DIY Metal 3D Printer Using A TIG Welder

[@MyJp1983]

Your channel is everything that is right with KZbin, with very little resources, a great attitude, and a heck of a sense of humor you share your hobby with us. Thank you for the great videos!

[@unfzddstny6600]

Big prod ... not "very little resources".. just saying..but yeah great content.

[@replicant357]

Agreed!

[@Michael-uj2fb]

Agree 100%

[@orange_tweleve]

​@@unfzddstny6600 if that's very little resources op commentor should be having his own factory lmao

[@driftsdragsdrives4938]

@@orange_tweleve I wish I had some of the tools this guy has lolololol instead I must jerry rig everything

[@TwilightBinder]

the fact you managed to get it to work at all is impressive, the fact that you did a smooth metal print on an Ender 3 is Insane. Please continue looking into this, you are at the doorstep of home Metal printing.

[@robchard19]

Please keep going with this, by no means do i imagine what you are doing is cheap but it seems far more in the reach of the average enthusiast compared to the other metal printing solutions available

[@holon75]

I tig weld, this would be extremely difficult to do. However kinda possible to make it a little neater if pulse welding is possible to do here. Pulse welding lets it cool down a bit so it doesn't just melt away so easily and could potentially hold its shape more.

[@timrepairs]

Dude , take it further . This is super impressive on how far you got without even modifying the original ender 3 by much . I want to see more metal 3d prints like this . Crazy how much work and effort you put into it .

[@klausnielsen1537]

You understate every thing you do. This was a great success to my eyes. The improvements made in the end product are hige considering how this is made with the Bones of an ender 3 and the prior knowledge of automated tig welding of perhaps 3%. You do interesting work in areas normally done only by multi million dollar companies. And excuse to us that it took days!! We love your Work and respect the efforts immensely. Keep it up. Please 🙏

[@gokiburi-chan4255]

Exactly!

[@Coincidence_Theorist]

I con cur.

[@PhysiczDr]

I would also agree that was better than you think relative to the components and such used. I really believe that with some brain storming, other comments contributing and time that you could get this working with really good results! Great job, keep working on this project! Awesome!

[@fynnlampe9599]

As someone pursuing a mechanical engineering degree, i can only say that your work is marvellous. I am currently working on my bachelor thesis regarding automating a welding device capable of MIG and TIG for WAAM. Your project has helped me more than 90% of the papers i have read so far. The setup works very well, you could even do research with it. Im thankfull for the aid it gives me and hope you might make a comeback with the project. It is awesome!

[@jacoblind9569]

I think the layer shifting on the x axis is due to the timing belt heating up, expanding, and missing steps. If you replaced it for a lead screw I bet it would help. It might be worth while to rebuild the entire x axis. Replacing the extrusion with mild steel would significantly mitigate the potential for thermal expansion of the aluminum which also might be part of issue. Keep it going, this is getting interesting.

[@nefariousyawn]

Ditto. This machine really seems like it's only missing basic infrastructure to improve rigidity and repeatability, like lead screws. All the hard work is mostly done, it just needs some tidying up and tuning.

[@pstewart5443]

Dude, being an IT Pro I can certainly see your genius. There's like 9 professions involved in this one video. Not to even mention your agility in handling catastrophic issues that come up. I don't know if anyone's told you, but this is the kind of stuff that screams genius-level IQ. I admire and respect your patience and attitude towards issues that crop up. Realistic with just a touch of optimism, and your wiring is phenomenal, worthy of IT Pro praise. I don't know if any IT Pro does cabling properly at their home. I definitely never have, and I've run multi-server labs out of a bedroom/office. Nothing like sleeping to the sound of an old Dell 2950 rebooting in the middle of the night to activate the old agent orange PTSD.

[@rashidabdul-salaam9090]

I was thinking the same about this cat.

[@satxsatxsatx]

KZbin's hypnotic, amusing, entertaining polymath. Let us list the skills ...

