Design Guide

for 3D Printing
with Metals
 METAL X DESIGN GUIDE

Table of Contents

1 Metal X Design Reference Sheet 3

2 Optimize For Printing 5

3 Optimize For Washing 6

4 Optimize For Sintering 7

5 Strategic Metal Printing Practices 8

6 Post-Processing Metal Parts 9

7 Material Selection 10

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 METAL X DESIGN GUIDE

Metal X Design Reference Sheet

Listed dimensions are as designed for your final part unless otherwise specified. These guides serve as recommendations and
may not reflect all implementations, since 3D printing is a geometry dependent process.

Maximum Final Part Size

These are the maximum post-sintered dimensions of a single part made with the
Metal X system, including scaling factors, print volume, part raft and setter tray. Use
Stacked Setter for wide parts and batches; use Single Setter for tall parts.

Sinter-2 Stacked Setter Sinter-2 Single Setter

Configuration Configuration Sinter-1

Upper Setter Plate Lower Setter Plate Lower Setter Plate Setter Plate
Stacked Stacked Alone Standard

X: 235.0 mm (9.25”) 235.0 mm (9.25”) 235.0 mm (9.25”) 235.0 mm (9.25”)

R Z2 Y: 162.5 mm (6.40”) 75.0 mm (2.95”) 123.3 mm (4.85”) 68.3 mm (2.69”)
Z1
Z2: 87.0 mm (3.42”) 49.4 mm (1.94”) 136.5 mm (5.37”) 80.9 mm (3.19”)
X Z­1: 37.9 mm (1.49”) N/A 129.1 mm (5.08”) 69.2 mm (2.72”)
Y R: 97.4 mm (3.83”) N/A 102.5 mm (4.04”) 55.5 mm (2.19”)

Part size is limited by the size of the print chamber, wash station, and furnace. While larger parts are
achievable, typical parts up to 100x100x100 mm (or 100x100x80 mm (LxWxH) for Copper) have been the
most successful. Larger parts may warp or suffer from part integrity degradation if they sit too long on the
build plate or crack in the furnace due to high stresses.

Minimum Part Dimensions

X: 2.0 mm (0.079”)
Z
Y: 2.0 mm (0.079”)
Z: 1.3 mm (0.049”)
X Y
Minimum part size is limited to the extrusion width and height of each bead. The
dimensions are derived from the minimum number of roof layers, floor layers, and
shells needed to print a part successfully.

Unsupported Overhang

17-4 PH, A2, D2, H13 Inconel, Copper

θ: 45o θ: 50o
θ This is the minimum angle to the horizontal at which a feature of a part can
print without needing supports to hold it up. Eiger will generate supports for all
overhangs with angles below θ.

Z Minimum Hole Diameter

XY: 1.5 mm (0.059”)

Z: 1.0 mm (0.039”)

Holes with too small a diameter may close off during printing or print inaccurately.
XY Horizontal surface holes (Z) print more precisely than vertical surface holes (XY).

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 METAL X DESIGN GUIDE

Metal X Design Reference Sheet

Z Minimum Post Diameter

XY: 3.0 mm (0.118”)

Z: 3.0 mm (0.118”)

Posts with too small a diameter may not print or sinter precisely. Consider adding
fillets to the bases of posts to reduce the potential for shearing in the green state.
XY

H > 6W
H = 6W Important note: Avoid freestanding features with heights
(H) more than six times their width (W). These are more
H < 6W
susceptible to lean during sintering. Integrate inherently
stable features like ribs or draft angles to support them.

Minimum Engraved Features

Z Layer features
H: 0.13 mm (0.005”)
H
W: 0.50 mm (0.019”)
W

Horizontal XY features
H: 1.5 mm (0.059”)
H
D

D: 0.5 mm (0.019”)

Vertical XY features
D
W

W: 0.5 mm (0.019”)
D: 0.5 mm (0.019”)

An engraved feature is one that is recessed below the surface of the model.
Common examples include lettering and texture. Engraved features may blend
into the rest of the model if they are too small.

Minimum Embossed Features

Z Layer features
W
H: 0.13 mm (0.005”)
H
W: 1.0 mm (0.039”)
D
Horizontal XY features
H H: 1.3 mm (0.049”)
D: 0.5 mm (0.019”)

D
W Vertical XY features
W: 1.0 mm (0.039”)
D: 0.5 mm (0.019”)

An embossed feature is one that is raised above the surface of the model.
Common examples include lettering and texture. Embossed features may
blend into the rest of the model if they are too small.

