Yaknow, one of these would be handy to have on a moon colony where there's lots of free vacuum around. OR an asteroid where there's less than 1/6 gravity.
If you're going to do FDM using metal, wouldn't a chamber filled with argon or some other inert gas, with a CNC positionable MIG/TIG head work as well?
For that matter, what if you just dispensed with the chamber, and mounted a standard MIG/TIG head with argon gas shield onto a cartesian gantry?
What do you gain by the complexity of using electron beams and high vacuum systems. I should also note that this complex system would be far out of the range of most DIY makers (the vacuum pump alone is something not easily acquired) - while either of the earlier suggestions could probably be cobbled together by someone who already owns a CNC plasma cutter table and a MIG/TIG setup, if they wanted to...
For that matter - I'm going to have to mention this to my friend; he already has most of the stuff to do this kind of thing (he has a CNC plasma cutter table, and a couple wire-feed MIG welders).
2 comments
[ 16.4 ms ] story [ 355 ms ] threadAndy Weir, call your office...
For that matter, what if you just dispensed with the chamber, and mounted a standard MIG/TIG head with argon gas shield onto a cartesian gantry?
What do you gain by the complexity of using electron beams and high vacuum systems. I should also note that this complex system would be far out of the range of most DIY makers (the vacuum pump alone is something not easily acquired) - while either of the earlier suggestions could probably be cobbled together by someone who already owns a CNC plasma cutter table and a MIG/TIG setup, if they wanted to...
For that matter - I'm going to have to mention this to my friend; he already has most of the stuff to do this kind of thing (he has a CNC plasma cutter table, and a couple wire-feed MIG welders).