Me too! Imagine how powerful this could be for bootstrapping mass manufacture for only a small initial investment. Nothing like the thousands needed for molds and dies previously. Just needs some more tuning of the process. Come join us on the keybase page if you want to chat!
A mill, you'd use a mill. And carbide tooling. I mean, it'd be hot, and scary AF, but you could get through it. This is cool as the other side of the pillow though, srsly cool. Subscrided.
Awesome info!!! Im waiting for my printer from a supplier. You my friend just opened my mind. I have so much ideas! Thanx for this vid. Hope you get waaaaay more views. Keep up the awesome work.
Thank you so much! There is a lot of work to be done on plunge ECM in the opensource world. The machine you see here is now defunct, but I learned a lot from it. More cool stuff ahead.
Did you think about using the PCB plate as a cutting surface? I'm sure you know you can convert a 3D printer to cut them, I've just seen a guy use a permanent marker to insulate, 3D printer to scratch, and etching to remove the exposed copper. Possibly more steps, but maybe you could get cleaner cuts?
Good idea! Sadly, no that's not quite enough to get the job done. If you used pure graphite, that'd work fine. But the conductivity of a carbon filament isn't enough to machine quickly or consistently.
Ok so i gotta ask. What happens if you fill it with acid copper electrolyte and plate metal instead of cutting? Will it be too slow and diffuse to be useful as a 3d print?
This was something I put some decent effort into, but never quite got to work. I've been learning more about die plunging which might end up helping, but there's a ton more dev to do on the 1 axis machining front.
This is very interesting. Does the shape need to be flat, or could you print something that had high spots and low spots and us it to machine a flat piece of stock into something that has different depths?
Conceivably one could use this machine to die plunge, assuming they were controlling current effectively, but I think you'd need more complex control of descent than we currently have. If you had generated some gcode based on current density and surface area at any given point during the cut, then yeah totally. I think that's going to take some integral calculus and a specific slicer type program though. I could see that working really well with a constant current supply.
Thanks! Yep, currently working on a few more videos. You can see a basic electrode in action in our channel's first video, but more complex cuts with electrodes like the one shown above are on their way.
I think that's primarily an issue from the way he's pumping electrolyte into the work area...side-flow electrolyte in a submerged bath with advance, half-retreat, advance tool motion (basically, PECM) should nearly, or completely, eliminate that issue.
Oh boy do I have an idea using this process.
Me too! Imagine how powerful this could be for bootstrapping mass manufacture for only a small initial investment. Nothing like the thousands needed for molds and dies previously. Just needs some more tuning of the process. Come join us on the keybase page if you want to chat!
I have a feeling we all had that idea.
Totaly not makeing guns
to avoid over/sidecutting giving the tool a draft angle should help
thats the most precise way to make a cathode tooling that i ve ever seen on RUclips，very inspiring
Thank you!
@@ZURAD Hello, I have seen people copper spray the 3d printed part then copper plated
I have never tried it thought do you think it will work??
A mill, you'd use a mill. And carbide tooling. I mean, it'd be hot, and scary AF, but you could get through it. This is cool as the other side of the pillow though, srsly cool. Subscrided.
Awesome info!!! Im waiting for my printer from a supplier. You my friend just opened my mind. I have so much ideas! Thanx for this vid. Hope you get waaaaay more views. Keep up the awesome work.
Thank you so much! There is a lot of work to be done on plunge ECM in the opensource world. The machine you see here is now defunct, but I learned a lot from it. More cool stuff ahead.
Did you think about using the PCB plate as a cutting surface? I'm sure you know you can convert a 3D printer to cut them, I've just seen a guy use a permanent marker to insulate, 3D printer to scratch, and etching to remove the exposed copper. Possibly more steps, but maybe you could get cleaner cuts?
That's a great idea. I have some processes in the works now that could allow this pretty simply
Do you have a link to that guy
@@fozbstudios his channel is called lamja electronics
Have you ever considered using carbon fiber filled pla? Would that negate the need for the graphite coating process, or is it not good enough?
Good idea! Sadly, no that's not quite enough to get the job done. If you used pure graphite, that'd work fine. But the conductivity of a carbon filament isn't enough to machine quickly or consistently.
Ok so i gotta ask. What happens if you fill it with acid copper electrolyte and plate metal instead of cutting? Will it be too slow and diffuse to be useful as a 3d print?
Nice process, wouldn't coating it with conductive paint (copper,graphite,silver are the ones i know) be sufficient?
Having a solid layer of metal is ideal because you want the most uniform and dense current flow
@@ZURAD ok my next guess would be copper shielding foil :-)
can u cut things with a cookie cutter shapes so u have solid parts and not make holes in shapes but cut a shape with a tool like a cookie cutter
This was something I put some decent effort into, but never quite got to work. I've been learning more about die plunging which might end up helping, but there's a ton more dev to do on the 1 axis machining front.
Nice methods!
How about using carbon filled filament? Could that work, at least from the plating Process on..?
Possibly! I've never tried it though
This is very interesting. Does the shape need to be flat, or could you print something that had high spots and low spots and us it to machine a flat piece of stock into something that has different depths?
Conceivably one could use this machine to die plunge, assuming they were controlling current effectively, but I think you'd need more complex control of descent than we currently have.
If you had generated some gcode based on current density and surface area at any given point during the cut, then yeah totally.
I think that's going to take some integral calculus and a specific slicer type program though. I could see that working really well with a constant current supply.
how deep can you ECM a piece? like, can it bore a hole through a 100mm with some precision?
I wouldn't recommend it with ECM, however I will be releasing an EDM conversion that could potentially do that.
awesome video any plans to show the electrode made in action?
Thanks! Yep, currently working on a few more videos. You can see a basic electrode in action in our channel's first video, but more complex cuts with electrodes like the one shown above are on their way.
@@ZURAD I can't wait!!
This is very interesting, is there a way to make your cut end up straight? It looks like the deeper the cut is the more lateral deviation the cut has
I think that's primarily an issue from the way he's pumping electrolyte into the work area...side-flow electrolyte in a submerged bath with advance, half-retreat, advance tool motion (basically, PECM) should nearly, or completely, eliminate that issue.
Wow.This is awesome.
Thanks a lot 😊
Vocal fry is a bit distracting.
But otherwise super cool, learned a lot!
Hey, fair critique. I actually got a new mic recently and have been trying to learn more about audio. Thanks for your interest!
gun barrels worldwide at home today! :D
AWESOME!!!!!!!!
Thanks, Allen! I've got more cool stuff coming up.
@@ZURAD I am excited to see. Thank you for putting the videos out.
This is super cool
Hey, thanks so much! I've got plenty of new stuff in development, so be sure to subscribe.