That price per KG is nuts. I cannot see this taking off for the hobbyist or even small companies till that goes way down.

Another issue with SLS is that any parts that are manifold have to be 100% infill. If you want larger parts that are light or use less material then a large enough hole has to be designed into the part to let unused material escape.

I always love how honest and real your reviews are. SLS printing does look good for businesses, but that mess and cost doesn't look practical for normal people. Thank you for all the great videos.

Starting the video: "I'm also going to crush some hopes and dreams in the process." He just smiles, unashamed.

Barely having worked with SLS, this was very informative. Thanks!

Dear Angus, i work at an institute in germany and we can regenerate the heat deflected pa12 sls-material from the build chamber and reuse it for one time. So our Partner, a company can offer the half of the price for the Material. We also have better material properties than the original material. You also forgot the Sintratec S1 from switzerland. We will get one next week. If you are interested, i can send you a Feedback. But nice video, you hit a lot of facts and the answer why they use black material is also correct. I give a thumbs up ;)

In my mind, SLS = Metal sintering for some reason. When I heard it was nylon, I was a little bit surprised, especially given how the material seems to be just powdered plastic.

That's the best explanation of SLS, well done Angus!!

You film is the most informative material about this technology for a home maker, I have ever seen. Thank you!

Thats no cube!

Very well articulated and well rounded presentation, and summary, like how you cover the technical aspects and facts, and bring it back into simple relative terms, and not get lost in the jargon, thank you! :)

I think you are genuently the only youtuber who really goes in depth for all your videos, at least in 3d printing. No better source of trustwothy info than MakersMuse

I can't wait to see what they come out with over the next few years, would love to have sls at home after they fix the drawbacks. Thanks for sharing and as always Keep Building👍

Did not know about the issues with reusing the powder, that is very interesting and inconvenient . Thanks for explaining it

Love the knowledge you're giving to us.

Very informative Angus, thank you! I hadnt even considered the Nylon absorbing moisture even after the sintering.

Great video Angus, the fact you mentioned the powder product shouldn't be handled in a closed residential environment is very important, keep up the great content and be safe !

Fantastic explanation as always. Thanks for keeping us informed Angus.

Small volume, affordable, metal sintering machines, even if they are slow, will be something to keep an eye out for too now that these techs are patent free. It's one of the few processes that can actually produce descent metal parts. SLA or FFF(FDM) can't do these in any iteration of the technology. But it'll be good to see these nylon printing machines showing up on 3d hubs and the like by dedicated home users as an option.

Man, the tolerance test and book were extremely impressive. The precision of SLS makes your tolerance test look useless!

Wow, I had no idea about the lack of full reusability of the powder. Great information to know before buying such an expensive machine.

Great video! I need to reconsider the powder machine purchase - you hit on all the points I have been wondering about.

Learned a lot watching this - thanks Angus!

You've convinced me that SLS is not the wave of the future.

Excellent episode. Very interesting technologies that are becoming more affordable everyday for the consumer. Keep up the good work.

This makes my manufacturing nerd self happy. Great video.

Model: stereographic projection of a hyperdodecahedron Muse: "cube"

wow, that was a fantastic video! great infos. thanks a lot!

It's amazing how far the technology has come

Yes, this was VERY useful! Thanks a lot!

Great summary of the current state of play Angus! I keep having to stop myself buying a Lisa until I can deal with all the practicalities...!

Great Information - My Eyes Have Been Opened.

I’ve never even heard of SLS before now. Great video!

Thanks Man, very informative

Great informative video. Thanks!

Great job explaining this Angus. I also like your shirt.

Worked with an eos M290 Metal Printer before. It is a very impressive machine creating amazing parts.

Great information, well done

Thanks Angus, really good content. Cheers

Lots of good information on SLS there. Parts I've had done look great, not so great for working/structural parts though. And if you have hollows they can be troublesome to clean out and if left uncleaned you get powder coming out over time.

Hi Angus. Haven't seen you down at the brewery for the past couple of weeks! Just one point I'll make on this video. Printing successfully with 100% virgin powder is almost impossible. What you'll find is that the higher the virgin powder, the better the defenition, however, the more the virgin powder, the more the warping/deformation. Pure virgin will warp at 1cm^2 layers. I print at 20% virgin with a new type powder. This provides a good compromise between warping and part quality. I warm up the powder to a point just under the glass transition temperature. Cooling is such a slow process. In ideal circumstances I allow twice the build time for cooling. Thanks for the awesome videos. I owe you a beer next time I see you.

good info, great video!!!

Great educational video. I don’t think I’ll be swapping out my FDM printers any time soon.

