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If you had a wire feeder with a actuated barrier just past the tip you can fairly easily bend wire into controlled shapes pretty well. If you printed channels
by Lerc 1y ago
If you had a wire feeder with a actuated barrier just past the tip you can fairly easily bend wire into controlled shapes pretty well. If you printed channels for them to sit in, I think they could be placed.
- joshmarinacci 1y agoWhen I worked at Markforged we had a printer that could put solid carbon fiber threads into the print using a second extruder (on the same print head), so it's certainly possible. It was $20k, though. Getting this down to something accessible to hobbyists is the challenge. I think it will happen one day, though.
- Aurornis 1y agoCNC wire benders exist, but they're solving a different problem: They bend the wire in free space, not on to a surface. You would have to design the part and the wire such that the part never comes around into the space occupied by the head, which would limit it to only very basic and small shapes.
- Xmd5a 1y agoMaybe lay chains instead of wires. Apply tension to the chain, ensuring that it conducts current and use fast solidifying glue to fix it in place/make it adhere to the surface/insulate it.
- Lerc 1y agoI was thinking you'd print a channel where the wire would be placed, bend the wire to the shape of the channel, place it, and print over the top. Some geometries wouldn't work, but it would be sufficient to make shapes like you see in breadboard connections (up, zigzag around, down)