I’m planning on having some metal items printed by you guys (silver rings and bronze microphone badges) with fairly small details and lettering. Which material would be best to have cheap test prints done, with comparable level of detail to the lost wax process?
Kind regards.
Dear Wouter,
We use lost-wax printing and casting for gold, silver, brass, bronze, and copper. For all these materials we have the same design recommendations regarding embossing or engraving details such as text. We advise you to keep a maximum height/depth-to-width ratio of 1:1. Also, keep in mind the minimum wall thickness of 0.35 mm.
Brass would be the most affordable option for your prototypes: https://i.materialise.com/en/3d-printing-materials/brass
You can find more design recommendations in our design guide: https://i.materialise.com/en/3d-printing-materials/brass/design-guide
Hello Yurii,
thanks for the quick reply. What I was trying to ask : which of the cheaper plastics prints would give me a good representation of the final result if I were to have them made using lost-wax. Right now I’m looking at the standard resin, ABS or one of the polyamides. As I’m fairly new at designing for 3D printing, and am mostly looking to make metal items, I’d like to have a cheap prototype option.
Kind regards
Dear Wouter,
Due to their smooth surface, our resins would give the best result:
https://i.materialise.com/en/3d-printing-materials/standard-resin
https://i.materialise.com/en/3d-printing-materials/gray-resin
https://i.materialise.com/en/3d-printing-materials/high-detail-resin
Hello Yurii,
thanks, that’s exactly what I needed to know!
Quick follow-up question - will the local pickup option become available again soon? I live a 5 minutes drive from yoru Leuven location.
Thanks!
Hello Wouter, currently this option is not yet available, because some services involved in this process are still not operating at full staffing levels. As far as I can say for the moment, this will not happen on short notice. Kind regards Lizy