Cu1 (metal accretion printer)

This is a development page for the Cu1 metal accretion printer

'What this project is

The Cu1 metal accretion printer is under development by me, Engineeringfeind, as a response to a video by TurboSunshine on YouTube, the video showed an interesting take on metal 3d printing by using the method of electroforming, AKA electroplating. the machine deposited a drop of copper electrolyte onto the area, then ran a small copper pipe over the area, closing the circuit and bonding the molecular copper to the conductive filament laid down by the print head. While amazing, this design had some flaws, mainly the complicated pump system and wasted electrolyte. I wanted to design a machine that could print in copper without the use of those complications, as well as using easy acquire and use components, what I came up with was a machine that drags a copper bar over a conductive baseplate inside of a vat filled with the bright copper electrolyte.

'Bill of materials

1X original ender 3 (or clone)

300G of PLA filament

Stranded core wire

1.5 mm diameter copper bars

8 small magnets

A square plastic container/W lid (2.5-5 inches tall and no more than 9 inches wide)

Voltage to current converter

a square of 1/16" thick aluminum plate that fits inside the purchased container

Tools and matereals Hotglue gun

soldering iron

wire stripper

a computer capable of running Arduino IDE

A FDM or SLA 3d printer (the ender 3 or clone can be used to print the parts before being disassembled)