I ordered a metal bottle cap 56 mm in diameter, it was printed in steel and polished, but I noticed the part is not perfectly round, the flat top is 56.1 mm in diameter one direction and 56.4 mm in diameter when measured at a right angle to the first measurement. Did the polishing cause the deformation of the cap? If I print it in PLA at home it is perfectly round.
Bottle cap printed in steel and polished is not perfectly round?
Hello Sandman, when it would have been any other material, I would ask you to give me the reference (IMC) number of your order and check the part, but as you mentioned this was a steel part I can let you know that we cannot guarantee the dimensional accuracy of the parts printed in steel. Steel is the cheapest form of metal printing and there may be slight variations in size (accuracy is ± 1% (after 2-3% shrinkage compensation). Steel is polished by tumbling your model with corn polish to smooth the surface, and it can sometimes also lead to some deformation. As stated on our website (https://i.materialise.com/en/3d-printing-materials/steel), i.materialise steel is typically used for non-functional parts and is not recommended for technical and functional parts that require high precision, for jewelry with fine details and for parts with a wall thickness of less than 1 mm. I hope this answers your question. Kind regards Lizy
Thank you Lizy, the parts works for my purposes, but if I could reduce the deformation that would be good too. Will try getting it made without the polishing next time.
Best,
Sandman