resolution, materials and metals

Hi All

I've looked at 3d printers before but have been dissapointed by the dimensional resolution achievable. Also the hardness and durability of the products formed by these methods leaves a bit to be desired. I mean no criticism of you guys who have put in so much effort, you have my admiration for the unselfish way in which the designs are open source.

Has anyone investigated the possibility of 3d printing using ionic transfer and deposition of metals to make the objects? The only changes needed are that it would have to be done in an electrolyte bath (just a plastic bowl with impure water and a kathode on the bottom made of aluminium or copper foil). The print head could just use copper/aluminum wire of the appropriate dimension. By controlling the current the rate of metal deposited could be controlled.

Although this would take even longer than the plastic materials it should produce a much stronger more weather resistant object.

Any comments or ideas about this appreciated. I may even get off my backside and build a machine if there are no obvious snags.

Bitman

Quote

Any comments or ideas about this appreciated. I may even get off my backside and build a machine if there are no obvious snags.

Difficult, expensive, slow, imprecise, impractical?

I'll bet on at least one of those. After all, if it were easy and obvious, surely everyone would be doing it?

But give it a blast, see if you can make some sort of shape. A prototype wouldn't be hard to make, and then you can see if the end result is any good. My opinion is that as you increase speed, quality will fall dramatically. And when you're measuring head movement in mm an hour, you may find it less hassle to do metal casting instead, given you can reprap or mill a nice investment instead.

Hi Bitman,

for macroscopic dimensions it's much to slow, but when you want to build in mesoscopic dimensions (square-micrometer-sizes and accuracies), then it's worth a try.

But then you need a mechanical setup in the same accuracies - submicron resolution and such ...

I'm building a second setup beside my CNC-mill with 1/256-microstep-drivers, so i think to reach an accuracy in this range, but then the mechanic has to be very rigid too or i have to make some other tricks

Viktor