LMD: A New, Less Wasteful Metal 3D Printing Technique
LMD: A New, Less Wasteful Metal 3D Printing Technique
This was also one of my concerns with the hype surrounding low cost SLS printers like Micronics, especially if they weren’t super well designed. The powder is incredibly dangerous to inhale so I wouldn’t want a home hobbyist buying that type of machine without realizing how harmful it could be. My understanding is even commercial SLS machines like HP’s MJF and FormLab’s Fuse need substantial ventilation (HEPA filters, full room ventilation, etc.) in order to be operated safely.
Metal is of course even worse. It has all the same respiratory hazards (the fine particles will likely all sorts of long-term lung damage) but it also presents a massive fire and explosion risk.
I can’t see these technologies making it into the home hobbyist sphere anytime soon as a result, unfortunately.
About 15 years ago I looked at 3d printers for an engineering team. Between $20,000 and $50,000 range. The best option was a powder based system. Parts were fragile, print time was slow, clean up was a pain.
One of our customers was using an SLA system…parts were fragile, print time was slow…clean up was a pain.
Now I have a 3d filament printer in my shop that cost me less than $1,000, and doesn’t have any of those issues. Of course it’s not mounted on a robotic arm.
Holy fuck, 150 million?
I doubt it’ll ever be more efficient to buy than specialized machines at that price.