 19-Oct-20 21:02:32 UTC from web