A Sub-$1,000 3D Printer For Metal

3D printers can make fantastic shapes, whether someone wants to create an interlocking shape with no seams or a bacon-textured mobius strip.

As a result, artisans have found it to be a valuable way to manufacture jewelry. Still, unless they go through a service such as Shapeways, any home or community printing is generally limited to what they can make out of plastic. It hasn’t been possible to work with metal on personal 3D printers.

The Pueblo, Colo., team behind the Mini Metal Maker wants to bring a limited form of metal 3D printing into maker and artist homes via an Indiegogo campaign. The machine prints metal clay, which is composed of metal flakes mixed with a binder and water. Like plastic filament, the metal clay is melted and then extruded out of a nozzle. It hardens as the nozzle builds up layers to create a 3D object.