3DPrinting
3DPrinting is a place where makers of all skill levels and walks of life can learn about and discuss 3D printing and development of 3D printed parts and devices.
The r/functionalprint community is now located at: !functionalprint@kbin.social or !functionalprint@fedia.io
There are CAD communities available at: !cad@lemmy.world or !freecad@lemmy.ml
Rules
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No bigotry - including racism, sexism, ableism, homophobia, transphobia, or xenophobia. Code of Conduct.
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Be respectful, especially when disagreeing. Everyone should feel welcome here.
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No porn (NSFW prints are acceptable but must be marked NSFW)
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No Ads / Spamming / Guerrilla Marketing
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Do not create links to reddit
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If you see an issue please flag it
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No guns
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No injury gore posts
If you need an easy way to host pictures, https://catbox.moe may be an option. Be ethical about what you post and donate if you are able or use this a lot. It is just an individual hosting content, not a company. The image embedding syntax for Lemmy is ![](URL)
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Well, you can also download models from a number of websites rather than creating them yourself (Thingiverse is probably the largest and most mature site; there's also Printables, Cults3D, MyMiniFactory, and a few others). A slicer is kind of required, yes; my printer shipped with get-started software that included a slicer, but it isn't a Bambu and I have no idea what that company might provide.
As for the plastic/metal filaments, It's Complicated. I've seen one variety that invites you to send the printed pieces back to the filament's manufacturer, who will then anneal it for you in an industrial furnace that can probably get hot enough to melt bronze, copper, or iron (~1200C for iron, ~1000C for the other two—very few metals need a full 2000C!). Tin should melt, or at least soften, in an ordinary stove (<250C melting point), so you could successfully melt a tin-filled filament at home. And melting most of the plastic out while leaving behind just enough to act as glue can be done in theory. However, many metal-filled filaments are not intended to be annealed ( Here's a product page for FormFutura copper-filled filament—you'll note that the post-processing suggestions do not include melting out the plastic). These types are more "for the looks".
If you're looking to print physically strong parts, you may be better off working with PC or nylon than trying to get metal out of an additive printer. Full-strength metal parts are best produced by a subtractive process, for example on a CNC machine.
Thanks for the info. Yeah I dont think we will be printing anything with metal. I just heard theres some process that does that but I am not sure how that would work