January 27, 2024

Photo by Desktop Metal from Google

The metal wrench in the toolbox is a household essential, but its weight often makes it inconvenient. Desktop Metal utilizes 3D metal printing technology to introduce a series of unique wrenches. In addition to the eye-catching patterns on the surface, cleverly designed support structures ensure the strength and functionality of the wrench in practical use, making it more practical and durable.

The strength of a material depends not only on the inherent characteristics of the material itself but also on its folding method and stress structure. In the context of a metal wrench, a high-strength support structure is crucial, ensuring the reliability of the wrench when loosening or tightening precision screws. Typically, to achieve this high strength, the common manufacturing method for metal wrenches is solid metal die-casting. However, this is also a primary reason for the heaviness of metal wrenches.

To overcome the issue of heaviness, innovative manufacturing technologies like Desktop Metal's 3D metal printing offer new possibilities. This technology can create support structures in a more precise manner, ensuring high strength while reducing the overall weight. This makes the metal wrench more lightweight and practical for real-world use.

The set of wrenches demonstrated by Desktop Metal shows clear differences on the surface compared to other wrenches, featuring numerous holes and voids. It's noteworthy that Desktop Metal utilizes 3D printing with a porous gyroid infill pattern inside the wrenches, inspired by biomimicry. This design not only presents a visually distinctive aesthetic but also provides the highest support strength at low density, achieving material savings. This structural design allows the wrench to maintain strength comparable to traditional metal casting while successfully reducing material usage and weight by 30%.

The manufacturing method showcasing the porous gyroid infill pattern in this set of wrenches is currently achievable only through 3D printing technology. In fact, this can be seen as a powerful demonstration by Desktop Metal in the field of metal 3D printing, utilizing Single Pass Jetting (SPJ) printing technology. The uniqueness of SPJ lies in the process of jetting a binding agent into metal powder for printing and then sintering the finished product in a furnace to remove the binding agent and fully fuse the metal powder. Compared to other metal 3D printing methods, SPJ produces finished products with higher and more uniform density, faster speed, and extremely high resolution.

This technology has successfully applied 3D printing to manufacture lighter metal components, serving as a showcase of Desktop Metal's technological achievements. However, what is even more anticipated is the future potential applications of such technology, allowing for the production of more intricately shaped and customized fine parts.

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Reposted this article from：Amag（原文標題：更輕盈又省材料，Desktop Metal以3D列印完成高強度扳手）
Original source：Desktop Metal

#productdesign #productdevelopment #3dprinting #3dmetalprinting