IDEA: 3d Printed/Compression Molded Hybrid Chips? (26 Viewers)

[FinnPD]

Tungsten powder?

Edit: AI answered… very expensive and highly abrasive and may damage equipment depending.

Yes Sir, literally any powdered metal can be bound by polymers and held into shape in the form of filament. Tungsten would indeed shred any non-diamond nozzle in minutes to the point of unusable. To print tungsten parts, a DMLS (Direct Metal Laser Sintering) machine would be required for the best result. This setup would be about $1.5M to get 1 machine running tungsten. Then every machine needed to process the parts, would be degraded quickly simply because its tungsten and need constant part replacement. Not fun stuff. Better to fire it at our "enemies."

 

[FinnPD]

Sorry if you took that as a serious question. Was meant to be a joke, but not really since you know how much some of us love our leaded chips.

I did indeed, as leaded chips are a thing. How about gold instead? Its similar to lead, and only adds $134.23 per gram, per chip!
500 piece chipset x 2g gold added to each chip for weight = $132,230.00 + whatever the chips cost. Poker chips for Saudi Princes! Pocket Change....

 

[smashed_potato]

@FinnPD I keep thinking your avatar is a Poliwhirl especially with all the polymer talk.

Great thread, eager to see the outcome.

 

[FinnPD]

@FinnPD I keep thinking your avatar is a Poliwhirl especially with all the polymer talk.

View attachment 1699126

Great thread, eager to see the outcome.

No, just my X-ray Specs that I use to cheat at cards.....

 

[FinnPD]

The first prints of a 3d printed blank to be smashed in a compression mold. These are 37mm diameter and 7mm tall. I will need to adjust this ratio a bit more to make sure that I have enough printed volume to completely fill the mold, but not ooze out too much, if at all. As it is now I believe that I have too much volume and that it will ooze out of the mold and waste material and time. 34.5mm diameter and 4.5mm height is closer to the volume of a standard chip. Final result after molding will be standard 39mm x 3.5mm weighing in at 9.5g.

 

[tetsuya]

Awesome. Can't wait to see the final result

 

[FinnPD]

Awesome. Can't wait to see the final result

now I just need to figure out a way to smash these into shape. hmmmm......
Melting temp of PLA is 215C. I am thinking I will use a 3d printed mold made from PEEK (very high temp resistant polymer that will not burn). I will preheat the chip blank in an oven to 200C so its soft. Put the hot blank into the cold mold and smash it! It will be slow and janky. I wont get great detail, but it will prove the concept for low cost and help me establish my final blank sizes. Then maybe I can send a bunch off to a mold shop for a more professional result. We shall see..... I appreciate your enthusiasm!

 

[BGinGA]

I think you need a better understanding of the current chip compression process.

Using existing (or similar) equipment, high heat and high pressure are both required to a) get the blank soft enough to deform and completely (over)-fill the mold cavity, and to b) 'set' the material into it's final (hardened) chemical state. (Cooking it, so to speak -- turning batter into cookies...)

Squishing the blank beyond the confines of the mold is standard process (to ensure 100% fill), and the chips are subsequently machined to a consistent diameter. Final chip thickness is a product of the mold's dimensions, not the blank's.

I don't think a blank that is 2x the final thickness is going to work as you imagine. All that extra material has to go somewhere...

 

[FinnPD]

I think you need a better understanding of the current chip compression process.

Using existing (or similar) equipment, high heat and high pressure are both required to a) get the blank soft enough to deform and completely (over)-fill the mold cavity, and to b) 'set' the material into it's final (hardened) chemical state. (Cooking it, so to speak -- turning batter into cookies...)

Squishing the blank beyond the confines of the mold is standard process (to ensure 100% fill), and the chips are subsequently machined to a consistent diameter. Final chip thickness is a product of the mold's dimensions, not the blank's.

I don't think a blank that is 2x the final thickness is going to work as you imagine. All that extra material has to go somewhere...

Hello Sir,

I do indeed need a better understanding of the compression molding process and specifically how its used to create the type of chips that we love. However, this adventure is to see how I can use 3d printers to create a blank for compression molding. Since this is a new idea (at least that I know of) there will be untraditional strategies and methods to achieve this goal that will deviate from the traditions.

I can provide high heat and pressure using lower cost and less elaborate methods at this stage. Ideally I would like to find a way for individuals with 3d printers to be able to use my process to create a custom chip design at home without access to expensive molding equipment. It will take a long time and not be as fast as an actual manufacturer of high quality chips, but people who use 3d printers as a hobby are patient and are used to printing 100's of hours to complete a project.

My idea more resembles minting a metal coin (gold/silver) more than a compression molding process. Technically the process of minting a coin is compression molding. Its just designed for metal vs plastic and does not need the elaborate heating and cooling capability. See here starting at 3:30 and on to the end. This is what I am focusing on at this stage.

Calculating a predetermined and precisely controlled volume of the blank using a 3d printer can save material and possibly the machining step if I can get this dialed in. Notice in the video the coin is basically finished when it comes from the mold. I agree that 7mm thickness is probably too much if printed solid, but you can print 50% fill for example and then pressed into a solid down to the desired 3.5mm. I understand that the physical mold is what ultimately controls the finished size and shape of the chip. My concern with a 50% fill is what happens to the air inside, and how does the air escape? Will this cause bubbles in the part, and prevent the part from molding into a solid complete piece? I dunno yet.... As you said "it has to go somewhere." This is true for both plastic and trapped air.

Discovering what will and what will not work at this stage is the goal. You bring up good points to consider and I appreciate that.