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SoliForum - 3D Printing Community → Solidoodle Discussion → printing with Cerrosafe low temp alloy
A friend of mine wanted to know is Cerrosafe could be run through the Filistruder and than used for printing.
do you think it would work?
here is a link for the alloy
http://www.csalloys.com/products-cerros … 7AodNAwAiQ
Wouldn't this turn to liquid? It doesn't just get soft like thermoplastics. I don't see a glass transition temp for this, all I see is a melting temp. It does look like cool stuff though.
I d'ont know but I'm very interested by the result if you try it.
There are lots of this type of low melt alloys out there some of them have a pasty range I did not check if this one did... While I have not tried to print with them I don't see them working out too good unfortunately, I currently use several different tin alloys for casting of products we make and even the paste range on the ones we use does not bond very well, now when you get to liquid state they bond great.... if both sides melt... in other words the previously melted layer would need to remelt without melting too deep into the next layer/s, then there are the viscosity issues and a few other properties issues 
Yeah, not sure if anyone has done metal before with FDM. The method does not lend itself well to metal as it does with thermoplastics. Only ever heard of laser sintering done with metals which can work well, but lots of $$$.
metal with FDM is easy peasy. make a reprap the size of a plasma table or cnc router table, bolt the business end of a MIG welder in place of the hotend. and hit print. would be a bitch on argon usage though. consider a vacuum chamber to make innerting unnecessary. would also need a way to position a "base" plate cut to match the build plate surface of the part for the weld to stick to, or to keep it from sticking to the machines table.
kickstarter project, anyone?
Filament with metal powder could kind of work. You can make nylon filament from powdered nylon left over from laser sintering. Shapeways has an alumide material which is nylon powder with aluminum particles in it. They said it wouldn't work well for filament because the aluminum particles wear away the brass nozzle. They have to do melt flow tests by extruding the nylon to see if it is suitable for reuse, and have trouble with the alumide wearing the test equipment.
Injection molding of metal in plastic machines is common. After the part is made, it goes into an oven where the plastic binder is melted away, leaving just the mostly metal part. The parts are surprisingly accurate and strong. The process is called mim. Metal injection molding. Google it for more info. Not sure how easy it will be to produce filament, I imagine it will be quite a challenge. Since it is additive in nature, and post cured to make final part, the basic process fits our machines quite well. I imagine the hot end would need to be stainless for strength, and the tip size might need to be larger. It's not my cup of tea, but I hope somebody out here gives it a try. Good luck.
short answer NO. I use such low temp alloys in my metal molding projects. I think there are some similar filaments out now in both silver and gold colors. havnt tried em yet
Hello
I am working on releasing a desktop filament extruder that works with most plastics and I wonder if it would work with Cerrosafe?
Is there anyone here familiar with the Lyman extruders?
I believe everyone here that has looked at extruders is familiar with Lyman's extruders, what did you want to know about them?
Injection molding of metal in plastic machines is common. After the part is made, it goes into an oven where the plastic binder is melted away, leaving just the mostly metal part. The parts are surprisingly accurate and strong. The process is called mim. Metal injection molding. Google it for more info. Not sure how easy it will be to produce filament, I imagine it will be quite a challenge. Since it is additive in nature, and post cured to make final part, the basic process fits our machines quite well. I imagine the hot end would need to be stainless for strength, and the tip size might need to be larger. It's not my cup of tea, but I hope somebody out here gives it a try. Good luck.
I started reading up on it, and it sounds like the parts are injection in liquid form. It is not clear that this is a thermoplastic kind of behavior. Interesting read though, I never knew this tech existed. Thanks!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metal_injection_molding
How slowly would you have to heat the Cerrosafe to be able to extrude it?
It seems possible to heat it slowly, maybe in an aluminum hopper then extrude it
Then have pre-heating before it feeds into the 3D printer extruder head.
The one thing that makes current FDM extruders work is the viscosity of the polymer... the cerrosafe really doesn't have that...
OK so rather than try and extrude filament, it seems like we could modify a CNC to become an All in One manufacturing machine with:
CNC abilities
3D printing (FDM)
And injection molding into aluminum molds - I've seen them to make fishing weights
So, build the mold on the build plate and fill with the Cerrosafe
And Cerrosafe is only one of the low melting point alloys I've found reference to:
If you google Wood's Metal - on the wikipedia page about halfway down are other types.
Will any of these extrude with the correct heating?
SoliForum - 3D Printing Community → Solidoodle Discussion → printing with Cerrosafe low temp alloy
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