Somerset Community College’s (SCC) Additive Manufacturing (AM) program has successfully produced stainless steel parts using a USD600 desktop 3D printer. SCC has also Tungsten Inert Gas welded several of these parts together.
This project is that fully metal parts were 3D printed on an inexpensive desktop printer and then successfully welded together using ordinary welding methods.
The SCC Additive Manufacturing faculty and staff started with several low-cost 3D printers, typically less than USD450 each. These types of 3D printers are only able to 3D print with plastics.
SCC was able to customize low-cost desktop 3D printers for metal filament extrusion for less than USD600 per printer. The parts were 3D printed and then heated to remove the plastic and fuse the remaining metal together.
This results in parts made entirely of metal, in this case, stainless steel. The final step was to hand the parts over to SCC’s Welding department.
SCC’s goal is to bring this low-cost metal 3D printing technology to students, teachers, and businesses throughout Kentucky. SCC will begin to provide training workshops for select educators in Kentucky high schools and community colleges.
