By: Z. Mike at ZMIKE.IP@gmail.com
May 30, 2019
The author is a patent attorney who helps clients with inventions, startups, and advice on crowdfunding sites, and currently also advises investors and investment companies in patent and trademark related matters including valuation. The author has over 28 years experience in advising companies in patents and trademarks. For further information, please email at ZMIKE.IP@gmail.com.
I enjoyed seeing the beta 3D printer make a metal object in a few minutes. More objects were printed over the next couple of hours.
The metal is uses is a commercially valuable metal material, I was informed. I picked up the fist-sized object once it cooled, very light for its size. The engineer put it on a CNC to both finish and dial in accuracy, and with rice polishing as a last step it had a pleasing appearance.
But, I am all about value, and can only guess at that. I think it will depend on the end uses. High-value end uses would make it more valuable. And, of course, it matters if the 3D metal printer has solved all of the expected associated problems, which I am listing below.
I'm told that the material flow rate has to be relatively high and must permit continuous use. That's needed to get to solving the other problems. The engineer informed he that the feed system is smooth and can run 24/7 without jamming, sticking, or backflow issues.
This allows printing of enough parts to be able to explore many aspects of metal printing with a direct wire feed, so that the problems can be addressed.
The challenges that I have heard about so far: (a) creating a metallurgical bond between extrusions, working with and/or around oxide formation; (b) directing fine control to get high resolution, (c) creating a smooth, flat, reversibly bonding print surface, allowing for quick prototyping, giving instant results for the end user; (d) creating metal objects in real time as small as a dime or as large as a cube of five inches square; (e) use of multiple alloys, to cover a wide range of material properties attractive to engineers; and (f) post-processing parts to create impressive final objects
Read more >> http://internationalpatentservice.com/3D-Metal-Printer-Beta-Version.html
