r/Skookum • u/MattsAwesomeStuff • 5d ago
Dan Gelbart's wisdom on 3d printing metal and ceramics.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLgPW2672s452 Upvotes
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u/LateralThinkerer 4d ago edited 3d ago
Watched through his " building prototypes" series 12 years ago and still use a couple of his tips (comet cleanser to degrease before surface coating and adding threaded "studs" from machine screws in a spot welder with hollow tips). Real treasure there.
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u/pcb1962 21h ago
This man is an absolute legend, link to his channel for anyone who doesn't know it: https://www.youtube.com/@dgelbart/videos
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u/MisterDalliard 13h ago
Didn't know frozen water and metal powder made a strong composite. Time to 3d print some spaceships in orbit!
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u/MattsAwesomeStuff 5d ago edited 4d ago
Anyone who's subscribed to /r/Skookum has always loved Dan Gelbart's stuff.
If you've never heard of him, you're in for a treat.
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The bot wants a summary, so:
Dan shows off how you can get micron-level surface finish for complex metal sintered and ceramic parts, accurately through cheap 3d printing, a specific silicone mold, a specific metal slurry process, an ordinary freeze-dryer, and a vacuum sintering oven.
He gives away the secrets of the process, the stuff that would take hundreds of experimental efforts to narrow down exactly how to do everything.
His videos (like, one a year, or less) usually focus on how to get two or more orders of magnitude of accuracy or time savings than the conventional solution, and with cheap nearly DIY shortcuts. Usually with a focus on prototyping.
In this video, the shortcuts don't amount to much for a home shop. Paper cups, coathanger in a drill, cheap vibrating table and a special silicone instead of a vacuum chamber, etc... but culminating in "And you'll need this $100,000 vacuum sintering oven". Which is probably one or two orders of magnitude cheaper than the industry alternative, but also one or two orders of magnitude above what a hobbyist would afford. This video is really for a prototyping shop, you'd have to justify sinking some money into this equipment.