1.0 mm Important note: To eliminate gaps in features less than

(0.039”)
than 2.0 mm (0.079”) wide, design embosses to be even
multiples of 0.25 mm (0.01”), the width of a single post-
sintered extrusion of metal.

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 METAL X DESIGN GUIDE

Optimize For Printing

As you design your part, consider how it can be optimized for the
printing process. Below are four considerations to keep in mind
when designing: 57.5

x2
Ø2

6
7.5

6.
Ø
1. Identify Critical Dimensions

17.5
3D printers have higher precision in planes parallel to the build
plate. What are your critical dimensions or features?
R6
8
Units: mm

2. Maximize Bed Contact

Greater surface area on the print bed minimizes supports and

improves bed adhesion. Which face of your part contacts the
bed?

3. Reduce Supports

Fewer supports reduce printing and processing time. How can

you design to minimize supports? Are the supports in your part
accessible?

4. Optimize Your Production Workflow

Consider overall throughput. How will parts pack in the furnace to

lower batch costs? Can your production schedule accommodate
much longer print/wash/dry times for solid infill parts? When
should you kick off print / sinter runs to optimize throughput?

Modify Overhangs to Optimize Supports

Supports are necessary to prevent overhang collapse during printing and sintering. Consider where your parts will require
supports and what you can do to minimize supports to decrease print time. Ensure the supports on your part are easy to
remove before you print. If not, consider modifying overhangs to improve support removal, or use the Separable Supports
alpha feature (See Alpha Support Structures Guide) to break up your supports and make each segment easy to extract.

Eliminate Supports Simplify Support Removal

Chamfer small overhangs Break up supports with chamfers on edges

Refer to Maximum Unsupported Overhang, pg 3 Refer to Maximum Unsupported Overhang, pg 3

Teardrop XY holes to clear channels Add slits to separate segments

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 METAL X DESIGN GUIDE

Optimize For Washing

Shell Out Thick Parts

The thicker your part is, the longer it will take to wash. Shell out large
volumes and increase surface area to minimize the time your parts spend in
the wash. Try to maintain consistent wall thickness across your part.

Thicker part sections Shell parts for a faster

increase wash time wash time

Wash Bowls Upside Down

Wash bowl-shaped parts upside down (no need to change print orientation).
The washing solvent is lighter than the binder material. When upside-down,
the solvent permeates up into the bowl, resulting in a faster wash time.
Slower wash time in printed Faster wash time when
orientation inverted

Triangular vs. Solid Infill vs. Thick Walls

Print settings will also impact washing and drying times.

Thicker walls and floors take longer to dry than standard
triangular infill parts, but solid infill parts take considerably
longer than either; Eiger accounts for part thickness and infill
when estimating wash times. When planning solid infill part
production, always account for the extended wash/dry cycle
in your timeline.

Wash times are heavily dependent on the thickest cross-

sectional area feature of a green part. The Wash Time graph
at right provides an overview of how the cross-sectional area
of standard triangular infill parts will impact your workflow
compared to non-default settings. Solid infill parts will
drastically increase wash times as this area increases.

The graph at lower right shows how the drying time is

impacted by deviating from default settings. Drying time
for triangular infill parts is independent of part dimension;
however, selecting solid infill can significantly increase
drying times, particularly for larger parts.

For more information on the washing process and required

mass loss for each of the materials, please see our support
documentation.

(Note that these graphs are not to scale. Always follow the
wash and drying times provided by Eiger.)

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 METAL X DESIGN GUIDE

Optimize For Sintering

Reduce Stress Concentrations

Parts undergo thermal stresses when sintering because they pull
themselves together as they shrink. Reduce stress concentrations by
filleting your edges and designing gradual changes in thickness.

