3D Print Becomes Cast Iron Wrench Via Microwave

• Consumer-grade 3D printing is good for prototyping and making relatively soft plastic stuff. If you wanna make tough things, though, it’s really hard to beat the strength of metal. [Shake …read more

Consumer-grade 3D printing is good for prototyping and making relatively soft plastic stuff. If you wanna make tough things, though, it’s really hard to beat the strength of metal. [Shake the Future] has produced a guide on using 3D printing in a process to produce solid parts out of actual cast iron. The concept is simple. [Shake the Future] uses silicon carbide crucibles, which can heat up by absorbing microwave energy. Put one in an insulated container, dump some metal in, and throw it in a microwave, and soon enough you have a pot of molten metal you can use to cast stuff. Let’s say you want to make an adjustable wrench, which is how [Shake the Future] demonstrates this technique. The first step is to print the wrench parts in plastic, such as PLA. These parts are then packed into fi