MiniMetalMaker

[rene1981]

Hey,

I just found this on indiegogo today:

http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/minimetalmaker-a-small-3d-printer-that-fabricates-with-precious-metal-clay/x/4869342

Presenting the Mini Metal Maker

The Mini Metal Maker is very exciting to me because it is a unique combination of an artistic material with the field of 3D printing. The Mini Metal Maker prints 3D objects from digital files directly in precious metal clay, rather than in plastic. Once these clay objects air-dry, they are fired in a kiln to produce beautiful solid metal objects of high purity and precision. Using metal clay essentially replaces the entire wax-casting or lost-wax process ordinarily needed to do this. The Mini Metal Maker will add new capability for the DIY inventor or artist by making fabrication in metal easy and direct. It will be a boon for anyone interested in creating their own gears, miniature mechanisms, or printing detailed jewelry or metal ornaments. The Mini Metal Maker is built around the concept of using the minimum number of parts, reducing the cost to produce and also eliminating many chances for error during assembly. 




With your help


Your contribution will help us turn our working prototype into a mass-produced product. 
We demonstrated the concept and created a prototype Mini Metal Maker in our shop. It currently runs on the open-source software used by the RepRap community, and is driven by off the shelf high-precision stepper motors. We have personally funded the R&D for this project for the last 6 months, and are ready to take it to the next level – with your help. Our goal is to create a product that is ready for market in three different forms:

• A downloadable product, including 3D build files and DIY instructions.
• Kits containing the hardware, software, and assembly instructions.
• Fully Finished and calibrated machines with software installed.



Monies raised


We aim to raise $10,000 for materials to refine and package our technology into a producible product.

 In order to achieve the reliability and price point needed to make this good invention a great product, we need to finish our research and development. Funds will go toward the following activities:



1. Refine the metal clay recipe for each of five different clay types:
 Copper, Bronze, Steel, Silver & Gold.

2. Refine our high-pressure extruder design. We currently have a reliable extrusion trace at around 0.5mm but believe this can be reduced to 200 microns.
3. Add a second print head for use with additional metal clays or support material. 

4. Optimize the integrated motor carriage design so that it can be easily printed on low cost printers such as the Makerbot and RepRap.
5. Refine custom firmware for the printer to further optimize printing for clay.

6. Create the Mini Metal Forge software environment in order to foster a good user experience, particularly for the non-technical craftsperson.
7. Work with industrial partners to tool up for production of the machine with injection molding.




If we do not reach the entire goal

This project has been carried this far through incremental progress, and we will continue moving toward our goal: A mass produced and available Mini Metal Maker. Regardless of the funds we raise through this campaign, we will be carrying out the following tasks in the order listed above, as it is the most logical path to completion. Your contributions help us carry out these activities, no matter how large or small.



The impact



The Mini Metal Maker is a game-changer in the world of do-it-yourself 3-D printing. It gives engineers and designers a new tool for fabricating precision parts without expensive machinery or difficult manual processes. It puts a powerful new tool in the hands of artists and craftsmen for creating customized repeatable items in metal. It is also a valuable and accessible educational tool because it is low cost and small enough to be portable.

I've always dreamed of being able to print miniature parts and detailed sculptures directly in metal. To me, the Mini Metal Maker moves 3D printing from the land of plastic toys into the real world of arts, science, and engineering. I have had so much fun creating and using the Mini Metal Maker, and believe that you will too.

Other Ways You Can Help

Your words are precious to us. If you can not contribute, or if you simply wish to help another way, please like us on Facebook, share our website with your friends, and spread the word about the Mini Metal Maker to anyone who might be interested.

[Geoff]

How sturdy are these parts once fired in the kiln?

Example, If I was to purchase one of these it would purely be to produce metal gears for hobby applications, I am just wondering how the parts would hold up to actually being used? ie would a mini metal made gear work with a brass tooth gear? or would the brass chew the clay/metal teeth?

[rene1981]

I'll ask it for you.

[Eddie]

How sturdy are these parts once fired in the kiln?

Example, If I was to purchase one of these it would purely be to produce metal gears for hobby applications, I am just wondering how the parts would hold up to actually being used? ie would a mini metal made gear work with a brass tooth gear? or would the brass chew the clay/metal teeth?

That's a good question. I would see this being a perfect machine for creating jewelry. As for gears, that is a question that the creators would have to answer. It would be awesome if this would work for gears though!
Eddie

[rene1981]

How sturdy are these parts once fired in the kiln?