Sharp edges may cause Smooth transitions reduce

deformation during sintering deformation

Ensure Features are Well Balanced

As parts go through the sintering process, the heat induces a clay-like
state that makes them malleable. If your parts don’t need supports, ensure
they are inherently stable in their printed orientation. Avoid top-heavy,
cantilevered, or tall and thin features.
Cantilevered features may Balanced features stay
topple when sintered supported during sintering

Support Freestanding Features

Tall, thin features more than six times their height may lean or topple during
sintering. Support freestanding features by adding draft angles or ribs to
increase their strength and inherent stability during sintering.
Tall standalone features can Ribs and draft angles
lean or topple during sintering provide inherent stability

Chamfer Bottom Edges

The bottom edge of your part may splay out during sintering. Adding a 0.5-
1.0 mm (0.02”-0.04”) chamfer to the bottom edges of your part will prevent
splayed edges, especially on small features like holes and channels.
Straight bottom edges can Splaying avoided with
splay out during sintering chamfered bottom edge

Disable Part Rafts

By default Metal X parts are printed with a raft. The raft ensures good
adhesion to the print sheet and uniform part shrinkage during sintering,
and is clearly labeled with the material to help prevent mixups. You might
Good candidate for Use a raft to avoid consider disabling the raft for smaller parts that have good first-layer
raftless printing distortion when sintering
contact with the print bed and lack features that require a raft to prevent
distortion in sintering. Disabling the raft will produce a much smoother
bottom surface to the part.

Exposed Infill
Enable the Exposed Infill toggle for maximum weight reduction or to show off a part’s infill. Since the lack of a part
floor reduces bed contact, parts with exposed infill should always be printed with rafts enabled. Small vertical posts
may not print as well in this mode; it is also recommended to avoid low angle surfaces (1°-25° from horizontal).

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 METAL X DESIGN GUIDE

Strategic Metal Printing Practices

Think critically about what aspects of your design need to be 3D printed. Some features could be implemented more efficiently
with other manufacturing methods. When appropriate, integrate other parts into your design to save on print time, design
complexity, and cost. Below are some examples:

Use Pins for Alignment Features

Improve alignment precision and save material and print time by
pressing dowel pins into your parts or using shoulder bolts for
location. Dowel pins pressed into this gripper jaw locate it on a
robotic arm. This design change reduces supports and simplifies
print orientation.

Separate Printed from Simple Features

Isolate complex part features for metal 3D printing. Printing
an impeller with an integrated shaft will sacrifice optimal print
orientation for furnace orientation — it can only fit in the Sinter-1
sideways. Instead, the impeller can be printed apart from a turned
shaft to decrease print time and part complexity. The retaining
rings locate the impeller on the shaft, and the key acts as a shear
point that can be swapped if it fails.

Isolate Properties with Modular Features

This sheet metal stamp consists of a blank with metal printed
inserts. Isolating the metal inserts as separate parts localizes
metal properties to only the region they are required, so you don’t
need to print an entirely new tool for every revision. This also
makes maintenance and tool repair easy.

DON’T PRINT YOUR HARDWARE

Printing hardware is a poor use of the Metal X — purchasing off-the-shelf hardware is almost always more cost- and
time-efficient and produces better results. Hardware like bushings, bearings, and springs are produced with specialized
manufacturing processes and will not behave the same way when printed. Washers, nuts, bolts, and similar hardware are
cheaper and more effective to purchase than to print.

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 METAL X DESIGN GUIDE

Post-Processing Metal Parts

Machining and Polishing Sintered Parts
Roofs & Floors
(Z)
If you intend to machine or polish your parts post-sintering, we highly
recommend increasing the wall thickness of your part, which will give you
more room to face your parts. Use the table below to find the ideal amount
of material to remove. Don’t remove more than the stated wall thickness, or
Walls
you will cut through the shells and expose infill. Tool Steels must be annealed (XY)
before machining.
Shell Setting Shell Thickness Recommended Removal
Walls Roofs/Floors Walls Roofs/Floors

Default 1.0 mm (0.039”) 0.5 mm (0.020”) 0.3±0.15 mm (0.12±0.005”) 0.2± 0.1 mm (0.08±0.004”)
Recommended for 1.5 mm (0.059”) 1.5 mm (0.059”) 0.5±0.2 mm (0.02±0.008”) 0.5±0.2 mm (0.02±0.008”)
Machinability

Do not remove more than half the shell thickness or it will compromise part strength.
Eiger allows you to increase the shell thickness up to a maximum of 2.01 mm.

