Replace PLA with solder?

I love my Ormerod too much to put it through this kind of test, but...

What if instead of PLA, Nylon, Wood, Chocolate, you tried regular solder? It has just the right melting temperature. Probably the hot end would grow too hot, along with the cold end, since you would need more energy to melt the wire?

But, surely someone must have tried it once!?

Very Interesting idea - never thought of that

I guess you have to use flux-free solder. Otherwise I would expect an explosion of flux-fumes and clogging of the nozzle.

If I can find some 1.75mm solder, I might give it a try.

Best regards,

Carsten

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colsenfoto

If I can find some 1.75mm solder, I might give it a try.


Carsten

You do that... But your machine may be wasted... Make sure to take videos. You may only get one try!

I don't think it will work.

The states of solder change very quickly from solidus to liquidus, inbetween there is a small area where it is a paste type substance.

When liquid it will be too thin to extrude and would squirt quite well from a small nozzle making a mess.

Temperatures are with range but it's just too thin to extrude hot, cold extrusion using high pressure is possible of course but will only make extrusions not objects.

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Another RS Ormerod Mk1 meets the world

Retired now but I used to make....
CNC Machined Mk1 aluminium bed support plates for the Ormerod
CNC machined X-plates and ribs for Mk1 & Mk2 Ormerods
CNC machined bed support arms for the Mk2 Ormerod.
Dual Hot-End heatsink blocks.

If you look on youtube you'll see videos of people using solder in a 3d printer. The results seem pretty poor compared to plastic, but fun none the less. I've just persuaded my uni to pay for all the parts needed to design and build a hot end that'll (hopefully) melt aluminium wire. If successful I intend to make a hot end that can be used with reprap printers (along with an enclosure and argon supply). I only have until the beginning of October and with the Ormerod being my first machine, I may well try and make it retrofitable to the Ormerod - although many modifications are expected to be necessary.

Not sure solder is stiff enough to work in a Bowden tube extruder. Plus it conducts heat far better than plastic, so will probably melt quite a way up from the nozzle. Let me know the results if you try it though.

Dave
(#106)

Hmmm my thoughts are that it could be done, but not like the way we deal with plastic. I could see a nozzle feeding solid solder that could be positioned like our Ormerod, but the heat source would have to be external, away from the nozzle, maybe a laser, Or,,,,, maybe better still a High Inductive pulse, that would cause localised rapid heating of the tip of the solder. I think you'd have to have to have a sudden external heat source. A HotEnd, unless a very fine nozzle wouldn't work. I think it's starting to sound expencive already.....

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Please send me a PM if you have suggestions, or problems with Big Blue 360.
I won't see comments in threads, as I move around to much.
Working Link to Big Blue 360 Complete

How about a nozzle that dispenses solder paste, which would then be reflow-soldered?

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Large delta printer [miscsolutions.wordpress.com], E3D tool changer, Robotdigg SCARA printer, Crane Quad and Ormerod

Disclosure: I design Duet electronics and work on RepRapFirmware, [duet3d.com].

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Squags
If you look on youtube you'll see videos of people using solder in a 3d printer. The results seem pretty poor compared to plastic, but fun none the less. I've just persuaded my uni to pay for all the parts needed to design and build a hot end that'll (hopefully) melt aluminium wire. If successful I intend to make a hot end that can be used with reprap printers (along with an enclosure and argon supply). I only have until the beginning of October and with the Ormerod being my first machine, I may well try and make it retrofitable to the Ormerod - although many modifications are expected to be necessary.

Good luck with that,if it is retrofittable with the ormerod it would be very interesting.
Please keep us informed.

john

In the future maybe every material can be printed. The 3d printer will not limited to ABS, PLA since mixed material is pending now. And 3d printer has entered the field of medical, we may one day can print cornea or other organs by bio 3d printer for patients. The material it use is cells extracted from patient.

Well, the choice of material is limited to stuff that can go from "fluid" (using the term widely, including powders and anything that is "shapeable" enough) into "hard" in a controlled manner, but that gives a lot of options. And even when the desired material isn't directly printable, 3d printers are quite useful for making one-off molds for example.

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jstck
.... even when the desired material isn't directly printable, 3d printers are quite useful for making one-off molds for example.

Yes, this is one of my desired uses for producing bespoke silver jewellery and will be exploring this in the summer, along with 'press forming' for thin sheets of malleable metal.
So totally agree 3D printers can be a useful step in a process to a metal object.

Has anyone tried 'Polymorph' the nylon like material that melts at about 80C? If this could work then that also offers the easy opportunity of reuse of the material as it could be heated and reused. The raw material is supplied in granules so a totally new feed mechanism is required, but I would like to examine this...... some time!

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Ormerod #007 (shaken but not stirred!)