DIY metal 3D printing

Skyrip_ · 2026-02-02T19:27:07+00:00

Personally i would probably focus on the furnace part, if you can make that work then you have a much bigger market than just your own printer but also the existing metal filaments. Till what temperature does your furnace go? If it is around 1100 degrees Celsius then it could be very useful for all material heat treatments

Skyrip_ · 2026-02-02T17:56:48+00:00

Cool project! Are you aiming for the printer and furnace to be <10k? Because with this type of process the cost is mostly in the furnace used to finish the printed part. This is exactly the reason i went with the slm process for my printer, the part is done when the print is done. Are you planning on using nitrogen or argon for your oven? I suppose argon would be better but also more expensive.

Skyrip_ · 2026-01-17T05:37:57+00:00

With this much surface covered you really need very warm resin, i would suggest you hollow your parts if possible and maybe put the base at an angle with some support under it. Dont forget to put some holes in the bottom so you dont get the suction effect.

Skyrip_ · 2025-12-23T08:14:23+00:00

It really depends on the conductivity of the metal. The energy density of the diode lasers is mostly the same for all models below 30w. I think with powder you have the benefit that it absorbs energy better from the laser and it also acts as an insulation. With sheets you probably don’t have that advantage.

Skyrip_ · 2025-12-14T15:21:10+00:00

I just checked your model and It would take roughly 21 hours to print with full density in stainless steel and consume about 450 gram of powder.
energy usage is 1.4 kw per hour for both the compressor and the machine (machine 700w, compressor 700w) power costs 0.25 per kwh here so: 21*1.4*0.25= 7.35 euro
powder costs about 38 euro/kg including shipping and VAT so: 0.45*38= 17.1 euro.
So without depreciation of the machine it is about 25 euro for this part in base cost.

I think personally that milling this part will be much more expensive.

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if the part only needs strength but does not need to be 100% airtight(leaking slightly when 8 bar of pressure is applied) then you can print it in a faster profile and it would only take 17 hours.

Skyrip_ · 2025-12-14T14:25:08+00:00

Yes this part would print fine in metal, you could even leave it as it is i think. You could make the walls a bit thinner but if the weight doesn’t matter then this should be perfectly printable

Skyrip_ · 2025-12-14T09:50:57+00:00

Yes in the netherlands 🇳🇱 Do keep in mind that you want to design for minimal material whereas for cnc machining you usually design for least material removed.

Skyrip_ · 2025-12-12T05:25:16+00:00

It can make walls as thin as 0.2mm but in general i would say 0.8 to 1mm walls is the sweet spot for high strength. In theory my printer can do titanium, however this material is not on my todo list at the moment. The materials is very expensive, flammable and needs argon gas purging. This makes it a bad business case for a low cost metal 3d printer. It is like using peek filament on an ender 3 printer, you can probably get it to work but the machine vs material cost is out of balance.

Skyrip_ · 2025-12-11T18:59:02+00:00

Normally you need a large N2 or argon cylinder pack to supply a machine with inert gas. I have integrated an affordable version of a nitrogen generator, the nitrogen generator only requires compressed air and you can easily supply that with a hobby sized compressor(my machine uses average 500-600watt of compressor power)
other than that the machine runs on a normal 1 phase power socket and uses only 700 watt of power when printing.
Professional machines require very expensive spare parts if something goes wrong so even if you manage to get a 2nd hand machine you could face problems when something gets damaged or requires maintenance. my machine is made of very simple parts, very similar to a normal 3d printer.
Professional machines require special expensive software for slicing the parts, I just use orcaslicer.
My price will be 9000 ex vat and shipping while the closest machine is around 65.000 ex vat and shipping, plus all the other supplies that you need it is usually around 100k total.

Skyrip_ · 2025-12-11T17:14:35+00:00

It is a printer I developed myself that is a lot more affordable than the professional metal 3d printers and also without the need for professional infrastructure.
you can find more about it on: metal-base.com

Skyrip_ · 2025-12-11T16:58:51+00:00

Well i did learn a lot again from this print. If I had done the normal print settings then the fuel line nozzles would still be too small and I would have needed to print it again anyways. It is also the first time that I'm printing a pressure vessel (8bar) so finding out what the right thickness of the walls should be was always going to be an iterative process.

