Filamet from virtual foundry

[Ian Smith]

Finally received the first roll of the copper/PLA filament from thevirtualfoundry.com Still waiting for the brass and bronze versions.

The filament is like a metal clay, and is quite brittle if the room temperature isn't above 70 F. So there is a learning curve, and it's expensive... but it think the results are very promising. My first test were with Marvin. And I printed at 30% fill so there wasn't enough material when I did the final stage of baking him. In a kiln. But the part that did come out of the kiln is solid metal which conducts electricity. There are lots of possibilities from circuits to jewelry and many more. I'll add some photos.

[Ian Smith]

After printing it feels like a chocolate powder coating.  But you can polish it to a copper finish with a buffing wheel and a gentle hand.  You can dig into it with the wheel if you apply too much pressure.  Carrying it around in your pocket for a couple of days seems to be an effective way to finish it.  If you want to make it solid metal so that it will conduct electricity you need cook it in a kiln for a could of hours.  This requires printing a solid item, then adding donor material on top to fill it up.  You pack it in the powder they supply with the filament. The powder is very fine, and need to be packed very tightly.  it forms a mold after you apply heat. The model melts down of course, and the plastic burns off. 

I'll post more info after I do some more testing with it.  

Again, this material is very expensive.  Currently $85.00 USD per 1/2 Kg.  and of course it's much heavier than standard filament so 1/2 Kg is much shorter than pure PLA. 

Still it does get you thinking about what you can make with it. 

[John Biehler]

I'm curious how this is much better than the Proto-Pasta or Colorfabb metal offerings which are more consistent with about $50 for 500g that can be polished easily. Having to buy/make a kiln really kills it cost-wise. 

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[Edward Simpson]

I think the idea is that this filament is meant for directly producing copper and bronze parts like one off jewelry or small art pieces that won't melt if left in the sun. As for a kiln, a small one only in the $300-400 range, last time I checked. Definatly a specific application tool though.

Edward