Im thinking of 3D printing a walking stick, just wondering if anyone could tell me if the material is strong enough to support weight in that form. Was thinking of printing it in sections with a screw fitting on each piece so i could connect the pieces after printing. I know you can print in metals like steel at shapeways but im not sure if they are comparable to 'standard' steel. Thanks for any advice.
Depends on the printing method/material used tbh, thoguh I definitely wouldn't trust my weight to the 3d-printer resin... for metal CNC would probably be better [and cheaper] for a cane imo... Know a few ppl who do nice carved wooden ones if that kinda thing floats your boat...
Yer, if you could point me in their direction would be interested to at least take a look. Im a 3D artist so the idea of creating my own from scratch was quite appealing
As long as you're after a round(ish) cane then getting it turned out of 6061 aluminium, or something similar, is probably you're best bet. It would be easy for a machinist to turn and nice and light. I would offer but there's no way I could squeeze it in at work at the moment! I definitely wouldn't take the 3D printing route, especially if you wanted the pieces to thread together. I've had to 3D print threads and it takes ages! Edit: Laser sintering would work, but may cost more than you're after!
Lathe would be the best way imo, as for doing it in sections and screwing together I don't think that's a viable way tbh it won't be very strong out of aluminium the joins will be the weak point's
Yes, I should have mentioned that you could do it as a single piece on a lathe. Ally on ally threads aren't an ideal solution.
Titanium can be 3D printed into structural parts, Charge bikes use 3D print ti dropouts. As for who can do that in the UK I have no clue, Charge's parts are made by a Taiwanese firm. A tubular piece of Ti or Steel with a machined/turned Alu head that screws onto the end would be much simpler to make. Or turn the whole thing from one piece as mentioned above.
