Take a look at some replies which I saw on another forum site: Apparently, IBM did some useful fundamental R&D on this approach back in the 1980s under the name of "jet plating". I don't think it involves any lasers for enhanced deposition, though. Instead it seems to use a directed stream of metal solution through a print-head.by sanman - General
Hi, I also wanted to add this link to some interesting replies I got when I posted on another forum: So apparently IBM did some fundamental research work back in the 1980s which sounds very interesting.by sanman - General
Thanks for the response - where do you feel would be the best place to start? I was thinking that one of these home electroplating/electroforming kits would be a good starting point. I was actually also thinking that in connection with this, I should try to find another discussion forum more specifically devoted to the subject of electroplating - but I can't seem to find one. I think I need to fiby sanman - General
I'd also like to follow up by asking about 3D electroplating of ceramics. For example, take a look at this: If ceramic layers can also be formed through electrodeposition methods, then I'm wondering if this likewise can't also similarly be enhanced and manipulated by once again using lasers. In other words, can we again similarly do 3D stereolithography printing of ceramic parts using laser-acby sanman - General
Hey, take a look at this: QuoteThe development of laser-enhanced electroplating process offers a promising technique for high-speed and mask-less selective plating and/or as a repair and engineering design change scheme for microcircuits [300, 325-28]. For this, temperature is used to modify the position of the equilibrium potential in a localized region so that electro-deposition is driven byby sanman - General
There are different kinds of enhancements - like tensile strength, compressive strength, hardness, etc. You can add a rubber for compressive resiliency, you can add carbon black for thermal conductivity, and even some electrical conductivity. I'm sure that nanotubes could significantly alter some of these properties.by sanman - General
Well, I recently went to one of these free realtime collaborative document-editing websites to do some group project work, and I was really impressed by the efficient interaction it afforded us. We were each logged on to the site from home, and were all jointly editing a single word-processing document together, which was changing in front of our eyes as we all simultaneously added to it. The docby sanman - 3D Design tools
There are some useful realtime collaborative content creation tools online which are really nifty to use, but has anyone come across any for 3D modeling or CAD? Here's an example of something for 3D modeling: And for CAD there is AutoCAD WS, which even allows you to chat while editing the same CAD model: Collaborating together online in realtime can be a very interesting and efficient waby sanman - 3D Design tools
What types of materials are available through pastes? Just ceramics?by sanman - General
Oh heck, I wasn't working on anything that I was looking to solve. I just wanted to know what was possible, and if anyone was already working on something along those lines.by sanman - General
Here is the definition of Pultrusion: Now even though pultrusion is meant to form constant cross-section parts, it seems like it could still be compatible with the 3d printing extrusion approach which is simply laying down an extrusion stream in a complex continuous pattern that adds up to some arbitrary part geometry. I'd like to ask about continuity of an extrusion stream vs continuity ofby sanman - Wire and Thread Embedded Extrusion
Hmm, that's interesting - so would you imagine these 2 materials coming out of the same printer head, blending them together, or would you see them coming out of separate print heads? I guess I was thinking more about 2 different printheads each printing out different materials with very different properties, like say, metal and rubber, for example. So you could print one portion of a part withby sanman - General
Every object I've seen in the world of 3D printing seems to usually be made of a single material. Even that new Dualstrusion Makerbot that uses a pair of filaments and printheads seems to just be doing the same material in 2 different colors. Leaving colors aside, what possibilities are there for heterogenous printing of objects in more than one material? If we see contrast in materials propertby sanman - General
Really? What kind of methods for immersed activation? Any particularly interesting base fluid materials or end results? Like I said, why can't electrical potential be used to keep oxidation away in the laser or EBM methods, as opposed to inert gas or vacuum?by sanman - MetalicaRap
Hey, I came across a bunch of articles while googling: What about trying laser-assisted electroplating as a form of stereolithography? Think of the FormLabs Form1 printer, which does stereolithography using a UV-curable liquid polymer, while slowly pulling the formed object out of that layer from above. So imagine something similar, except instead of the thin liquid layer of polymer at theby sanman - MetalicaRap
