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PLA Has anyone used Filamet copper?

Discussion in 'Printing Filament' started by Nathanfish, Feb 3, 2017.

  1. Nathanfish

    Nathanfish Active Member

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    Stumbled across this filament today and can't find many reviews of it. Says it's 88.75% copper. I think i'm going to order a spool and a hardened steel nozzle and see how it goes. Says it's possible to post process in a kiln to remove the PLA and just leave the copper.

    http://www.thevirtualfoundry.com/shopify-cart/
     
  2. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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  3. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    The fact you can kiln this and get rid of the remaining PLA is a step better :)
     
  4. Nathanfish

    Nathanfish Active Member

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    Yeah pretty awesome. I was reading up on the metal X printer by markforged and it seems like that is basically what it does. If i could print with aluminum or steel and post process on a mill that would be a game changer. Looks like Colorfabb is 80% copper while this is 88%. These are the materials the metal x lists on their site so i wonder what that printer does different to justify $100K.


    MATERIALS
    17-4 Stainless Steel
    303 Stainless Steel
    6061 Aluminum (Beta)
    7075 Aluminum (Beta)
    A-2 Tool Steel (Beta)
    D-2 Tool Steel (Beta)
    IN Alloy (Inconel) 625 (Beta)
    Titanium Ti-6Al-4V (Beta)
     
  5. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    They may use laser sintering.
    I saw some like that at the last MakerFaire, cool as heck :)

    It might have been MarkForged we saw with a laser sintering model -- don't recall, but it was tight. Expensive, but tight :)
     
  6. Nathanfish

    Nathanfish Active Member

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    As far as i can tell i don't think it does. Looks like an FDM machine. Has a laser to inspect the parts tho which is sweet.

    https://markforged.com/metal-x/
     
  7. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    "Unlike traditional 3D printed metal processes that consolidate a layer at a time, ADAM (Atomic Diffusion Additive Manufacturing) converts the entire part from powder to a dense metal part in one step. This bulk sintering operation enables crystal growth through the Z axis giving the parts excellent mechanical properties in all directions."

    Laser sintering I suspect dude :)

    No direct experience with these printers. If they were the ones we observed at MakerFaire they were nifty, but the price had me strolling right on by.
     
  8. Nathanfish

    Nathanfish Active Member

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    oh Yep. ha. guess i'm selling my house.
     
  9. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    They were not doing a huge build area either. The printer was rather largish, but the build area was not.
    @Printed Solid might have more facetime with this than I do
     
  10. Printed Solid

    Printed Solid Volunteer Admin
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    Believe it or not, it is a filament printer and you sinter after the fact. The laser is there for part inspection and the slicer accounts for shrinkage through the whole process for a higher degree of precision.
     
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  11. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    That explains the expensive part :)
     
  12. Geof

    Geof Volunteer Moderator
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    i've got both copper and bronze here at work. The issue so far....

    so brittle I cant make a print...this is out of the spool. they are RMA my spool, so hopefully it will arrive this week and I can share some fun photos...or warranted hatred of the materials lol.
    As far as dealing with the company...A+. I told them what was going on, how much of a headache across 6 different machines...they just apologized and offered to send me a brand new spool or refund me....I of course opted for the spool. :D
     
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