Beautiful details for metal printing, position the model vertically or horizontally?

#1

Hi everyone,

I have already printed some things here at Materialise and I am enthusiastic. At home I also use an FDM printer. But now I would like to make jewelry or key chain, etc.
With these materials:
Steel
High-Detail Stainless Steel
Silver
Brass
Bronze
Aluminium
Fine details should of course be beautifully presented. From my FDM printer, I know that vertical details are usually displayed nicely, but how about these metals and Silver with the different printing techniques, should I upload the part horizontal or vertical position? For the strength, it will no matter, right?

I have attached an image sample (curved Surface and also Details on back side)

Thank you for the Information

Klaus

2019-12-09_152504

#2

Hi Klaus,

It’s great to hear that printing your designs with us has fueled your enthusiasm.

As for the printing orientation for your new piece:

  • Definitely set it vertical for printing in steel, aluminium and HD steel.
  • For brass, bronze, and silver it’s less important, but I’d recommend a vertical orientation too, just in case. Mainly because the wax form is printed layer by later, and so the steps might remain visible after casting, depending on the surface curvature and the selected surface finish.

In order to request the desired printing orientation, make sure to upload the 3D model in that orientation, and add a comment to your order asking to not change it (there’s a field for comments under the payment options).

I hope this helps. Let us know if you have more questions :wink:

#3

I still have one question:

I printed this bottle opener in steel two months ago. It has eight narrow arms, of which the top three are slightly twisted to the right (printed with my FDM printer, the part is correctly symmetrical).

each of these arms is thick enough for steel printing, but your software pointed out that the inner edges of some arms are too thin, so I ignored. I do not think that was the reason for the twist, maybe the top did not have enough support, or cooled too fast…, or did I make a design fault?

thanks for information and regards

Klaus

20191211_093337
20191211_093337700×1050 869 KB

#4

Hi Klaus,

The design looks good, so the twist might have been caused by the thermal deformation. It’s hard to tell actually, and hard to predict this kind of factors. I hope it’s not too big of an issue for your model? If it is, please let us know.