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Old 06-14-2013, 02:43 PM
  #9  
SteveH
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Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: San Lorenzo, CA
Posts: 5,361
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Quick lesson in 3D printing....

Imagine a cake decorator (bag of frosting with little tiny plastic/metal tip)

Use the cake decorator moving back and forth to lay a layer of frosting in the table

Let it cool a bit

Add a new layer on top

repeat this until you have a cube of frosting

You just 3D printed a "cube"

Now make it a machine not you
Now make it plastic instead of frosting
Now make the hole at the end of the "decorator" 1/10 of a millimeter across

That is for plastic printing

Metal is done the same way but it is ultra fine metal powder mixed with a bonding agent(epoxy)
after making it they sinter (HIGH temp bake) it to remove the moisture and fuse it back into solid(ish) material

Fine metals like Silver are done with the printer printing the "wax master" and then using traditional lost wax casting make the silver part.
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