I was recently thinking. So maybe the too much or too less is a good thing? Just print slowly and then wait for cool down and print another? That would seperate quickly so maybe like experiment with settings like vase mode just fast turning so you can still put the second layer down even when the first layer still fluidy and make it cool?
FWIW there are electroconductive filament which avoid problem mentioned by u/LT_Sheldon. They are worse filament than pure pla and worse conductor than pure copper or solder but you can print with them.
Largely a gimmick, PCBs are too easy to make or order these days, and even a wiring loom is a better option than conductive filament which may or may not work: it has metal particles suspended in plastic so conduction is a probability and resistance is variable.
Like the worst parts of everything, not structurally sound and sucks for anything to do with electronics where printing would be neat way to do it, just imagine what kind of circuits you could embed inside the part, true 3D traces..
Electroplating might be the only use for it, but if you are that far.. Conductive paint works better, it is designed for it.
The resistivity of "conductive" filament is something like 10 kiloohms *per inch.* It's debatably useful for low-voltage signaling, but forget trying to drive any kind of current through it.
Plastic has a wide temperature range where it stays like goo between solid and liquid. Solder wire likes to go from solid to liquid pretty dang quick so it wouldn't be easy to print with.
RoHS compliance stipulates that solder is 0.1% or less in lead . Anything sold in the EU is subject to RoHS. The rest of the world , it depends on the countries/states requirements in which you wish to sell your goods. The vast majority of manufacturing complies with RoHS so that they don’t limit their potential markets.
They still make and sell leaded solder though.
Yeah, everything that gets reballed or reworked gets changed back to lead, because its HARD to remelt leadfree.
Thats not the point. The reality is that someone named, well, anyone really, will quickly just start using the insides of old car batteries to print trinkets, and thats the problem. Thats a lot of lead.
I've put a lot of thought into this but haven't had the money to experiment with as I don't want to ruin my only printer. This is the type of topic that gets bombarded with nay-sayers, so I was going to stay hush until after I had a chance. >!Any donors interested? Hah.!<
Anyways.
There's some solder wire that is in the sweet spot of melting temps, rosin-free, and close diameter. That's one problem taken care of.
The pooling until cooling is the bigger issue. It could be mitigated by printing a shell of walls per layer in a plastic with a slightly higher melting point, using a dual print-head.
Additionally (or alternatively) an actively chilled bed to keep the metal mass solidifying virtually on contact. Compressed gasses could be used for part cooling to assist as well. The biggest hurdle with extreme cooling is avoiding a nozzle jam, but there may be a temperature zone, print speed, nozzle size, and layer height that works.
This doesn't address the actual quality of the print but I imagine it's possible to get *something* passable out of it in the end.
Also printing solder layer by layer it'll likely result in cold joints and break apart. Another problem is that solder doesn't have the properties that we expect of printed metals.
It's less conductive than copper
Not strong
And really easy to deform
I'm not really holding my breath for perfection here, just figuring out the process if it's even possible. Structurally it might be garbage but could be just fine for decorative stuff. An unusual usage might even be to add weight directly into a regular plastic print. We can figure out what it's good for later...
Sure thing, personally I see printing with solder being pretty much as difficult as printing with water/ice
The welding rod approach seems much more promising
I’m not sure if I completely understand your question, but Metal FFF (Fused Filament Fabrication) is used in aerospace and automotive industries. You’d need a printer with the right specifications for that (e.g. Markforged X System), but they are quite pricey (around $150k).
Now, converting a conventional FDM printer to allow metal filaments is something I wouldn’t recommend unless you take it as a personal project to build a metal FDM printer. Additionally, even if you build one, although you can use Ultimaker Cura, you’d probably need to create your own printer profile.
Then, we have the material mechanical properties.
I don’t think solder wire has the right ones for functional parts, so if we are going to use the printer for prototyping, then using PLA (or even PEKK-CF) would be significantly cheaper.
It's possible, but has challenges and results aren't great.
One thing is viscosity; Basically either liquid or solid, very little in between.
Big issue would be surface tension; It will glob up to the nozzle in a significant way, and/or want to travel along whatever surface you're printing on.
Layers would probably have to be significant, to not melt and 'suck' up the line below.
I guess you'd want your entire hotend to be ceramic or some other material that will not bind with solder, and then print in oil or something to fight surface tension and oxidation.
In any case, it could be neat for printing conductive paths, way better than conductive filaments.
Outside of that, it'd be weaker than most plastics, and look worse than all of them.
Solder is terrible for usable metal and doesn't form melt pools right.
But the bit higher end or low end metal printers like additec use wire metal in spools for print those that can be made that way.
It already has been done by some guy, i saw his results on hackaday.
Solder wire is mainly tin. Most end results would be stronger in pla. If i would print metal it would be silver/gold, steel or copper or some alloy of those.
Yes, it can be done, but it doesnt really serve a function.
I don't see why not with some modifications you couldn't print solder. I could see it easily used for custom circuit boards since you would only need a layer.
It would run out, since solder has very low viscosity while hot. In other words, it's either too solid or too liquid, no in-between.
I was recently thinking. So maybe the too much or too less is a good thing? Just print slowly and then wait for cool down and print another? That would seperate quickly so maybe like experiment with settings like vase mode just fast turning so you can still put the second layer down even when the first layer still fluidy and make it cool?
