The Shapeways Stainless steel is a composite(not an alloy) of Bronze and 420 stainless steel. The trouble is, to make a new sear, it is not going to be appreciably cheaper and take at least 2 tries to get all of the dimensions correct. These precautions are necessary to avoid cross contamination of stainless steel by easily corroded metals that may discolour the surface of the fabricated product. 3D printing your model in a metal such as Steel does require a few special design considerations due to its unique printing process. Tooling and work surfaces must be thoroughly cleaned before use. All of these problems are clearly described in a section on the Designing for steel The possibilities of 3D printing in Steel are extremely exciting. Fabrication of all stainless steel should be done only with tools dedicated to stainless steel materials. We carefully remove these models from the printer. To build steel models, special 3D printers deposit small drops of glue onto layers of stainless steel powder, one layer at a time, until the print is complete. Find unique gifts and other personal designs in Shapeways Miniatures. Testing a Shapeways Material Sample for ability to withstand a direct shot from a paintball at extreme close range and 300fps. Still, Shapeways’ stainless steel printing is far from perfect.

It is quite hard and stiff (even for steel). Designed by GothamSmith. The layering can be a bit obvious in parts, incomplete polishing is a possibility, the lead time is much longer (21 days versus the normal 10), and every design has to be hand-reviewed to make sure it will work.

This tutorial provides five tips to help you design specifically for 3D printed Steel. Shop for Ships in the Shapeways 3D printing marketplace. At this stage of the process, the objects are very fragile, similar to wet sand.