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Comment by metal_am | Hacker News Reader

Texture (the statistical arrangement of all the crystal lattice arrangements that make up a metal) can play a role on mechanical properties, but current metal AM is more than able to meet material standards. It's good to be careful with blanket statements because the most accurate answer is usually "it depends."

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I agree we should avoid blanket statements, which is why your statement "current metal AM is more than able to meet material standards" is problematic. What standards? There is no generic "material standards" for all materials, and 3d metal printing is definitely inferior to MOST other manufacturing methods in MOST circumstances, in terms of mechanical properties.

I mean, we 3d print aerospace engine parts, is this "common sense" logic really true?

The 3D printing they do for aerospace engine parts is certainly very much different from how most metal 3d printing is done. Because the requirements are completely different, and the budgets that aerospace have available to them are insanely much bigger.

I was recently brought in by a friend as a consultant for a traditional machining shop buying a 3d printer, the machine looked like this: https://i.all3dp.com/workers/images/fit=scale-down,w=1200,gr...

Right now you can print aerospace quality parts on hardware that's designed for marine grade parts, which we did by testing them to failure.

The only reason why the price is higher for aerospace is that you need to certify the machines and the environment in which they work and that costs an arm and a leg.

Are you able to recommend any particular low end machines to have a look at in this space?

Low end here starts at $100k, the machines I was looking at were between 500k and 1m with service contracts.

Powder feed:

https://iro3d.com/

metal and or ceramic slurry:

https://www.rapidia.com/

Service for the SLS process:

https://www.xometry.com/

Or wait a bit longer for a good community design release...

Have fun =3

Just an anecdote: Rocket engineering is the only domain where safety factors <1 are actually ok.

(for some parts)

A line has to be drawn somewhere because this is a rabbit hole. Without going into the specifics of ASTM standards, etc., there are metal AM parts flying today in both air and space. IMO, that counts as meeting standards.

But which standard, or even rough category means a lot.

Forged? Stamped? Die cast? Investment cast? Billet/machined?

Each of those has vastly different characteristics.

I'm not sure I made a blanket statement, except with respect to my understanding, and I can assure you that I was factually correct in my assessment of my own understanding. ;)

I was careful to phrase my comment in a way that I thought could lead to useful discussion, because I value that, and to note it was only my understanding, because my understanding is outdated and minimal. It just so happens that I was part of a prior discussion years ago regarding suitability of 3d printed metal parts, and found some information at that time which pointed to some of the problems they have in comparison to other methods, so was interesting in learning more.

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