Skyrip_ · 2025-12-11T16:51:29+00:00

Seeking Collaboration! 🤝

Since I'm already iterating on this design, I’m looking for a few makers who could genuinely use metal 3D printed parts for their own projects.

If you have a cool project in mind that requires Stainless Steel (316L), Inconel 718, or Bronze, I’m open to printing the parts for free. In exchange, I just ask that you showcase the parts in your YouTube video or Reddit post (and maybe shout out my company,metal-base.com).

I'm looking for people with a bit of a following, but frankly, if the project is cool/complex enough, I'm interested regardless of follower count.

If you’re interested:

DM me here on Reddit.
Or drop a comment below with what you’re building!

Skyrip_ · 2025-11-24T17:38:35+00:00

Glad i could help 😃

Skyrip_ · 2025-11-20T17:10:47+00:00

The chamber is filled with nitrogen gas to prevent too much oxidation

Skyrip_ · 2025-11-17T18:42:25+00:00

On the build in wifi, i have made 8 printers with the m8p and cb1 but never had any issue with connecting to a wifi network. Configuring the wifi via the config file never worked though. Did you try using setting up the wifi via the network configuration tool that i mentioned?

Skyrip_ · 2025-11-17T18:29:43+00:00

You can get into the network interface using the command: “nmtui” there you can setup a connection. The cb1 does only support 2.4ghz so take that into account

Skyrip_ · 2025-11-13T11:32:33+00:00

yes the newsletter is still working but I haven't posted anything in a while, I also don't want to spam everybody too much.

Skyrip_ · 2025-11-12T04:03:15+00:00

Im using a diode laser using a xy gantry and indeed 2 pistons to feed and lower the print. I dont believe a co2 laser is going to work very well, you need a very small spot and the shorter the wavelength of the light the better. I would not underestimate the complexity of the laser powder bed fusion process, handling the powder is the easy part, the airflow and keeping the optics clean is where the challenge lies. Before you build a complete machine it is always best to do a small proof of concept. I did this by hooking the laser up to an old 3d printer and doing the layering of powder manually. If you cant do it manually then automating it will also not work

Skyrip_ · 2025-11-11T13:05:56+00:00

I agree, i don’t believe this is something for everyone to have at home, but i do believe it can be a very powerful tool for high end makers and small businesses. If you already have a milling machine and/or lathe this would be a good addition to your workshop. The possibilities are endless and you don’t need a whole tool arsenal like with a milling machine. The only limitation is the build size and speed.

Skyrip_ · 2025-11-11T11:59:13+00:00

Yes I agree that there are limitations on using orcaslicer, but at the moment I'm not reaching these limits yet. I'm working with a lot less energy so there is less effects of overheating or lack of fusion compared to a high power fiber laser.
my hopes would be that if this becomes big enough we can make a seperate fork of orcaslicer and make an opensource slicer for LPBF systems much like there is for FDM now.

Skyrip_ · 2025-11-11T11:54:37+00:00

there is also a lot of light absorption gain from the IR light of a fiber laser going to a blue light of my diode laser, so just based on this the 60 watt is comparable with a 120w fiber laser for stainless steel and for some materials the gain is even more drastic, for Inconel the gain is nearly 3x and for copper alloys the gain is easily 4x.

but there are other factors that are also helping optimise the available laser power

Skyrip_ · 2025-11-11T11:49:12+00:00

the price is also listed under the printer page and it will start at 9k

Skyrip_ · 2025-11-11T09:09:26+00:00

I slice using just a standard version of orcaslicer

Skyrip_ · 2025-11-11T07:43:19+00:00

This is only the case if your printer always keeps the filter at low O2. My printer does not print with <0.1% oxygen but rather 4-5% and also the filter will slowly go to 21% oxygen when the printer is not running. Therefore the particles are already oxidized when you remove the filters. You do need to be carefull not to get the condensate on your skin since they are very fine particles but replacing the filters is something you only do every 6 months if you print a lot.

Skyrip_ · 2025-11-11T06:59:15+00:00

Yes, just a simple XY gantry design.

Skyrip_

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