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BCN3D Metal kit
BCN3D Technologies is a Barcelona based developer and manufacturer of 3D FDM printers and printing solutions, established in 2012. BCN3D products are oriented at both individual professionals and industry level users.
Apart from FDM 3D printers, BCN3D have other products in their portfolio. One of those products is the metal kit, developed after a long collaboration with the multinational German chemical company BASF. The BCN3D metal kit is a high quality end-to-end solution for functional prototyping, tooling and end-use production. It allows the user to get an industry-grade metal part within days, at a lower cost and without the need to resort to third party manufacturers.
The BCN3D metal kit was developed for the BASF metal filaments Ultrafuse 17-4 PH and Ultrafuse 316L. The Ultrafuse metal filaments are based on BASF’s ample experience in the Metal Injection Molding (MIM) industry. The BCN3D metal kit is also compatible with the Epsilon FDM 3D printers by BCN3D - Epsilon W27 and Epsilon W50. A guide for installing the metal kit on the Epsilon printers can be found in the Usage tips section.
The BCN3D metal kit offers a lot of design freedom, and it yields products almost indistinguishable from real metal parts.
This means individual users as well as manufacturers now have a chance to prototype and metal resembling parts with production costs and better lead times.
Apart from the BASF Ultrafuse filaments, the BCN3D Metal Pack includes:
The BCN3D metal pack means more possibilities for the manufacturers of spare parts, functional prototypes, and tools. The metal kit is aimed at the pharmaceutical, food, automotive, aerospace, and manufacturing industries, but it can also be used by amateur and professional users at home.
Parts produced with the BCN3D metal kit are nearly 100% solid stainless steel, and their appearance and behavior are almost indistinguishable from the same parts produced by MIM or CNC.
This table shows the results of an experiment conducted with the BASF Ultrafuse filaments from the metal kit and the Epsilon 3D printers. The aim of the experiment was to check the corrosion resistance and mechanical performance of parts 3D printed with the BCN3D kit. The Ultrafuse 316L filament turns out to be more resistant to corrosion and able to achieve more elongation before it breaks. On the other hand, the Ultrafuse 17-4 PH filament has better indentation hardness (Vickers test), and superior tensile strength and yield strength.
The process of making metal parts with the BCN3D metal has 3 stages:
Debinding and sintering can be done at home/internally by the user/company, but a much more affordable option is to outsource it to a third party. An interesting option is the purchase of a D&S voucher, such as the BASF debinding and sintering voucher for the Ultrafuse filaments.
After the part has been 3D printed, and subjected to debinding and sintering, it can be treated like a 100 % metal piece and subjected to various post processing operations. It can be machined, drilled, polished, welded or painted.
More information on how to design parts for metal 3D printing and what slicer parameters to set can be found in the BASF user guidelines in the downloads section. Detailed debinding guidelines for parts 3D printed with Ultrafuse 316L can be consulted in the debinding guidelines file in the downloads tab.
The Ultrafuse filaments should be stored in proper conditions to ensure optimal performance and avoid problems in the printing process. The manufacturer recommends storing the filaments in a vacuum sealed packaging until needed, with a filament drying capsule for even better results. Another way of keeping filament dry is using the Fiber Three drying cases available in the F3 Safe Light and F3 Safe Long Run versions.
The Hotend M was designed to be used with metal filaments and its use with other filaments is not recommended, as it may speed up the wear of the nozzle. For other filaments, the more appropriate hotends would be the standard BCN3D hotends with brass nozzles of various diameters for basic filaments, and the Hotend X with a 0.6 mm nickel-plated hardened steel nozzle. The Hotend X was designed for carbon enriched and metal enriched filaments.
Before the metal kit can be used, some preparations are required in order to activate and calibrate the equipment.
This video by BCN3D shows step by step:
It should be kept in mind that the above steps refer to the BCN3D Epsilon 3D printers. Before using the metal kit on any other 3D printers, the user should consult the manufacturer as some of the kit elements may not fit or act as expected.
Metal 3D printing kit, developed with BASF. Contains filaments, hotends and accessories.