BASF Ultrafuse 17-4, Ultimaker Metal Expansion Kit

[hearbob50 0]

I bought the Metal Expansion Kit. I'm trying to understand a couple of things. First I loaded the Profile from Marketplace for the Ultrafuse 17-4 filament. But Cura (5.2.1) does not seem to be generating a shrinkage plate. Second on the BASF site it says the Ultrafuse® Support Layer material is not available in North America. So, is the support material not available? and why isn't the shrinkage plate being generated? I feel I am missing something but not sure what or why. Thanks

[gr5 2,229]

@SteveCox3D?? Can you help this guy?  I don't know much about metal.

 

At a quick glance, matterhackers seems to have it in stock - is this the right thing?

https://www.matterhackers.com/store/l/basf-ultrafuse-bvoh-support-material/sk/M9YQ12NH

 

(make sure you get the 2.85, not the 1.75)

 

[hearbob50 0]

i saw that. but i'm not sure it is. it looks more like a PVA and not what is specific to their FFF. I am also going to ask someone at Dynamism about it. still trying to figure out why Cura is not scaling the object and generating the shrink plate as I thought it should.

 

[gr5 2,229]

I heard they moved the scaling feature in Cura that is used by the ultrafuse profile.  I don't know what it's called.  I don't think I can run versions of Cura newer than 5.0 (that's what I'm using now) so I can't look for it myself.

[hearbob50 0]

okay, thanks. i heard back from Dynamism. the support material for metal is not available in North America due to a patent issue. wish that had been made clearer to me before now.

[SteveCox3D 85]

@hearbob50 It’s a real shame that the support layer material isn’t available in North America because it really helps to unlock the ability to produce more complex geometries.

 

If you are using Cura 5.1 and the latest material profile for 17-4PH from the Cura Marketplace then parts should autoscale when you slice them. You only see that scaling though in the Preview mode where if you click on the sliced preview you should see the blue outline of the original part silhouetted against the scaled up version.

 

There is something important to be aware of though that will affect the scaling in Cura. Either the same 17-4PH material or Support Layer material needs to be loaded against Extruder 2 in Cura, or Extruder 2 needs to be disabled altogether. If Extruder 2 is active with a normal material assigned to it then the scaling factor is averaged across the two Extruders, so you get 109% X/Y and 112%Z instead of the 119% and 125% required. That’s an annoying thing, but I’ve been told it can’t be fixed.

 

The shrinkage plate is generated by clicking the Raft option in the Bed Adhesion settings. Without the Support Layer material though you will need to pause the print and abort it after the raft has been printed. Where the Support Layer is available it puts a single layer of that material on top of the raft to isolate the part from the shrinkage plate. If you install the Suuport Layer material from the Marketplace and set it to Extruder 2 and select the raft option you will see how it works in the preview.

 

For markets without access to the Support Layer material the shrinkage plate needs to be printed separately and supplied together with the part to the debind and sinter service provider who will manually apply a ceramic spray coating to the top of the plate to isolate it from the part that sits on top of it.

 

Hope that helps, if I can answer any other questions on metal FFF printing then let me know.

[gr5 2,229]

Wow.  complicated.  A few things that can go wrong if you don't have the settings just right.  But I know you can get amazing results if you follow all the instructions.

[hearbob50 0]

Hi SteveCox3D, Thanks this is very helpful. I've tried to slice using the support material to see what it looks like. However there is a red x on the Extruder and regardless of which core I choose it tells me the current material is incompatible and it won't slice. If I disable Extruder 2 then it slices. Hopefully the Support material becomes available in the future.

Bob

[gr5 2,229]

Did you see the scaling thing working?  Did you understand about the plate?

[hearbob50 0]

Hi Yes, I believe I understand how to use it. Thanks everyone.

[SteveCox3D 85]

On 12/29/2022 at 7:47 PM, hearbob50 said:

Hi SteveCox3D, Thanks this is very helpful. I've tried to slice using the support material to see what it looks like. However there is a red x on the Extruder and regardless of which core I choose it tells me the current material is incompatible and it won't slice. If I disable Extruder 2 then it slices. Hopefully the Support material becomes available in the future.

Bob

Hi @hearbob50 the only printcore that the support layer material is compatible with is the DD0.4. If any other printcore is selected then you will see the red "X".  Is that printcore option available in the dropdown list? (it was added in Cura 5.1)

[subnoizellc 2]

I am glad I realized this before plunking down $700. I will skip the metal printing on my S5 then.