[@frenchonion4595]

Think I met this dude in cyber punk

[@notyouraveragegoldenpotato]

😂 this is my life. Already was skilled in most anything mechanical, fabrication and engineering, IT- then all of my 'little' side projects I wanted to make or something I wanted to fix led me into electronics, coding, chemistry, composition, metallurgy and forging, and heck even aviation😂 all kickstarted by having a 'simple' idea. There's always 7 side quests of new skills to learn and master to accomplish my one 'simple' idea😂

[@UltimateMaking]

best content on youtube really, you my man should never stop your adventures

[@martinest9458]

Super cool! People like you make the world a better place. True engineer.

[@RegularOldDan]

Incredibly impressive what you've done! I would definitely be happy to see more. Every non-powder metal 3d printer I've seen before does a very rough shape first and mills it down to the desired shape afterwards. The fact you are getting this much detail without post processing (beyond a wire brushing or the like) is incredible.

[@Mrstrikerace]

That's just really crazy dude. I'm an engineer and I would have never tried that. To actually use an Ender 3 and bolt a tig gun to it! BIG kuddos dude.

[@Sychius]

I seem to be getting really lucky with seeing your vids right as they go up! Awesome vid, and I love the concept of the metal printer, so I hope you keep it going! That kind of layer shifting is often caused on 3d printers when the head gets caught on something or is moving too much mass and the steppers skip steps. The Ender 3 afaik doesn't have closed-loop steppers so it can't tell when it misses steps and just keeps printing blindly. Idk if you've done anything to counter that, but having closed-loop steppers should solve the problem if that is the issue. Good luck man.

[@edmacrae4521]

Right dude same with me every upload I see within a few days time!

[@josearnaldopinheirodossant7712]

Yes, is what I see, more attention to mechanical problems ...

[@zedjo02]

Really great to see you trying and not giving up... example of a great guy.

[@alexnelson1183]

Doesn’t matter if it’s not perfect right now. You have room and definitely the knowledge to improve it over time. But damn man I just have to say this is one of the coolest things I’ve seen on KZbin and the fact you were able to make it yourself is god tear man. Keep up the good work it was dope to see the process👍👍👍

[@zeleacodreanu1]

Are you kidding me? This is friggin awesome. You printed a metal vase with an ender bro. Top tier content.

[@TheStigma]

Wow! Those results are actually quite stunning. Having the knowhow of all the different fields involved is damn impressive. It seems like the fundamentals work surprisingly well here, so getting nicer looking results is probably mostly a long arduous process of refining the tools and tons of tweaking. I'm definitely subbing for more of this :D

[@demonofthemojave7689]

Dude, I honestly think you're on to something with this. Love your ingenuity, keep up the great work!!

[@sirmiro2]

Wow! This looks promising! The "big" problem seems to be to coarse tooling for too small things. And I guess it's hard to come around. The best would be to get a way smaller welding wire, with everything that follows. The other option sadly is too supersize the printer and do the vase five times larger, as that would give around the wall size expected. It's really fun someone spends energy on this, as I never seems to find time (but had the thougth for years). So please keep this going!

[@artbyrobot1]

look up puk 5 micro welding. it is TINY. if he put that on his print he'd be there

[@brainfarth]

I dig the project. I've repurposed a CR-10 for several projects, not limited to extruding peanut butter benchies. On another note, I run a Weldlogic orbital welding lathe at work and rather than have a raw wire liner, it has a mig welding tip to more accurately aim the wire. I hold it back at least 1" from the tip and the gap from tungsten to wire is around .070", where as the wire is below the tungsten. If you have any questions, I program them as well, so hit me up.

[@julias-shed]

I’m always impressed with what you achieve with fairly basic equipment. That first circle was a total WOW moment. It TIG welds way better than me 😀 incredible work and only a few dead boards 😔

[@michaelabraham9177]

I'm impressed. I weld for a living. I've also got my own personal welders at home. I've got some cheap ebay plasma cutters too. I've been wanting to make a plasma table for a long time. Now you've got me thinking of a metal 3d printer. More ideas than time. I'll have to live that dream thru you vicariously for now.

[@D3rron08]

Yay! First comment! Bro I think you are onto something big. Do you think a cooling fan might help it won't blow away argon since u filled d chamber of it? It seems like the print sags from being molten to long. Remember the first circle it was the best, maybe because the plate was cold?

