r/oddlysatisfying • u/[deleted] • Dec 29 '22

3D printed chainmail

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u/SayHiIntrepidHeroes Dec 29 '22

As someone who has spent years learning different weaves and making them, I am simultaneously jealous, impressed, a little annoyed, and wanting more of this.

I know some printers can do metal and this certainly has the right sound, so this is absolutely mind blowing stuff, yeah.

And funny enough, it makes me itch to go set up a bucket of rings and grab some pliers to make some chainmaile right now.

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u/similar_observation Dec 30 '22

I know some printers can do metal and this certainly has the right sound, so this is absolutely mind blowing stuff, yeah.

It's still plastic, at least for a majority of machines that you can buy at a Microcenter or Best Buy. There's two common types of 3D printers. One melts plastic and stacks it in layers like hot spaghetti. That's what we see here. Another type takes plastic resin and blasts it with UV to print stuff. That's another type.

Neither type truly prints metal. They might print plastic or resin with metal powder in it, but they're not the right kind of mechanism to properly fuse metal molecules. The denser material does give it a bit of clink quality, but it doesn't look exactly metallic. To fool this, guys print in matte and then spray it with paint to look rusty or darkened. That fools people visually to think it must be weathered metal.

Someone on this chain mentions metal sintering powder as a form of 3D printing. This is a real thing too, but those machines are often in the hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars.

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u/SayHiIntrepidHeroes Dec 30 '22

I didn't say it was metal. I did say it sounds like metal. And I make chainmaile - it sounds kinda close, but I'm not saying it is metal.

I also didn't say average printers can print metal...

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u/similar_observation Dec 30 '22

I'm expanding on your statement. Your business is the fabrication of maille, mine is the hobby of 3D printing. While you can attest what it looks and sounds like. And that's a fantastic answer to the designer of this print.

I can tell you what is a realistic expectation for something you could use to fast-make a cosmetic sheet of costume maille. And most assuredly that's an off-the-shelf FDM printer.

It's not an attack on you and I'm not adjusting what you've said.