The bottom hinge of my shower cabinet door is broken. Can’t buy a replacement because it’s too old. I think about design it and print in metal. Or to sawing and filling it out of a metallic block.

I‘m not sure how stable a metallic print is. The glass door is quite heavy either around 15 kilos. Do you guys have recommendations?

And do you know a metallic print service in Germany or Europe? I own just a plastic printer

  • FuglyDuck@lemmy.worldEnglish
    3·
    4 months ago

    So, when you say ‘metallic print’? do you mean something like direct metal laser sintering (powder bed and lasers melting to make a solid part,) or the makerforge FDM printers that then sinter the part?

    Either of those two will provide a more-than-adequate solution.

    If you mean the metal-filled plastics (like Protopasta metal fills,) the weakness is in the plastic- and are comparable to whatever base plastic they use. Though, the iron fill and copper/brass/bronze fills all are high enough in metal content they can corrode as well as take most of the polish with, so they’ll age. the metal is purely cosmetic, though.

    the plastic holds up well enough, and how much of a patina they get depends on some factors, but it’s only the surface that gets the patina- the iron fill, for example won’t rust all they way through. The polish is nice, and you can age them (a weak solution of water and vinegar, for iron, as an example,).

    If you can print PLA hinges that hold up well, you can expect roughly the same performance, and the only real change you need to make for metal fills is going to a hardned nozzle. Given the structural concerns, I would suggest looking for metal-filled ASA, or similar rather than PLA fill and testing the prints with regular plastic first- metal fills are relatively expensive, after all.

    • DrunkenPirate@feddit.deOPEnglish
      1·
      4 months ago

      Thanks for that thorough answer. Yes, I thought of the laser sintering thing. The glass door is quite heavy. I diubt plastic prints with some aesthetical metallic cover can hold it. I mean, the hinge was broken because of the weight and calcification.

      Do you have an idea how much laser sintering might cost for a 25 x 25 x 50 mm size? Printing it first in plastic as a prooftest is a good idea.

      • FuglyDuck@lemmy.worldEnglish
        2·
        4 months ago

        I’m not sure on costs, and that depends a bit on material. I know ProtoLabs has a German location.

        They do good work but aren’t cheap.

        • DrunkenPirate@feddit.deOPEnglish
          1·
          4 months ago

          Hi guys, thx for all your help. My project is finally successful. Shower hinge repaired - entire shower cabinet usable now. Let’s give you a short feedback:

          • I‘ve chosen PCBway as it was the cheapest with 90€ for stainless steel, laser sintering.
          • Other both providers were around 300€ up to 1000€ ( this one in chrome though)
          • The production & delivery time was quite long with 2-3 weeks from China. But I‘m not in a hurry.
          • I did two plastic prototypes first and discovered always a few new details I didn’t recognize first.
          • The metallic print is stainless steel (hope better than Tesla quality) and it‘s fully printed - not the walls only.

          At all it costs 130€ for the print, oil, silicone sealant and some other things. Saved me approx 2-4000€ for a new shower cabinet as spare parts were out of production. A picture in comment below.