[@bobbyshaftoe]

GO FURTHER. I greatly appreciate your public display of learning curve.

[@mirono3099]

You deserve way way more viewers. Crazy projects that actually show trial and error and creativity, good portion humor and the video quality is superb. Also the diy techy stuff is crazy with the arduinos and stuff, all selfmade. From an ender. Love every single video!

[@TimoNoko]

These are excellent excursions to the what-might-be. Mr. Crank deserves more appreciation.

[@DanielKezar]

you are revolutionizing 3D printing. in a few years this could be a marketable product! keep going! You will be at 100k subs in no time. this video really should have more like 50k views. high quality!

[@sexyfacenation]

This type of thing already exists as commercial products.

[@DanielKezar]

@@sexyfacenation metal printing does exist, but not with a TIG welder I don't tjink

[@mikewenger4775]

bro youre an absolute madlad its people like you that moves us forward in technology

[@james2396]

I know you're a small channel right now, but these quality videos will boost you up so far, I love watchintg the sucess or failure of these mig-welding 3d printing videos, please keep going on with these and see where you end up. I feel like there's no one else doing these types of videos on youtube right now!

[@chrisdennis5362]

I just found your video. I have been reading research papers on this very subject. Your work is equally as advanced as the engineering papers I have been reading. Keep up the good work!

[@wally88ar]

Hi, engineer here, could you share links to those research papers? Thanks un advance

[@MakeEverything]

This is really cool!!

[@victorreppeto7050]

Success!!!! This is definitely a an alternative to building a foundry. Call it a rough casting instead of a finished product. Now we can do our own rough castings for small sterling engine prototypes!!!

[@Spirit532]

I love the attitude of "I think it's shitty, but I'm going to try to make it less shitty", especially when there's steady incremental improvements. It's a refreshing approach, done properly, without the filler crap huge channels tend to do. A few tips: 1 - You're pushing the resolution way too far, and that's why you might not like what you see. Something like this can't print super tiny details, so if it looks wonky, it may be in part because it simply can't not look wonky, even if it was done by hand by a professional TIG "dime stacker". Try scaling the prints up to get a better perspective. 2 - Wire shielding must happen on one end only(i.e. printer -> cable -> box -> outlet), and there should only be one common earth point, not multiple outlets.

[@graealex]

Regarding 1) - the commercially available metal spray printers (i.e, DMG LASERTEC) all add more material than needed and then mill it to dimensions afterwards. So expecting anything more from just a DIY project is an illusion. Only metal powder with selective melting can produce somewhat good results out of the box without any milling. And btw. they're mainly used to repair injection molding tools. If you have a defect, the metal spray can add material where it is missing, and then you can mill and laser it back to spec. For actual "printing", cast metal and milling is the way to go, which can be replicated with a 3D printer as shown by many DIY channels.

[@Ferraday]

you couldn’t afford it

[@abushsemahegn2124]

Wow this is super cool! I always think we can get metal 3D filament. This is the closest someone needs to come to get filament based metal 3D printer, you're not close, you are there!! Keep up the great work!!

[@TopDedCenter]

Tig was a good choice. It's a lot cleaner since you're not dealing with the weld spatter. I think your next step should be to upgrade your axis movement systems to something like a linear motion gear.

[@NicksStuff]

It's spectacular how everything looks crappy even though you're clearly a smart dude with cool ideas. I loved it

[@tobiasstaermose]

Good improvement! Suggestions: change the motion system to ball screws. Should not be affected (as much) as the belts. Have you coded in some retractions of the wire? Have you tried random z seams? 👌 Keep it up! 👍👍👍👍

[@TopDedCenter]

He mentioned coding in a delay for the wire to stop feeding right before the arc extinguished. But it might not be a good idea to retract the wire since it will likely end up with a ball/bead on the end of the wire that would immediately get stuck or ruin the teflon lining in the wire feed cable.

[@tobiasstaermose]

@@TopDedCenter i guess it will greatly depending on the wire stick out, and how much retraction per pull. It definitely would require testing :)

[@MorrisonManor]

I think most folks have no clue what kind of hurdles you had to navigate that you DIDN'T share with the class. Keep up the great work. Love your style.

