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Suppose we had a 3D printer that can spew molten metal out of a 0.1mm hot nozzle and that we can control the heat at the last 5mm of the Tungsten hot nozzle's tip.

I'm wondering then how would you get the metal to "stick" to the flatbed (the work surface)?

Also (another question) as far as printing traces on a flat circuit board, I think you could could put down layers of fiber (of something insulative say fiberglass) and put on a layer of epoxy out of a third print head, and right before the epoxy dries, you have a window of time in which the freshly solidified metal will stick to the epoxy. Do you think that should work?

Since a 0.1-.3mm bead of metal should be cooled by the epoxy which is somewhat thick.Homemade Tungesten hot nozzle

The picture above is of the Tungsten hot head I made a long time ago. It does have a 0.1mm emitter hole, and the bottom side is flat and the base (with flange) is about 10mm wide. There is a 0.7mm (iirc) material feed hole. The material has to be stiff enough so that you can kind of force it through the nozzle like how a hot glue gun works, in principle.

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    $\begingroup$ The default would be the same metal as the print head is depositing? If the metal is molten, and you have an insert atmosphere to prevent oxidation it will probably stick to itself just fine. $\endgroup$
    – Drew
    Apr 8, 2022 at 19:47
  • $\begingroup$ @Drew Currently gonna design it with the MIG welder approach which just releases some nitrogen or argon into a shield/cone surrounding a tungsten rod. I can post more pictures of my setup so far if you're interested. Well, I don't need nitrogen gas just to make a mess with liquid-hot metal spewing from the nozzle assuming the copper doesn't start to bend prematurely. Other than the tungsten there will be ceramic, aluminum and teflon 0.8mm ID material all screwed together so that it forms a straight line. The micro teflon tubes will extend all the way to the material-pushing wheels. $\endgroup$
    – Daniel Donnelly
    Apr 10, 2022 at 3:04
  • $\begingroup$ So that there is no "opportunity" for it to bend, but we'll see... Currently 22 guage wire which is about 6.6mm seems to be a snug fit. $\endgroup$
    – Daniel Donnelly
    Apr 10, 2022 at 3:08

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