Example, If I was to purchase one of these it would purely be to produce metal gears for hobby applications, I am just wondering how the parts would hold up to actually being used? ie would a mini metal made gear work with a brass tooth gear? or would the brass chew the clay/metal teeth?

I've got an answer from the maker:
"Strength of the metal – from what I have read and from preliminary tests, parts made with metal clay are not ‘metal clay parts’ when they are done. They are simply metal parts. The bronze & copper I have experimented with seem to have the same strength & bending characteristics as bronze and copper from other sources. It is very low porosity (or no porosity) sintered metal."


Gr. René

[cokreeate]

I really thought about funding this but it won't shipping till late 2014.
By then I'm sure other will have metal printers out.

[rene1981]

I really thought about funding this but it won't shipping till late 2014.
By then I'm sure other will have metal printers out.

Maybe yes, but I guess they still improving their printer, so it won't be back at other printers.

[Vanguard]

There is a major problem with printing precision parts with "metal" clay, even if it is REAL metal after firing, actually a couple of problems, but one MAJOR. SHRINKAGE ! The shrinkage is HUGE, something in the area of 20%+, and that is pretty much a guess. If you are going to do a gear it must be very precise, even machining a gear, on precision machinery it is difficult to hold tight enough tolerances to make a usable gear. For jewelry it is good enough, good enough for an ornamental gear, but not a functional gear, or even a functional surface, since the shrinkage is not exactly consistent.

Then you have some other problems that make it impractical, you need to burn the organic matter out in some manner. Depending on the type of metal clay, some can be done with a torch, but then the shrinkage is even less predictable. Or you could use a kiln, then you would need to buy a kiln, that adds a considerable cost to the price. If you are going to do copper, brass, or bronze, you have to "burn" out the organics in a SPECIAL carbon, I do not remember the exact make up of the carbon, seems like it was either coconut carbon, or bone carbon, either way, this makes the process a lot more involved than just printing a "metal clay" object and baking it.

[rene1981]

There is a major problem with printing precision parts with "metal" clay, even if it is REAL metal after firing, actually a couple of problems, but one MAJOR. SHRINKAGE ! The shrinkage is HUGE, something in the area of 20%+, and that is pretty much a guess. If you are going to do a gear it must be very precise, even machining a gear, on precision machinery it is difficult to hold tight enough tolerances to make a usable gear. For jewelry it is good enough, good enough for an ornamental gear, but not a functional gear, or even a functional surface, since the shrinkage is not exactly consistent.

Then you have some other problems that make it impractical, you need to burn the organic matter out in some manner. Depending on the type of metal clay, some can be done with a torch, but then the shrinkage is even less predictable. Or you could use a kiln, then you would need to buy a kiln, that adds a considerable cost to the price. If you are going to do copper, brass, or bronze, you have to "burn" out the organics in a SPECIAL carbon, I do not remember the exact make up of the carbon, seems like it was either coconut carbon, or bone carbon, either way, this makes the process a lot more involved than just printing a "metal clay" object and baking it.

As for i know, they offer a kiln too and you can use it for everything you can print with that printer.
About the shrinking, I asked at the site for it. To be continued.

[rene1981]

There is a major problem with printing precision parts with "metal" clay, even if it is REAL metal after firing, actually a couple of problems, but one MAJOR. SHRINKAGE ! The shrinkage is HUGE, something in the area of 20%+, and that is pretty much a guess. If you are going to do a gear it must be very precise, even machining a gear, on precision machinery it is difficult to hold tight enough tolerances to make a usable gear. For jewelry it is good enough, good enough for an ornamental gear, but not a functional gear, or even a functional surface, since the shrinkage is not exactly consistent.

Then you have some other problems that make it impractical, you need to burn the organic matter out in some manner. Depending on the type of metal clay, some can be done with a torch, but then the shrinkage is even less predictable. Or you could use a kiln, then you would need to buy a kiln, that adds a considerable cost to the price. If you are going to do copper, brass, or bronze, you have to "burn" out the organics in a SPECIAL carbon, I do not remember the exact make up of the carbon, seems like it was either coconut carbon, or bone carbon, either way, this makes the process a lot more involved than just printing a "metal clay" object and baking it.

I've got an answer from the maker of the printer again.
Here is a link to a file from shrinking:

http://artinsilver.com/Shrinkage_chart.pdf