[AR] Re: Electroforming Experiment
- From: Ed LeBouthillier <codemonky@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: arocket@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 17 Aug 2019 08:16:56 -0700 (GMT-07:00)
Seems that oxide formation is the real hurdle.
Vapor deposition is really easy to do though.
I have made vapor deposited aluminum mirrors, but am unsure about crystal
structure for structural applications. Probably fairly fine grained, could
benefit from annealing.
Is this with equipment at home? Is the equipment expensive/hard to obtain?
I've seen videos on sputtering. Some of it can be done by hobbyists/amateurs.
I've also seen chemically deposited mirror finished (e.g. silver) and it seems
fairly straightforward.
In general, I'm not opposed to approaches/technologies that are specialized and
best done on slightly larger production scales. I'm always impressed with the
support base around technologies like hobbyist jet engines. The
hobbyist/amateur base goes back into the 1960's (that I know of) and had no
support outside of its own hobbyists base. Today there is a thriving small
support industry around this area and the availability of small jet engines has
allowed them to be applied to commercial applications.
In some ways, the personal 3D printing environment started that way (with
RepRap and similar hobbyist/amateur printers in the early 2000's) and has
morphed into a commercial support base. I followed the 3D printing hobbyist
base since the beginning and watched it morph over the years into a more
sophisticated Prosumer market.
I built a 3D printer back in 2012 which I still have. At the time, there was a
small commercial support market for the hobbyist base derived by hobbyists,
themselves. But commercial printers were expensive, like, say, buying a small
high performance rocket engines is today. At the time, there was no other
option for me than to build it. Even in 2015/2016, the commercial offerings
were a bit expensive and I built another one. Today, I wouldn't recommend
building one's own 3D printer. Only if one really wants to "just build one" and
understand the technology in depth (which isn't a bad thing at all) or because
something specialized is too expensive. In fact, I'm looking forward to buying
my first commercial 3D printer in the next few weeks.
So, these specialized industry's bases originated among hobbyists/amateurs and
then developed into full-fledged commercial operations. I'd like to see
something similar develop for amateur rocketry.
Then again, diamond film deposition is not out of
the realm of possibility- better thermal conductivity and higher strength to
weight than aluminum.
Wouldn't it be brittle? I don't think you could do a whole combustion chamber
or tanks or valves with this. I would think that thermal expansion issues would
cause it to break readily.
In general, I'm really impressed with what Ultramet has done with CVD.
But, the equipment seems rather specialized. It seems outside of the realm
of do-able by hobbyists/amateurs.
Downside is that it is a very slow process and mandrel-substrate design
could be interesting.
My general approach is to understand/master the things that those before
me have perfected and then innovate.
At this point, I'm just trying to get good with basic electroforming.
As a technology, it seems that it _is_ in the realm of things do-able by
amateurs/hobbyists. There is a tremendous diversity of mechanisms that can be
done with this technology, from valves to tanks to combustion chambers.
That doesn't mean that it might not be better done by slightly larger scale
commercial operations, but it is a technology that a hobbyist base could
develop and support (it seems to me).
Cheers,
Ed L
Other related posts:
