The Virtual Foundry Shipping Out Filamet 3D Metal Printing Powder

[Ama-fessional Molder]

Their website, if anyone cares to check. The filament is expensive, at $85 USD for .5kg, but I suspect that for small components like gears and whatnot this wouldn't be a serious problem. Of course, copper and bronze are a lot more dense than most polymers, so you do have less material per kg also.

I think in the coming years though, the price should drop.

http://www.thevirtualfoundry.com/

Anyone interested in this process should be aware that there is significant shrinkage in this process, due to physically removing a percentage of the material from the component. I can't seem to find their exact numbers, and a test piece would be pretty pricey, but once you get the shrink factor nailed down it should be a pretty good product.

I do like that they are honest with their photos. They aren't showing touched up pics that remove the natural pits and roughness inherent to these materials. That's far less of a problem with injection molding these polymer/metal compounds, but is still even an issue with that.