Printing a Cresent Wrench

[hickstick_10]

Then please clarify because I'm interested.

As I immediately stated after the sentence you quoted: "I don't understand your gripe there, or what you're comparing, in order to get an apples-to-apples idea of the differences."

How do the material properties of a additive manufactured product compare with an identical conventionally made one, if both materials used are are the same? For arguments sake lets stick to metals.

Tensile, ultimate, yield, shear, fatigue, so forth and so on.

The salesman and groupies avoid this question like the plague, you seem like a knowledgeable guy, give me the straight dope on it. And no links to Spacex please.

 

[JNieman]

For metal parts produced via SLS, my general idea was that it's comparable to cast parts but not as brittle. I know, pretty vague.

Here's some quick sources that have good research:
http://www.gruppofrattura.it/ocs/index.php/ICF/icf13/paper/viewFile/11306/10685

"A nickel-based superalloy manufactured by selective laser melting was investigated by mechanical
testing and microstructural evaluations. The material is observed to have a layered weld-like
structure. Due to the manufacturing process properties, a columnar grain structure is present. It is
shown from mechanical testing that the material is orthotropic with respect to mechanical
properties.
Fatigue properties in the 90° direction are comparable to hot rolled material at temperatures below
temperatures where creep could be expected. However, in other directions < 90° the material is less
resistant to crack initiation. The biggest concern with selective laser melted materials appears to be
creep related. It is shown here that the creep properties are inferior to hot rolled material in all
directions 0° ≤ α ≤ 90° and that the material cannot compare to a standard hot-rolled material
regarding creep. It is shown that the grain size is small, and it is well known that changes in grain
size have a strong influence on both mechanical strength and creep properties. "

Producing Metal Parts with Selective Laser Sintering/Hot Isostatic Pressing

"A preliminary evaluation of microstructure and mechanical properties (hardness and tensile) reveals that material processed by the SLS/HIP technique is equivalent to conventionally processed material. A simplified version of a Ti-6Al-4V demonstration component was successfully fabricated. Mechanical properties and oxygen levels in SLS/HIP-processed Ti-6Al-4V meet specifications for the demonstration component. Future work will focus on technology demonstration for alloy 625 and the further characterization of structure/property relationships, as well as the optimization of processing parameters for building speed, skin thickness, oxygen content, and HIP cycle time."

Now, you're not going to get such a precise and succinct "it's xx% stronger/weaker in deflection/tension/compression/elongation" because there are a lot of variables involved. Just like grain direction in wood design, print-angle is a factor for some forms of 3d Printing: http://utwired.engr.utexas.edu/lff/...chive/pubs/Manuscripts/2006/2006-62-Ramos.pdf

"As the build orientation angle is increased, the elastic modulus of the part diminishes. The maximum registered dissimilarity corresponds to a 19% with respect to the nominal value 1,60 GPa"

So in short, it's a different critter - it has the potential to meet or exceed mechanical properties in some regards, and will fall short in others, when compared to standard mill shapes (plate, tube, forgings, etc) To me, this means it isn't better than anything currently, but that it is worth an equivalent level of respect and given the completely superior freedom of design allowed by the achievable geometry of 3d printed parts, I think it's ready for the real world.

Now, here's the double edged sword... how many times have you wanted to punch an engineer/designer for making an "impossible to fab part" ? Now they can do it if they accept it has to be 3D Printed. So I wonder if more designers/engineers are going to be completely disregarding "How will this be made?" when designing parts... *sigh* (btw, I'm an engineer at my company haha)

 

[TTordanato]

The current Additive Manufacturing machines aren't intended to "replace" any machining work on real production parts. The machines that are on the market right now beat out machining only in some cases of short run and one off parts of complex geometries. The density and material properties of the additive parts are exceptional for the most part on the commercial machines. The cheap little do it at home printers I like to compare to 'easy bake ovens'. You can make food you can eat, but a little brownie will cost you $1 for the powder mix and you sure as hell wouldn't bake an entire batch for a party using it.

For complex and short run jobs, these printers are perfectly suited. If you're trying to compete on large production runs with traditional machining, you won't last a week.

-Tyler

 

[rustdreamer]

How much time and material would it be to print a 10ee or a cinci toolmaster

 

[JNieman]

How much time and material would it be to print a 10ee or a cinci toolmaster

How much time and material would it be to make one from a single casting?

 

[rustdreamer]

Valid point. Thanks