Resistance Welding/Heating for Metal 3D Printing

Hello RepRap Forum Community,

a year ago I saw a video from a youtube user who used resistance heating for 3D printing, but sadly he removed his video. This year I read an article about a company which uses resistance heating for 3D printing, too (Digital Alloys).
Now I'm also trying to build a resistance heating 3D printer (My Project).

Is anyone else working on something like that or interested in building it?
I think if someone can get it to work reliable and with good print quality it could be a win for everyone interested in metal 3D printing.

Edited 5 time(s). Last edit at 02/14/2020 09:11AM by DerM4209.

... I'm actually developing laser-welding for a R&D project, where resistance heating/welding is an option too ... but not for disclosure

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Viktor
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Aufruf zum Projekt "Müll-freie Meere" - [reprap.org] -- Deutsche Facebook-Gruppe - [www.facebook.com]

Call for the project "garbage-free seas" - [reprap.org]

Thank you very much for your reply
Laser-welding sounds cool. Is it a pure industry process or will it be available for makers in the near future?
I continued on my metal 3d printer and got it sort of working, but I still have to figure out the right slicer settings. I started another thread in the developers section and asked whether anybody wants to test it out. It would be awesome if the reprap community could work together on making metal 3d printing available like fdm printing. We could share slicer settings and build instructions for different machine types. I ever wanted to have a metal 3D printer but there is still nothing out there in the price range of a fdm printer. Could you have a look on my project and tell me your opinion?
Could it serve as a point to start with building affordable reprap metal 3d printers?

... I'm advocating for "laserassisted FDM" since 2008 (or even before) - [reprap.org]

But seems, the hurdles were too high then.

Here a hint for SLS, what wasn't so interesting too then - [reprap.org]


In the meantime available outsourced or salvaged high power laser-diodes or complete lasers capable of melting/fusing metal wires or powders are more common and cheaper ... but some hundred to tousand USD is not this cheap neither -- so not in the common DIY-range, but more for "specialists"

Here some related infos - [reprap.org]

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Viktor
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Aufruf zum Projekt "Müll-freie Meere" - [reprap.org] -- Deutsche Facebook-Gruppe - [www.facebook.com]

Call for the project "garbage-free seas" - [reprap.org]

Thank you for the links, I see you have a lot experience with lasers. I only worked some time with a chinese K40 laser before I replaced the builtin controller with an arduino+cnc shield and gave it to a friend. The video from your second link looks like DMLS Printing - or is it something different? I think 3D printing with lasers is not so easy, because you need at least some experience with lasers to work with it.

Sorry for asking again, but can you have a look on my project and tell me your opinion?

I uploaded a new video from the printing process
Youtube

... there are several names for the different metal printing/fusing processes, which are "branded" more by the inventor, than by methodology

I'm personally separate by the material adding and melting/fusing technology -- there's powder, wire, sheets, galvanics, prefabs and some more material types. And the fusing can be by heat, laser, ultrasonic, highspeed-impact, chemical/physical deposition ... and some others more ...


For your project: the idea is not bad! - it's similar to paste-dispensing, but has some problems with "uniformity" and fusing the fluid phase to the base or solidified material.

Try to preheat the underlying surface by any means, what will drastically reduce the needed excess energy for proper fusing.

Another hint could be to reduce the height/distance of the head and add an integrated cooling structure around the (ceramic) tip, so you could "iron" the fluid phase onto the tracks ...

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Viktor
--------
Aufruf zum Projekt "Müll-freie Meere" - [reprap.org] -- Deutsche Facebook-Gruppe - [www.facebook.com]

Call for the project "garbage-free seas" - [reprap.org]

Thank you for your advice, I will try it out. At which temperature range should I heat the surface? Would a normal heated buildplate help or should I go higher with the temperature?
The nozzle is a 0.6mm welding contact tip screwed in an aluminum block with watercooling and the work current attached to it. The wire gets feed by a normal bowden feeder system. Will try to reduce the distance.

... I'll guess, a good temp-range for metal fusing should be between 150 to 300degC -- higher temps would help too, but too hard to implement with common designs ...

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Viktor
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Aufruf zum Projekt "Müll-freie Meere" - [reprap.org] -- Deutsche Facebook-Gruppe - [www.facebook.com]

Call for the project "garbage-free seas" - [reprap.org]

Ok thanks again, I will try to figure it out what I can do for better results.

I ordered a ZVS driver for testing induction heating on the buildplate. Do you think it could have a bad influence to the work current or could cause other sorts of problems?

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/10/2020 07:35PM by DerM4209.