I want to print directly to an 8" x 8" x .5" aluminum tooling plate. I will use the plate in combination with sides to pour soft tooling to duplicate the printed parts in urethane. The printed parts are mold plugs. The printed parts need to be high quality without print lines. Does anyone print permanently to a substrate as I described?
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Zapaer
2
It might be better for you to print molds and then use them to cast the parts you want.
The problem with printing directly on aluminum is that the printed parts might at any point come off the plate.
Additionally, if you are heating the aluminum, it will expand and then shrink when cooling so that might affect the printed parts in some way.
Finally, if you are going to try this, I would suggest using some sort of adhesive on the aluminum such as water soluble glue.
I don’t know why that wouldn’t work. The printing bed is also the bed of the mold, in effect. It might be single use as the tighter the plastic sticks, the better. As a would-be chocolatier, I like it. Have you got the sides worked out?
Something not commented on… you need parts without print lines. That probably requires a few levels higher in quality than the typical 3D printer these days. Certainly way over what I can do.
The whole concept is for the parts to remain on the aluminum as it acts as the male mold base and I pour tooling resin over it to create mold cavities to pour production parts into. I am thinking if I use a pressure sensitive adhesive on the aluminum then remove the release paper and print directly on the adhesive, the parts will stick and stay. The parts on the adhesive need to be high resolution and smooth, not requiring post processing. I would coat the entire surface with mold release before pouring the tooling resin over the assembly so the tooling would not stick to the parts or adhesive plate.
It definitely needs to be a smooth finish without layer lines. The pictures shows the base assembly and the other the sides
Try the Purple Elmers glue stick to enhance the adhesion of the filament onto the aluminum surface to get the print started.
