Wire 3D Printer

This is my attempt to build a 3D printer for printing metal. The wire gets melted by high current which flows from the printhead across the wire to the buildplate. The current is created by an old microwave oven transformer with a 50mm² cable as secondary coil. The heating intensity is controlled by a phase-fired controller connected to the primary coil which can be controlled by the part cooling fan parameter of the slicer software. The printer is compatible with any FDM printer slicer software.

I started this project because I ever wanted to print metal parts since I bought my first 3D printer back in 2017, but there are still no affordable and easy to use metal 3D printers out there. The project is inspired by Digital Alloy’s Joule Printing which also heats the wire with high current instead of an arc.
https://www.digitalalloys.com/technology/

The printer is actually a FDM 3D printer built from an old microwave oven transformer and some other not special parts, which prints with welding wire instead of plastic filament. The only difference to a normal plastic FDM printer is that the heat (around 1450°C) is created by high current flowing trough thin wire instead of plastic filament melting in a heated nozzle.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FQGzJXFlGs&feature=youtu.be

A BOM will follow in the next few days.

I’m still working on the build and planning to add a Z probe, a LCD Controller and maybe a polycarbonate glass front door + lid for a ventilation system.

This project is also available on Hackaday.io
https://hackaday.io/project/169412-wire-3d-printer