Great video thanks. Looks like we need a few more years before the price gets better

This review makes it so much easier to know when to use this technology. Its like ink jet printers, awesome for some applications but overly expensive and too delicate prints for others.

Awesome video Angus! Watched a lot of your videos and learned a lot! I now own 3 FDM printers at home. Its technology most affordable, practical and clean! I would never have the patience to dress up like a medical technician whie running 3D prints. Kind of takes the fun out of the hobby.

Very good video, full of great info; thanks that! It's nice to see how 3d printing is improving more and more. The market is still quite fragmented (same with VR at this moment) and until it standardizes, the prices are gonna be prohibitive for the regular Joe. But leaving that out, as long as plastic is so expensive I don't see them becoming a mainstream product. I remember when we all used to have one or two regular 2D printers at home. Now a cartridge is more expensive than a brand new machine.

Great video, I hadn’t actually heard of SLS before and this seems like a great breakdown of the concept. On a related note, have you tried sandblasting as a clean up technique on PLA prints?

Cubes have evolved since my time.

Very informative!

May I take this opportunity to commend you on your bravery for wearing that shirt ;P

is the Latus infill actually needed? your channel and other makers are a wealth of info, after a week of taking all the info in I've learned alot, and it's opening a new avenue to revenue, thx tons

Great video!

Great summary! Any developments in SLS since last year?

Really well done and informative video. Any idea if there are any polymer SLM systems on the horizon? Great shirt btw :p

Very nice and useful video. SLS is really great but i was not aware about the difficulties you mentioned. I give a 5-Star on this video. ;-)

Thanks for the update always good to know where the 3D printing world is going. As you say to much cost and mess at the moment, so we will stay clear for now.

I agree with you that SLS is definitely the best (and my favorite) form of additive manufacturing. With the strength, volume, and materials that can be used it's certainly a staple in the industrial 3d printing world. As for home use, I don't think it will ever be a viable option for a hobbyist unless they were using it for a business of some sort. SLA and DLP systems are a bit more home friendly, but with the mess of resins and such they definitely have a niche market as well. The video was great as well, and sure to spark a lot of good discussion.

Love the shirt man !

I think this is also the case with Multijet fusion of HP. I've also observed the quality degrades as I reuse the powder. Although it has high reusability ratio, it doesn't guarantee you the output's quality especially when the powder has turned yellowish.

Great video mate. A real shame about re-using powder not being viable. Maybe one day we will have materials we can use over and over?

I worked for EOS and we used 60% used with 40% new powder for PA12. The prints were perfect. Even higher amounts of used powder are possible, but the necessary parameters aren't known yet.

If they changed there chamber design so that it could be sized to item you are printing then they could cut down on the waisted powder. Must be a way to do that. Great video, lots of information !

thanks for review

I love the precision of it... (a good portion of my potential uses for a 3d printer require rather high precision) And the idea you could dye the white stuff... But the cost and mess of it! Ouch!

Great Video, Do any of the companies offer advice on what to do with the old powder ? I'm guessing that it would end up as landfill as I can't imagine anyone would be able to recycle the powder due to impurities and the relatively small quantities that they could harvest from users.

Maybe chamber dividers would be a good solution in order to cut down the amount of powder needed for a build job. Shrinkage is something that can be calculated within the software. More important for my analytic way of thinking might be the way the powder will have to be condensed throughout the build area.

Hello my friend I just retired and I’m thinking of entering the 3D minefield- your reviews are most helpful. There is one thing. When looking on Aliexpress etc apart from the scam of making things look cheap by not including the shipping what is confusing is who exactly makes which printer and who just sells them. Can you enlighten me and perhaps others by a post concerning who the manufacturers are of which printers particularly the lesser known ones- are they all made in the same factory or what. My experience with optical instruments such as microscopes is that it looks like there are lots of makers but there are only about half a dozen each making similar items- very similar situation with guitars too. If one needs to get technical advice from a manufacturer it helps to know if one is talking to someone who actually knows the machine inside out. Sites like yours help but not if warranties are involved. Keep up the great work you are excellent at communicating!

Hey Angus, great info you give here. What would be the weight of a fully filled chamber in the Sinter-it, meaning... If I fully utilize the chamber with multiple prints, what would be the price to start the project?

I seriously thought FDM stood for Filament Dispensing Machine. Thank you Angus. You saved me from embarrassment at a local gathering.

Really nice and informative video Angus. I think SLS might be the future for some small companies, but at it's current state definitely not for individuals as it is too messy and wasteful if you do not have everything well planned. What I'm wondering is where Metal 3D printers will take us, I think those will be the future, regardless of the technology.

