3D Printing with metals in SA

[yepsy]

Does anyone do or know of someone who's capable of doing metal 3D printing? Services like PCBWay make it quite accessible to the general public, but I can't find anyone in SA who's willing to do small-batch commercial prints. The metals in question are aluminium and titanium.

 

[Killerwatt]

Check Akhani3D. They also have an online quote system which is nice. Not sure how often they do titanium though.

 

[yepsy]

That's a great shout, thank you. Seems like they might be the guys I need.

 

[Shampoo1014]

Akhani do titanium. I used to work for them. Not cheap but good service and nice team.
Online quoting system is fine for checking quick parts but anything big needs a proper quote

 

[disipher]

are we printing stuff for the porche? xD
i weirdly enough would recommend CNC over print...?
why print specifically?

 

[yepsy]

This is for Audi’s Italian cousin. I investigated CNC but unfortunately the parts are so small that there is no space left for radiuses and the part is too deep for anything under a 3mm bit.

I spoke to someone at Akhani and they said metal might be overkill and instead they recommend Onyx. It needs to hold a 5kg load, so we'll see.

 

[goldfritter]

Is there a reason you're being so vague about the actual item? Or do you just enjoy seeming mysterious?

 

[yepsy]

No one ever explicitly asked me what it is. Sharing it also does not influence my initial question. What difference does it make?

 

[goldfritter]

No one ever explicitly asked me what it is. Sharing it also does not influence my initial question. What difference does it make?

Lol fair enough. I hereby explicitly ask:

what is it?

I guess knowing what it is can help determine whether it's practical to print or not, suggest alternatives, maybe an off-the-shelf item already exists, etc.

But I will admit to just being a curious little shit in general.

 

[yepsy]

It's classified.

 

[yepsy]

It's a magnetic shifter unit, for shifting gears in a car.

 

[el3venth]

Many years ago University of Stellenbosch also offered metal printing services.

 

[Killerwatt]

Maybe ask for more information on surface finish. Aluminium might be overkill but at least there are more options for post processing (machining, anodizing, sanding). Subjectively the feel on the shifter adds alot to the enjoyment.

 

[Sosio]

You can also contact metalheart, they have the printers as well as a few other machines

 

[yepsy]

Thank you for the recommendation. I'm currently working with Akhani3D, we'll be using Onyx, which is claimed to be almost as strong as metal. If that doesn't hold up, metal would be next.