New GMASS Filament Announced By Turner MedTech

Utah-based Turner MedTech announced today the development of a new filament, and will debut GMASS filament at the Radiological Society of North America's annual meeting, November 30 - December 5. GMASS filament is designed with metallic fillers in a high-density ABS-based structure, providing weight, density, and feel approximating those of traditional metals', with ABS' flexibility. GMASS can be 3D printed and used for prototyping or small-batch manufacturing of consumer, health, or industry needs. GMASS can provide radiation shielding, among its other qualities. Read more in the full article: http://3dprint.com/23239/gmass-filament-metallic/ ‎


Below is an image of a spool of GMASS filament:
http://3dprint.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/spool.png

Does anyone know if ABS vapor-smoothing would work with this filament?

yes it should.

But what the article doesn't mention is the price. Tungsten and bismuth are not cheap metals. Both are in heavy demand for all sorts of applictions from tungsten carbide cutting tools on down to bismuth 'shot' used in shotgun cartridges. It's supposed to be more enviromentally friendly than lead.

And shooting over water in the uk, it's illegal to use lead shot. Bismuth shot is used if you don't have barrel proved for steel shot - which most cheap shotguns don't have.

See, it's educational round here :-)

While I'm not excited about the price, it's less of a concern than if the material will work for my purposes. I'm currently working on modular, 3d-printed lightsabers designed for light combat-use.

As such, I need the vapor-smoothing properties of ABS to give the lightsaber strength and to give a smooth surface texture. If I could make it heavier and 'feel' like real metal, that would be a big win.

I wish I could get a small sample of the material for testing. I think matterhackers used to do that (I see a test video of the filament on youtube that seemed to be from them) but they don't seem to carry the filament anymore.

just bear in mind that all these filaments with metal are considerably weaker than all plastic filaments. And the more metal they have - the weaker they are.

For a lightsabre handle you might want to look at the reprapper tech (I don't work for them honest lol) metallic filaments. They use metal as a proper colourant. But use a lot less than the colorfabb filaments that need to be sanded, while looking a lot more metallic and costing less.
They even do flexible metallic filament. Got some flexible copper that just looks like a roll of thick copper wire.

Sample wise keep an eye globalfsd.com - not much they don't carry :-)

The problem with general PLA based material is that I haven't found one that holds up to the type of forces the lightsaber is subjected to.

Without a proper vapor-smoothing method to blend the plastic together across the print lines, the second or third hit the blade takes causes cracks across layer lines.

well no you wouldn't use it for the 'blade'
But then surely that would not be metallic anyway ?
For that you'd use polycarbonate - same as the commercial blades.
Or petg+
And if you had any sense you'd get some wide sellotape and stick a layer of that on as well.

I'm not talking about the blade but the hilt. For the blade I use already pre-formed polycarbonate (I think).

I take the (now no longer available) Hasbro ultimate FX lightsabers and re-purpose the blade & electronics. I change the LEDs to whatever color I want, add some form of connectors to the electronics board, and print a new hilt.

With every PLA I've tried (about 20 different types from various manufacturers), when the blade is hit against something with medium force the hilt cracks along layer lines. With cold vapor smoothed ABS that doesn't happen (unless some part of the hilt is thin-walled)... plus get the advantage of removing most layer lines.

I don't see how tape would help all.

Ah - thought you were making the blade.

Sounds like you need to redesign your hilts or change the settings when you print them.
Or use pet.
Or polymaker polymax: http://www.polymaker.com/shop/polymax/

Another approach would be to use polyflex. If printed fairly solid it gives a hardish plastic type that's pretty much unbreakable (short of using something like a table saw - you won't be able to damage it - it'll laugh at a sledge hammer) and still has a little flex.

Also if you're pla is cracking along layer lines - you're printing it at too cold a temperature. Forget the 'print as low as you can' nonsense - it's simply that: nonsense. print it as high as you can and still manitain clean and sharp prints. That gives you much much stronger end prints.
I've found that 210 is ideal for most pla. polyflex I think I print at 220 - it wasn't printing that well until I looked at the recommended temps on the packet :-) And now it does.

For weight simply mix sand with pva to a stiff paste and stuff that into any voids in the handle. Will add weight and strength and is way cheaper than epoxy as well as heavier. For real weight use a sand and lead shot mix.

Thanks for the info
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