That “cube” looks good ;)

A couple of stands over from ours at TCT, there was a company doing a clean-out of their SLS printer during the end of show break-down - I should have photographed it - the guy was in a full head-to-toe 'bunny suit', complete with overboots, a full-face breathing mask system, and was connected to the machine via an antistatic strap. I'm guessing that dust gets everywhere, and the particle size makes it a possible fire/explosion hazard (the antistatic strap) under the wrong circumstances.

I'm currently working on an open source slm design. With all the powder handling automated and full melt I believe I will get better material properties and more material options. (Using color spectrometer and machine vision to calibrate settings for different materials).

@makersmuse there is a company voxeljet that produces parts for "investment casting" and they use binder to glue plastic powder together. similar to ink-jet printers with added z axis!

From experience FDM printed Nylon is a lot tougher than SLS Nylon.

I am likely to get a Fuse for my business, but I agree with the home stuff, and that is why i think the 3d printing business won't become outdated by home makers just yet. I am looking forward to metal SLS and SLM that is cost effective too since the patents are running out on them too. £1-2mil for one is a little much for me even as a small business to get into.

This is why you are awesome!!!

I never heard of this type of printing. Very interesting and informative video keep it up 👍

So you think it would be possible to ball mill the powder back to a finer particle size for more efficient reuse? Or is there something else other than particle size at play that interferes with reuse?

Hi Angus, very interesting information. So SLS isn't about to kill off FDM as a home 3D printer, and it seems if we want SLS parts using a printing service is currently the best way to do it. Hopefully as the technology becomes more widespread the costs will fall for these services.

I work in a plating shop dealing with SLS parts, surface density is critical for post processing and you lose that surface density when building thin walled parts. I’ve noticed that shapeways uses lowered density parts to deal with this issue. If you get parts from them, you will need to sand and pick at them to get rid of this. Also a resin coating or primer will help you with cleaning this up, if you don’t have a sand blaster. Definitely would recommend a dusk mask, that would handle the finest particles

There is no single 3D print tech that will be “the future”, same as there’s no single traditional manufacturing process that “won”. And there will surely be even more processes as the tech evolves.

I use EOS machines for metal DMLS at work, and they are pretty awesome, but obviously expensive. Compared to other DMLS machines I’ve used though, they’re definitely the most reliable

Can you review the iro3d? It's a $6,000 selective powder deposition printer. It does pretty much any type of metal, apparently has no shrinkage and 100% density. I would be very interested to know whether I can use that to make actual parts for a machine.

I have a question can i print an empty sfear without holes i suppose not because i cant take the powder out am i right?

Keep it up!

Thanks for sharing :-)

If you sent the used powder through a mortar and pestle, would it fix the ‘fluffiness,’ or is there actually damage to the polymer?

For Commercial? Possibly. But not for consumer 3D printing. At least that's my idea.

Makers MUSE, I really enjoyed this video. You touched on points regarding the SLS technology of the Sinterit Lisa and Formlabs that I have never heard of let alone considered. As your post was initially Oct 12,2017, do you have any updates or follow-ups to advancement of this technologies by these two companies. Additionally, have you ventured acquired either of these machines yourself?

Your shirt is awesome!

very nice video

Great vid

Watching this in 2020. As a hobbyist, It's still FDM vs SLA/MSLA

IIRC years ago, the first 3D printer I read about in development was SLS.

One correction: SLS nylon parts can often be stronger than injection molded nylon. SLS nylon is PA12, while injection molded nylon is usually PA6 or PA66 and the SLS process allows more complete crystallization, both of which increase strength. However, that makes them more brittle both because of the increased strength and because of gaps left by partially melted material at the interface of each layer. This has been shown by a few different university labs

Great video. Form labs told in a tested.com video that the color is because of the low power lasers.

Great video! 😊 When I see this powder, I think micro-plastic, environment and health. It must be viritualy impossible to handle this powder in a home without spilling a bit. And where does the spill go? I guess in the lungs, and somewere in the nature. Which type of 3D printing technology is best when we take the environment in consideration? Thanks again for another great video.

So we had a 100% price drop in 2 years for SLS. Maybe one magnitude more and we are in the hobby sector. But what about other, power based system, like sandstone - it does not require much heating during the process but needs support in some occasions. .the post processing has extra steps like firing it, glueing and firing again. But some makers or artist who work with clay own a oven. I finished my project on 3D printing yesterday by giving the talk at school. I want to thank you, as you were a good source for information, help and entertainment during the process.