[@Lord_Verminaard]

I was in tears by the end of this laughing so much, but holy hell you made some great progress and used some very creative ingenuity to get it done! I'd love to see this explored further. You earned a subscription from me for sure!

[@monkeyboysabsljja]

please never stop with developing this project. you make want to learn how to program and develop machines

[@tobyroberts7910]

I love this channel!

[@peterspencer6442]

That is super impressive progress! Detail in the sidewalls! That's a real vase and it's more watertight than one from a stock printer like the Ender! Much respect!

[@411Light]

Could you try using pulse mode ? There are also some special tiny tiny TIG for jewelry or mould repairs that would make weld spots down to 1/32" or 0.5 to 0.8mm and it would maybe kinda match the standard FDM resolution ?

[@richardprice5978]

@@mossyboy6 well i don't know about you but just having the wire feeder option for common/longer welds would be nice as i like tig welding 👨‍🏭but 4ft rod's can sometimes be a pain to wrangle with and having to stop/starts for 8in cut up rod pieces can suck ect. side note can powdered metallic be used? as i saw gas flame spray welding ( for cast iron parts ) but i didn't want to buy a gas torch/it's expensive for me to use and not my favourite type but wire/cutting gas i can do it as i have in the past

[@RockieOnly]

But then wouldn’t it take even far longer for a print, maybe a week or more rather then a couple of days

[@richardprice5978]

@@RockieOnly i was thinking of thing's that might work in both processes and i don't really care for $$ gas but powered metallic is useful and a simi manuel metal feeder would be nice on some projects with manual tig welding

[@richardprice5978]

@@RockieOnly powdered guns come in different sizes

[@shawnlund]

Those vases looked way better than I was expecting. I’m onboard and subscribed to see what you do next with this.

[@09mxrider]

I think you need to use smaller wire lower amps and more time and it will improve the quality of the print overall a cool project though

[@misterfixit1952]

Great effort overcoming problems with quick solutions. I'm watching.

[@Oseois]

This looks really promising. How difficult would it be to get the layers smaller? I figure lower amperage, and as small gauge wire as you can manage. Do your tungstens stay good? I've always wondered how long they would last in good condition if the guy holding the torch, me, could stop trying to practice morse code during welding.

[@1fast72nova]

Agreed

[@TheExquisiteRoofer]

Dude you are right there with AVE and This Old Tony. Your knowledge and skill and how you integrate them is pure genius. I wish I had half your talent.

[@educationalpurposesmostly]

keep doing this. These videos are the reason I subscribed. Having a metal printer available is the next step in 3d printing and you could be the one leading it.

[@MJPilote]

Dude, you are the mad scientist that you look like! Just plain awesome, how you get from the idea to the working stuff. And by working, I do consider this to be working. Just needs some adjustments but still. Many are too scared of the failure to even try, but you just dive in head first to see what if!

[@goosecf]

I've had this idea for a few years now, but boy am I glad someone did it before me. This seems like a maintenance nightmare.

[@kylewatson6739]

dude no matter the look quality im supper impressed with the fact you actually had the brains and know how to make this fricken thing work I think its super bad ass great work man!

[@glitchfactory98]

you are on the forefront of tech. Metal printing is the future.

[@killroy1015]

Wow! This is way beyond possible....it is tweakable and doable!! Great work.

[@SciFiMind]

KZbin just suggested your channel for the first time. Perfect garage tomfoolery and fun to watch. Congrats on sticking with it. New sub here

[@fraxz88]

Take it further please! A shop down the street from my shop does 3d printed rocket nozzles for obsolete space ships. I imagine this is where it all started. Rocket scientist in the making you are, thank you for pushing it this far!

[@sharkbaitsurfer]

Completely bonkers, totally manic and pure genius - put some flowers in that thing FFS, it is a vase after all - love it!

[@ericscholem6629]

"The man's whose charcter I am seeking to mold is a wise man, in the Roman sense, not in the discussion of the study, but that actual practice and experience of life". Keep on making, earned yourself a sub.

[@anthonyvoight4606]

Yes keeping moving forward digging your ingenuity

[@joemulkerins5250]

Excellent effort! Nothing else in the world like it. Must be proud of that.