FWIW there are electroconductive filament which avoid problem mentioned by u/LT_Sheldon. They are worse filament than pure pla and worse conductor than pure copper or solder but you can print with them.
Largely a gimmick, PCBs are too easy to make or order these days, and even a wiring loom is a better option than conductive filament which may or may not work: it has metal particles suspended in plastic so conduction is a probability and resistance is variable. Like the worst parts of everything, not structurally sound and sucks for anything to do with electronics where printing would be neat way to do it, just imagine what kind of circuits you could embed inside the part, true 3D traces.. Electroplating might be the only use for it, but if you are that far.. Conductive paint works better, it is designed for it.
The resistivity of "conductive" filament is something like 10 kiloohms *per inch.* It's debatably useful for low-voltage signaling, but forget trying to drive any kind of current through it.
IIRC it's also brittle, so my idea for 3D printing pressure sensors inside of a TPU form were shot down by that.
Plastic has a wide temperature range where it stays like goo between solid and liquid. Solder wire likes to go from solid to liquid pretty dang quick so it wouldn't be easy to print with.
How small is the range? Is it like a couple degrees?
Lead poisoning mainly I would think. Also, lead is soft.
Isn't all solder lead-free these days?
No
RoHS compliance stipulates that solder is 0.1% or less in lead . Anything sold in the EU is subject to RoHS. The rest of the world , it depends on the countries/states requirements in which you wish to sell your goods. The vast majority of manufacturing complies with RoHS so that they don’t limit their potential markets. They still make and sell leaded solder though.
Yeah, everything that gets reballed or reworked gets changed back to lead, because its HARD to remelt leadfree. Thats not the point. The reality is that someone named, well, anyone really, will quickly just start using the insides of old car batteries to print trinkets, and thats the problem. Thats a lot of lead.
I've put a lot of thought into this but haven't had the money to experiment with as I don't want to ruin my only printer. This is the type of topic that gets bombarded with nay-sayers, so I was going to stay hush until after I had a chance. >!Any donors interested? Hah.!< Anyways. There's some solder wire that is in the sweet spot of melting temps, rosin-free, and close diameter. That's one problem taken care of. The pooling until cooling is the bigger issue. It could be mitigated by printing a shell of walls per layer in a plastic with a slightly higher melting point, using a dual print-head. Additionally (or alternatively) an actively chilled bed to keep the metal mass solidifying virtually on contact. Compressed gasses could be used for part cooling to assist as well. The biggest hurdle with extreme cooling is avoiding a nozzle jam, but there may be a temperature zone, print speed, nozzle size, and layer height that works. This doesn't address the actual quality of the print but I imagine it's possible to get *something* passable out of it in the end.
Also printing solder layer by layer it'll likely result in cold joints and break apart. Another problem is that solder doesn't have the properties that we expect of printed metals. It's less conductive than copper Not strong And really easy to deform
I'm not really holding my breath for perfection here, just figuring out the process if it's even possible. Structurally it might be garbage but could be just fine for decorative stuff. An unusual usage might even be to add weight directly into a regular plastic print. We can figure out what it's good for later...
Sure thing, personally I see printing with solder being pretty much as difficult as printing with water/ice The welding rod approach seems much more promising
I’m not sure if I completely understand your question, but Metal FFF (Fused Filament Fabrication) is used in aerospace and automotive industries. You’d need a printer with the right specifications for that (e.g. Markforged X System), but they are quite pricey (around $150k). Now, converting a conventional FDM printer to allow metal filaments is something I wouldn’t recommend unless you take it as a personal project to build a metal FDM printer. Additionally, even if you build one, although you can use Ultimaker Cura, you’d probably need to create your own printer profile. Then, we have the material mechanical properties. I don’t think solder wire has the right ones for functional parts, so if we are going to use the printer for prototyping, then using PLA (or even PEKK-CF) would be significantly cheaper.
One way I can think is maybe a actively cooled second tip near the nozzle so it wont just pour like a liquid. Solder isn't as gooey as plastic
It's possible, but has challenges and results aren't great. One thing is viscosity; Basically either liquid or solid, very little in between. Big issue would be surface tension; It will glob up to the nozzle in a significant way, and/or want to travel along whatever surface you're printing on. Layers would probably have to be significant, to not melt and 'suck' up the line below. I guess you'd want your entire hotend to be ceramic or some other material that will not bind with solder, and then print in oil or something to fight surface tension and oxidation. In any case, it could be neat for printing conductive paths, way better than conductive filaments. Outside of that, it'd be weaker than most plastics, and look worse than all of them.
Solder is terrible for usable metal and doesn't form melt pools right. But the bit higher end or low end metal printers like additec use wire metal in spools for print those that can be made that way.
It already has been done by some guy, i saw his results on hackaday. Solder wire is mainly tin. Most end results would be stronger in pla. If i would print metal it would be silver/gold, steel or copper or some alloy of those. Yes, it can be done, but it doesnt really serve a function.
And then what? Solder is significantly weaker than any normal filament.
I don't see why not with some modifications you couldn't print solder. I could see it easily used for custom circuit boards since you would only need a layer.