I came across a bunch of articles while googling: What about laser-assisted electroplating like a form of stereolithography? Think of the FormLabs Form1 printer, which does stereolithography using a UV-curable liquid polymer, while slowly pulling the formed object out of that layer from above. So imagine something similar, except instead of the thin liquid layer of polymer at the bottom, youby sanman - General
I'm curious about the prevention of oxidation aspect -- couldn't you prevent oxidation even by using an electric current or potential? I'm just trying to think of other possible solutions that would address the problem. I'm sure you've heard of these anti-rust protection devices which use sacrificial metal electrodes to protect the metal structure of a car, or truck, or ship, or bridge, etc:by sanman - MetalicaRap
JBayless, That's been some really nice work! I'd like to ask a question though - why is everybody so narrowly focused on using metal wire printing to print out circuits? What about using it to print out structural metal parts? I would think that would be of much greater utility early on, as compared to printing circuits. My suggestion is to take your fabulous work and apply it towards printingby sanman - Wire and Thread Embedded Extrusion
I think gels are supposed to have a more ionic character, with more ionic bonding and greater adhesion properties. Perhaps that could make them better for 3d printing maybe? I see that both pastes and gels can be used to make ceramics. The sol-gel process looks particularly interesting, because it could be used to make porous lightweight materials:by sanman - Paste Extrusion Working Group
LOL, he's talking about the International Space Station - they're going to install an EBM machine to use up there. I assume the machine will be installed inside the ISS, but I'd imagine they'll somehow make use of the vacuum outside in space to make the vacuum chamber work. Yup, in that sense EBM truly is a "space age technology" - it's easier to get it working in space than here on Earth.by sanman - MetalicaRap
What if you had meshing gears that could snip the fiber. Then if the fiber was being threaded through some little notch or hole, this could be selectively moved to bring the fiber in between the gear teeth which would snip it. Or else use a linear oscillating motor to move some teeth, like on a hair-trimmer? How do these people do it?by sanman - Wire and Thread Embedded Extrusion
It seems like the amount of current also affects the rate of buildup. I'd read that if you have too much current, then it builds up the metal too fast, and forms nodules. But in a 3D printing situation, that might actually be more desirable. So maybe the answer is to find ways to accelerate the speed of deposition. High current might be one answer, and perhaps also the right transport parametersby sanman - General
But can you take the "brush plating" approach with electroforming? It seems to me that 2D brush plating is the most similar in comparison to 2D printing, thus providing the route to 3D printing. Can you do 2D brush electroforming without using an immersion bath? If so, how can get this kind of thickness using a brush? What would differentiate 2D brush electroforming from 2D brush electroplatingby sanman - General
pyrotronics Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > That's true. Once its complete. small medium and > complex pre defined parts. And could also offer a > custom service. > > I'm along way of that though. the E-beam , hopper > and computer software is going to take my weekends > for a few years on my own, and that's after I get > my basic setup ruby sanman - MetalicaRap
Thanks for that nice info! So is anyone working on 3D Electroforming? With Electroplating you can have Brush Plating which can be done in 2D, like printing. That obviously suggests the possibility of extending it into the Z-dimension through repeated layers of brush plating. But is there anything similar to this for Electroforming? Can you have some kind of 2D "Brush Electroforming"? I'm googliby sanman - General
Well, then like you said - for the Kickstarter why not offer metal parts fabricated by you once your have your EBM machine fully up and running? Maybe you could offer sculptures with different kinds of interesting intricate geometries which could not ordinarily be manufactured through classical methods. Btw, what would you estimate to be the total cost of the equipment you currently have? And whby sanman - MetalicaRap
I was looking at the difference between a paste and a gel: What are the differentiating properties of each? Both seem to be colloids, but gels seem to have better adhesion properties. When would it be better to use one vs the other? Is there anybody working on gel extrusion?by sanman - Paste Extrusion Working Group
Ok, but does electrodeposition have to be limited to structures of small thickness? If it can do layer upon layer, then why can't it be used to build up parts of conventional macro-size? If it could be laid down as a thicker paste, perhaps that could increase the layer thickness, so that larger parts could be built up more quickly.by sanman - General
I wonder if fibers could be added by a separate route, other than the plastic extrusion nozzle? After all, this is additive fabrication and not injection molding. If you're adding the plastic a little bit at a time, then why couldn't you add the fiber a little bit at a time through a different additive mechanism or printhead? What sort of method could be used to add just the fibers themselves, iby sanman - General