What if you want better results or even full metal 3D prints? Should you buy a metal 3D printer for your business? We wouldn’t advise it unless you want to do metal 3D printing every day. The price for such a machine is high: a professional metal 3D printer from EOS or Stratasys will set your business back by up to $500,000. And apart from the initial payment, you’ll need people to operate and maintain the machine as well as finalize prints (i.e. polishing).
Simply put, there’s no such thing as an affordable metal 3D printer.
Lower the costs of metal 3D printing
Unless you want to start a 3D printing metal business and you need a professional part 3D printed in metal, you’re better off using a 3D printing service to suit your needs. Companies like Shapeways, Sculpteo, and i.materialise offer purely metal 3D printed parts.
3D printing metal materials
- Aluminum
- Steel
- Brass
- Copper
- Bronze
- Sterling silver
- Gold
- Platinum
- Titanium
If you’re a goldsmith, you can also order wax models for casting special metals.
Speaking of wax models, most 3D printed metals (including gold and silver) are actually produced through a process called lost wax casting. That is, not everything is 3D printed in factory. Services often turn to other companies that are specialized in metal production to finish the order. Nevertheless, the number of metal 3D printing services is growing rapidly all over the world. And at the same time, metal 3D printers are becoming more common at 3D printing services.
The reason big companies like metal 3D printing so much is that it can be used to build “topologically optimized” parts. This makes it possible to perfectly distribute the material in a component in order to make it thicker only where it needs to withstand more stresses, thus drastically reducing the weight without sacrificing structural integrity. However, this is not the only technology out there. Some are significantly more affordable and more accessible.
Please be aware that metal 3D printing requires special CAD designs. For general information, Shapeways offers metal 3D printing guidelines. For even more advanced information, take a look at this article from Statasys, which discusses metal 3D printers and the nuances of metal 3D printing.
Here are some examples of 3D printing metal prices of the common Benchy test model:
3D printing metal prices
- Metallic Plastic : $22.44 (former “Alumide”, PLA with aluminum)
- Stainless Steel: $83.75 (plated, polished)
- Bronze: $299.91 (solid, polished)
- Silver: $713.47 (solid, mirror polished)
- Gold: $87,75 (gold plated, polished)
- Gold: $12,540 (solid 18k gold)
- Platinum: $27,314 (solid, polished)
As you might expect, the prices for solid metal 3D printing go way up.
