====== Info on Selective Laser Sintering processes for plastic and metal RP parts ====== =====Printing in Metal===== > **Comment:** //If you have some quantity, **printing directly in metal** has similar costs to casting from ZCorp models. And for some types of model, metal printing allows things that are impossible with Zcast. If a semi-metallic material could be possible, it might also be worth taking a look at Solid Concepts or another SLS bureau. There's an aluminum-filled plastic material (they call it "alumide") which isn't bad looking, and SLS allows very free geometry. There's a bunch about all this on my site (http://bathsheba.com). [Bathsheba Grossman - 2005-11-17] There's surprisingly little buzz on the subject, considering how neat it is. Prometal can print 24K gold too, though still with not-very-good resolution. [Bathsheba Grossman - 2005-11-19]// > **Comment:** //Probably using EOS machines? Seems they can print (sinter) just about any metal - titanium, stainless, gold, etc. I think the resolution will keep getting better, and soon that's going to be the preferred solution for complex jewelry pieces. Probably a "service bureau" type solution, as the machines are hella expensive and I imagine you need to keep the working envelope filled with gold powder. [Mitch Heynick - 2005-11-19]// > **Comment:** //Prometal is different from Eos in that it uses a three-stage process - build, then sinter, then infiltrate to fill in porosity - rather than the single-stage sinter to full density. The Prometal method has more moving parts, and is therefore more difficult to dial in for additional metals, and it has a fragility bottleneck when the green part is handled before sintering. On the other hand, it has the advantage of being free from shrinkage and thermal-stress distortion. I've not had the chance to try any of the Eosint processes, so I can't compare them in terms of results. Anyway, there's an article about direct-metal here which I thought was interesting: http://www.deskeng.com/Articles/Resource-Guide/Direct-Metal-Comes-on-Strong-20050831591.html [Bathsheba Grossman - 2005-11-21]//