[@kobussmorenburg387]

yea definitly keen on more, would be sick to see some parts or something built from parts printed with it

[@alpazazilla1814]

Causal argon rich atmosphere. That's big talent my guy.

[@Byt3me21]

That test run, then the next test run was gold.

[@kekin1463]

Those results are actually really impressive

[@jesse-dg8yx]

Those hands aren't afraid of anything

[@chromamusic7501]

I just stumbled across your channel as I am a big fan of DIY stuff. This was my first experience with your channel, and I gotta say, I am super impressed. It's crazy to see you only have 30k subs! You got one from me 👍

[@abdullahhakami834]

PLEASE KEEP GOING. I believe this project has so much more potential

[@VerilyRude]

If money is ever an object and you don't already have a Patreon, your work is worthy of being funded by the community. This is great. A couple things that came to mind... 1. A vacuum or at least a purged volume can maybe eliminate or at least reduce your need for argon in the chamber. 2. My hands look like yours and I just had half of a finger removed and nearly died from an infection.

[@LeadRakFPS]

This guy is a mad scientist, and I'm all for it. Love to see it!

[@robertblackshear8963]

This is a very brilliant piece of engineering. Good job man. The beads look perfect.

[@TheMadManPlace]

"SOMEONE" has probably suggested this before but IF you use a TIG torch you will only have one thing to control and that is the wire feed. Taking the tungsten electrode out of the equation would mean one less moving part and we all know that moving parts tend to have a mind of their own and move where you DO NOT WANT THEM TO GO... BUT whatever you decide to do, PLEASE KEEP DOING IT !!!

[@Edward3DFX]

The most beautiful vase in the galaxy ! Art at it’s finest!

[@ThisIsToolman]

This has a huge potential and you’ve got the 80% done. Now, the hard part.

[@Jimmy___]

Such a good video, I'm really impressed with all the effort and problem solving that went into this!

[@DownsouthMan]

At first when I saw you I didn’t think I’d watch the entire video but wow, you are freaking smart. I’d say continue on. Just don’t burn your house down. Enjoyed your video and I like what you are trying to accomplish.

[@lahma69]

Wow, I am utterly impressed with your abilities. This is the 1st time I've come across your channel and you have unquestionably earned my subscription. Very impressive!

[@reddtekk]

Awesome work! From my background in welding automation I must say that I know your pain. Getting the wire feed right is a real PITA, and even using ABB robots which are very hardened against noise, I HAVE had noise issues. Here are a couple recommendations that come directly from my experience in making a robot TIG weld in tight spaces with wire feed. If you want to dream, look at Fronius CMT and imagine how nice one of those would be for metal FDM printing. If I had the time to spare and it was MY robot and $30,000 welder, I would have been 3D printing parts using the CMT welder and robot. Just the same, I think that TIG could yield very good results and you have already proven that you are on the right path. First and foremost, it would be very beneficial for you to have the ability to reverse the wire feed rather than letting it ball up. Enabling pulse welding may be of benefit. It will keep the pool tighter and may enable you to build the weld up a bit more without having it sag over. I used a tube for the wire feeder with a hard steel nozzle on it. This allowed me to mount it further from the heat while having good control of wire location and makes it easier to make adjustments. Made the nozzle from drill rod, torched it red and dunked it in water. Hardening it reduces friction, just make sure you smooth your transitions so it doesn't cut into the wire. Use an oversize drill most of the way through and then make an orifice a few thou over wire diameter for the last 30-50 thou. Sand blast inside with fine sand to smooth everything then harden. Regarding noise, you may consider putting your steppers on the outside of the steel case and use drive shafts with insulated couplings. Consider actuating rods and doing the same with limit switches, or perhaps using optical isolators for them. This way you keep your wiring outside and reduce the amount of EMF that you induce on the signal and driving wires. This may be difficult to accomplish using the Ender design, so consider using CoreXY as it will allow external motor mounting and also may make it easier to keep enclosure size as close to envelope size as possible (not a bed slinger) so that you don't need to use any more shield gas than necessary. If sticking to the Ender design you may be able to run a long belt and pulley system to actuate X from a stationary motor, but you will need to re-home X on each layer change or make compensating steps with each Z move. Adding ferrite beads on the entry into the control cabinet can provide additional filtering. Keeping the welding cables on the opposite side of the enclosure from the steppers would provide further noise suppression, and assuring that you keep welding cables perpendicular to control system wires and grounding wires wherever they cross, if this is unavoidable, is also beneficial. Ground your shields to the control cabinet and let them float on the other end. There should be no contact between shields and the welding enclosure. A really cool thing to do would be to have a little spring in the torch in Z, and use scratch starting. This would require a bit of fiddling around with the coding, but could very likely be accomplished. One additional thought would be to use a copper build plate but I'm not sure if the initial bead will adhere sufficiently to the build surface. Perhaps have a steel plug in one or two spots and have your first layer include them. If you build in an enclosed environment, you may be able to use a cooling fan to accelerate weld cooling without oxide problems. OctoPi might simplify your camera issues. It dripfeeds the control and has a built in feature to take a snapshot on every Z move, so you can get rid of the extra limit switch, but I like your idea of moving the torch out of the way before making a Z move so you have a clear view. (Did you do that with your slicer or your firmware?) OctoPi also has a control interface that I really like for running and monitoring the printer remotely. I love your project and it is entails many of the details of a similar project that I would really like to build, once I have a long list of necessary things crossed off. Great work and I am DEFINITELY awaiting the sequel. Liked and subscribed!!