Threads Vertical
Thread Size Thread Orientation Recommendation

Use the table at right to < M3 Vertical Tap

identify what kinds of threaded Angled
(or < #5-40) Angled or Horizontal Tap

holes should be tapped or

M3-M8 Vertical Tap or Print
printed when designing (or #5-40 to 5/16”-18) Angled or Horizontal Tap
your part. Use 50% thread
engagement to size tapped M8-M10 Vertical Tap or Print
holes. Printed threads may Horizontal (or 5/16”-18 to 3/8”-16) Angled or Horizontal Print
need to be chased with a tap,
or need lapping compounds > M10 Vertical Print
(or > 3/8”-16) Angled or Horizontal Print
for an even thread.

Surface Roughness Surface Roughness Ra (μm) Roughness Ra (μin.)

Surface roughness data is provided to help Top 1.8 - 6.8 70 - 270

in understanding if post-processing will be
Side (Across Layers - 10 - 15 410 - 610
needed and also the impact of part orientation.
Z-direction)
The data is applicable to all materials available
on the Metal X. We expect 80 percent of parts Bottom with Raft 47 - 57 1,860 - 2,260
to fall in the listed ranges provided the printer
is maintained. Sanding data is for wet sanding Bottom without Raft 3.3 - 4.4 130 - 170
using 400 grit then 600 grit paper.
All Sides Sanded in 1.1 - 1.4 45 - 56
Green State

Green-State Sanding
Wet sanding green parts under warm water with 400-600 grit sandpaper Copper Oxidation Removal
or Scotch-Brite leaves a matte finish once sintered. Green parts are
Copper will oxidize over time, but it does not
fragile, so be cautious as any modifications may affect precision or
affect tensile strength or electrical conductivity.
sintering performance. Sand over a receptacle or filter to prevent sink
Citrisurf 77 is recommended for removing
clogging, and use proper PPE. Sanding brown parts (after wash) is not
surface oxidation on Copper parts.
recommended.

Some metal printed parts may be difficult to fixture for machining or tapping due to their complex geometry. You can use
Markforged composite printers to create conformal workholding to hold the metal parts in these cases.

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 METAL X DESIGN GUIDE

Material Selection
With a growing list of printable metals, how do you choose the right one? List out the part’s functional requirements, and that
will lead you to an optimal material for the job. What environment will the part operate in? What will it come in contact with, and
how? What behavior should it exhibit under stress or heat? Answer these questions to help select the material you need.

Stainless Steels
Stainless steels are versatile metals characterized by their excellent uniform corrosion resistance, high strength, and good
finish. Because of their high chromium content and low carbon content, they are low maintenance and easy to weld.

17-4 PH Stainless Steel is a common martensitic stainless steel, and can be precipitation hardened to adjust
mechanical properties to fit your application. This makes 17-4 PH an incredibly versatile material that can be tuned for a
variety of applications, including metalworking, aerospace, petrochemical, and medical industries.

Tool Steels
These steels are optimized for cutting and forming other materials, meaning they are typically abrasion resistant, hard, and
tough. Each class of tool steel is optimized to work with certain types of materials and applications.

A2 Tool Steel is a general-use, versatile tool steel that balances wear resistance and toughness. It performs well for
typical cold work impact- or forming-based tooling applications such as stamping, punching, and metal bending.

D2 Tool Steel is a tool steel best known for its wear resistance and hardness in cold-work applications. It can be
sharpened and heat treated to boost its hardness and hold an edge, and can be used for cutting tool applications.

H13 Tool Steel is a hot-work class steel optimized for its high temperature hardness and abrasion resistance. This
makes it a great fit for high temperature molding applications like inserts, cores, and dies. It is resistant to thermal
fatigue and premature heat-checking, and has excellent through-hardening properties.

Superalloys
Superalloys are high-performance alloys with excellent mechanical strength and stability at high temperatures. These alloys
are also highly corrosion resistant, often used in harsh environments, and exposed to extreme heat or chemicals.

Inconel 625 is well suited for high-heat and -pressure environments because it maintains its strength over a wide range
of temperatures. Combined with its corrosion resistance, it is well suited for petrochemical applications.

Non-Ferrous Metals
Non-ferrous metals have little to no iron in their molecular makeup, and often have a range of useful properties depending
on the metal and application. Many non-ferrous metals are lightweight, conductive, and easy to work with.

Copper is a ductile metal known for its high electrical and thermal conductivity, making it very useful for applications
requiring the transfer of current or dissipation of heat, including busbars, heat exchangers, and heat sinks.

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Design Guide
for 3D Printing
with Metals