3D Printing

[John Hasler]

Interesting.

I wonder if wax would leave less debris than the plastic he was using?

It should. Also interesting is the idea of a 3D printer head that puts down wax. Should be easier to build than one that handles plastic and the material is cheap, unlike the usual plastics.

 

[strantor]

It should. Also interesting is the idea of a 3D printer head that puts down wax. Should be easier to build than one that handles plastic and the material is cheap, unlike the usual plastics.

I don't know. This and all similar 3d printers uses a rigid plastic filament that is forced into the extruder by a nip roll. Super simple, and only possible with this rigid plastic. I'm imagining a wax filament would behave like spaghetti, which is to say it would not work at all with this type of extruder.

Wax pellets would work with an auger-type extruder, but those are complicated and expensive. Actually I don't know if they even exist on this small scale. I've only seen them in industry, the size of a sedan.

 

[DAN_IN_MN]

http://hackaday.com/2012/01/31/3d-print-in-wax-cast-in-metal/

 

[John Hasler]

I don't know. This and all similar 3d printers uses a rigid plastic filament that is forced into the extruder by a nip roll. Super simple, and only possible with this rigid plastic. I'm imagining a wax filament would behave like spaghetti, which is to say it would not work at all with this type of extruder.

Wax pellets would work with an auger-type extruder, but those are complicated and expensive. Actually I don't know if they even exist on this small scale. I've only seen them in industry, the size of a sedan.

I don't have a link handy but I've read of extruders built using lag screws for the helix (used for making filament for 3D printers). Should work with wax.

 

[ome]

I have been watching cad/cam/ 3d scanners / 3d printers, and in mho , they all are not too good.
It is not something That I would get into because of lack of :
Ease of use
No backwards engineering of parts
No cheap way of scanning and printing
Cad/cam is boring to learn to use
Cad/Cam is expensive with yearly updates
Just not there yet.
I tried to go cheap with Bob cad
What a joke.
So many steps, I could make it faster with my manual mill and lathe
Ome