As the title says, I’ll be here most of today starting at 9:00 central US time through the afternoon if people are still asking questions. If someone finds this late to the party, feel free to still comment or send me a direct message and I’ll do my best to get back to everyone.Two years ago I began my research around metal additive manufacturing. I was fortunate enough to be in the right place at the right time when I graduated from undergrad, and had the opportunity to work with a new system that was being brought to Iowa State. Later in the fall of 2015, we received our ProX300 system and immediately began work on projects for companies across Iowa. Throughout the past two years, I have been the primary researcher for the system, and only graduate student working with the technology. The project was funded through CIRAS, whose primary goal for this project was to help introduce companies to the wide range of capabilities brought to life with metal additive.For machine specs, you can find the 3D Systems brochure here. This system uses a 500 watt fiber optic laser to melt any available material to a 250×250 mm baseplate. The system at Iowa State has exclusively used 17-4 PH stainless steel due to its cost and usability.I’ve put together a few albums to illustrate a few of the projects I’ve worked on the past two years.This album covers a good introduction to my work in story format and gives a quick overview of the projects I’ve completed during my research.This album holds several more images from my research in a less organized format.This album has several charts and microscope images of some of the testing completed during my research.You can find a few videos on my YouTube channel, including this recording of the process as well as this one, and a video of our EDM removing some parts as a bonus.Process Info:250 x 250 mm steel base plate5-35 µm diameter 17-4 PH steel powderCompacting Roller (ProX300 only)40 µm Layers60-6000 layers in a given part500 Watt laser~100 µm beam diameter ( A fine mechanical pencil lead is 5x larger than this)Melts powder starting at plate, then into the previous layer at 100-3000 mm/s ~(0.2 – 6.7 mph)I’ve worked with the following systems if anyone has specific questions on anything.ProX300 – Software, hardware, maintenance, upkeep, build setup and monitoring, etc. (I’ve probably spent more time with this thing than my wife some weeks..)3D Systems Software – Phenix Manufacturing, Phenix Processing, 3DXpert (Well versed in all three)CAD Software – Solidworks, Inventor, some Meshmixer, and RhinoAny post processing of the plates including EDM, media-blasting, machining, polishing, etc.Some experience with the MarkForged Mark 2 and Dremel FDM system.I’ve given a few hundred tours in the past two years, but I expect you enthusiasts to really challenge me today. Fire away! http://ift.tt/2wJd1pX