MakerGear Forum

The makers of the mini Metal maker make the following claims:

"Speed & Resolution

The mini Metal maker operates at roughly ½ the linear speed of a standard FDM printer. The speeds range between 10 and 100 mm/second. A small object the size of a wedding ring will take 15-25 minutes to print, depending on the resolution and level of detail of the computer model. The resolution of the Mini Metal Maker is equal to or better than commonly used plastic 3D printers. The line trace produced by our prototype Mini Metal Maker is 450 microns (0.45 mm) and this size shrinks further to 370 microns once fired (using bronze metal clay). Most plastic printers have a fixed 500 micron resolution. An important R&D goal for the Mini Metal Maker project is to reduce this print resolution further to the 200 micron threshold. The Mini Metal Maker uses direct-drive worm gears to move the XYZ and Extrude stages with unprecedented detail. Whereas common plastic printers have movement resolutions of 80-100 steps per mm, the Mini Metal Maker has 1600 steps per mm. With continued improvements to our patent-pending clay extrusion device, the detail of printed metal clay objects will greatly surpass that of plastic objects. The production model Mini Metal Maker will have a build volume of a cube 2.4 inches (6 cm) per side."

This seems a bit misleading but I lack the knowledge to pinpoint the issues, so I'm asking for help.

How do the precision and speed of the M2's X,Y,Z and extruder compare with these claims?

That's an interesting twist on 3D printing with clay. Looks like they are optimizing it for working with metal clay mixed to a particular consistency and at a higher resolution than other clay printers. If I were a jeweler or an artist working with metals, I'd be interested in how that develops.

Based on data I am shamelessly stealing from Ed Nisley's softsolder.com blog, Makergear's X and Y steppers are 88.89 steps/mm (rounded), and the Z stepper is 400 steps/mm. I'm not sure what they mean when they say most plastic printers have a fixed 500 micron resolution. Maybe they are referring to the average width of filament when laid down? Not sure.

Some of the marketing was a little over the top ("To me, the Mini Metal Maker moves 3D printing from the land of plastic toys into the real world of arts, science, and engineering") but they're trying to sell a product, ultimately, and may be a little over-enthusiastic

I've seen other 3D printers that use clay/ceramic but not at this resolution and I think it's a cool idea, using it with the metal clays.

Being what is essentially a paste extruder, I'm doubtful that you can really make a direct comparison. The photographs show pretty good fine detail, but some of that is due to shrinkage when the piece is fired after printing. Offhand, I'd say the resulting resolution is somewhere between a good filament printer and a laser sintering printer.

Lateralg wrote:The line trace produced by our prototype Mini Metal Maker is 450 microns (0.45 mm) and this size shrinks further to 370 microns once fired (using bronze metal clay).
(Snipped)
This seems a bit misleading but I lack the knowledge to pinpoint the issues, so I'm asking for help.

I'd follow your instincts.

Shrinking does not suddenly make the model more accurate any more than recording an LP onto a CD will make it sound better.

I agree, That is all marketing made up bs. You could have 1um resolution but at the end of the day you are squirting a paste. Not to mention the fact the part shrinks buy 15- 20 percent unpredictably when fired.
All of that coupled with the fact that there is going to be a ton of inherent backlash in the drive stuff and the overall poor design of the mechanics will cancel out the "superior" resolution. Don't even get me started with the problems of microstepping and other stepper oddities.

It's a neat idea but the "patent pending" extruder isn't anything that hasn't been done many times before.

chad