FFF Metal 3D Printing In-House - From Start to Finish

You love the independence that 3D printing offers. And the expanded part shape options that this technology brings with it.

And if you’ve looked into 3D printing metal, you already know about that three-step Print * Debind * Sinter process. Printing? Easy peasy. It’s the same as printing plastic since you can buy metal FFF 3D printing filaments off the shelf. But what about those Debind and Sinter steps?

With The Virtual Foundry’s Filamet™ line of metal FFF 3D printing filaments, you debind and sinter in a regular kiln using just heat, right in your own lab or studio.

Create fully metal parts right from your workshop with The Virtual Foundry easy metal 3D printing system!

The Process

Start with a standard FFF 3D Printer like Creality, Raise3D, or UltiMaker. Make sure you have a hardened steel nozzle sized at 0.6mm or larger. Then, get yourself some Filamet™ - the Copper Print and Sinter Kit is a great place to start. It has everything you’ll need to do all three steps.

Print setup is easy. Select the generic PLA profile in your slicer. Set the nozzle temperature to 210°C and the flow rate to 135% (your printer needs to apply a bit more energy to push this metal-loaded plastic through the nozzle). That’s it!

Watch your print and adjust those settings as needed. Now you’re printing with metal!

The Virtual Foundry Sintering Kiln in action!

At this stage, your printed part still has some plastic PLA binder in it that’s holding all those tiny metal particles together. You could polish your print at this point to a beautiful mirror finish using standard metal polishing techniques. But if you need your print to be all metal, you’ll put it through a debind and sinter process.

You’ll need a standard kiln for these steps. Your kiln should have a programmable controller and be able to hold the sintering temperature of the metal you’re printing for several hours. The Virtual Foundry Sintering Kiln gets you both and it’s easy to buy from MatterHackers if you don’t already have one.

Crucible loaded with Sintering Carbon on top

Bury your print in Sintering Refractory Ballast (Al2O3 for Copper and Bronze, Steel Blend for steel Filamet™) contained in a crucible. The Ballast provides part shape support and helps the binder leave your part. Once you place the crucible in the kiln, run the debind time and temperature profile and the binder will sublimate out of your print and into the Ballast.

Next, bury your print in fresh Sintering Refractory Ballast and cover with Sintering Carbon. Now your part shape is supported and you’ve got oxygen handled by that Sintering Carbon so you don’t have to mess with any gas. Run the sintering time and temperature profile and Voilà! You’ve got a full metal part that you made with your 3D printer and a tabletop kiln.

Now that your part is all metal, you can polish, weld, braze, apply patina, or do anything else you would do to that kind of metal!

Green, Brown, Sintered Copper Benchy

A Note About Shrinkage

Your part will shrink during sintering. When you follow the given instructions, you can expect Copper and Bronze to shrink about 7% and steel more like 10%. You have control here. You can hold the part at the sintering temperature for longer, shrink it more, and increase its density.

Whatever shrinkage you’re going for, upsize your print by that amount, applying a bit more to the Z axis. If you’re starting out and following the instructions as written, upsize your X and Y axes by 7% and your Z axis by 8%.

Note: The Z axis on the printer may be different from the Z axis in the kiln, depending on how you load your crucible.

Where to Start

Equipment Needed - Use your current equipment, or buy from MatterHackers:

FFF 3D Printer (like Creality, Raise3D, Ultimaker, etc.)
Kiln (like The Virtual Foundry Sintering Kiln)

The Print and Sinter Kits from MatterHackers give you all the supplies you’ll need, including Filamet™ metal 3D printing filament.

Print, debind, and sinter instructions are included in each Filamet™ metal 3D printing filament listing in the MaterHackers shop. Your Filamet™ spool has a QR code that takes you right to website instructions as well.

The Virtual Foundry's Copper Print and Sinter Kit

Join the Movement

FFF Metal paves the way for the democratization of metal manufacturing and Filamet™ by The Virtual Foundry is leading the charge. Join the movement and make full metal parts in your own lab or studio. No chemicals, no special equipment. Just you, your imagination, and your 3D printer & kiln.

Explore all products from The Virtual Foundry here.

What are you making today?