[@kpogatchnik]

Keep going! You’re entertainment value and technical work are a great match. Keep doing what you’re doing!

[@peterrrrrrr123]

Great work,thats how you have to improve : by learning without given up

[@titanproductions6350]

Please keep doing what you're doing man. You're one of the only content creators I've seen who has actually continued to experiment with this subject :)

[@amitkeynan922]

Probably one of the best channel on youtube right now... definitely.

[@JP-rx8dn]

Yea this video is a breath of fresh air. Gotta love how unpretentious this guy is. Also turning an ender3 into a metal printer is a wild man's idea. 10/10

[@elballoonrat]

take it further! this is amazing and takes me back to the early days of FDM printing.

[@gort5583]

Sir, your talent and genius seems to be highly under utilized! Great video!

[@vincentbarkley9121]

Your results keep getting better and better. Keep at it.

[@robertburton3742]

That was quite the undertaking. Bravo dude! I enjoy your Grit and Passion..

[@zzdogger]

I really like this idea! I'd love to see a benchy printed on the new setup for a side-by-side comparison.

[@A2DLLC]

Brother keep it going, u have taken 3d printing to a, TOTAL OUT THIS WORLD LEVEL. And I definitely be waiting for update’s fatefully. 💯💯💯👍🏼

[@ricksmart5290]

Dude you rock, this was a trip to watch and will be back for part 3.

[@Doc_89]

That first run was....actually more impressive than id imagined. And the use of an enclosed argon filled space is a valid solution, kind of like "rooting" or shielding when welding a stainless vessel/container.

[@johnbarron4843]

My new favorite channel!!

[@erniegroocock4354]

My favorite kind a KZbin channel just ran into your channel the mad scientist you’re doing a fine job sir

[@ModitRC]

Layer shift is probably the head hitting the print and the belt skips a tooth. Great job. Lots of work.

[@markbottcher9623]

Oh I definitely wanna see more!!! I think you can get it dialed in,and then it's gonna be something way cool.

[@mrhankbotful]

SWEET project. As a metalworking tinkerer with a 3D printer, this is awesome content to watch. I think you are doing great work, keep it up.

[@macrumpton]

When you compare the progress you make in 2 days with a few hundred dollars of equipment and compare that to companies that have tried to do the same thing, spending tens of thousands and taking years, it is just amazing .

[@jimmihenry]

"It has potential" You are correct! Thumb Up, well earned.

[@mirekpergl143]

Great idea. Please definitely continue further. Hobby 3D metal printer is cool.

[@AlexApol]

Can't say I have ever seen a 3d printer with a cooled bed. Very cool!

[@Fahnder99]

Looks like a lot of fun! Further progress will be hard.