The bottom hinge of my shower cabinet door is broken. Can’t buy a replacement because it’s too old. I think about design it and print in metal. Or to sawing and filling it out of a metallic block.

I‘m not sure how stable a metallic print is. The glass door is quite heavy either around 15 kilos. Do you guys have recommendations?

And do you know a metallic print service in Germany or Europe? I own just a plastic printer

  • teotwaki@lemmy.worldEnglish
    3·
    9 months ago

    I would model the part myself, print it myself and check for fit and function. Once the part design and tolerances confirmed, I would then either use a local or remote shop.

    Xometry.eu (no affiliation, never used them) appears to be in Europe and outsources to local shops. They have plastic and metal SLS, CNC, sheet metal, and everything else as possibilities. https://xometry.eu/en/direct-metal-laser-sintering/

    Another option is to use the Chinese PCB shops. PCBWay has amazing abilities these days: https://www.pcbway.com/rapid-prototyping/manufacture/?type=3&reffercode=TOP

    • DrunkenPirate@feddit.deOPEnglish
      2·
      8 months ago

      Hi guys, thx for all your help. My project is finally successful. Shower hinge repaired - entire shower cabinet usable now. Let’s give you a short feedback:

      • I‘ve chosen PCBway as it was the cheapest with 90€ for stainless steel, laser sintering.
      • Other both providers were around 300€ up to 1000€ ( this one in chrome though)
      • The production & delivery time was quite long with 2-3 weeks from China. But I‘m not in a hurry.
      • I did two plastic prototypes first and discovered always a few new details I didn’t recognize first.
      • The metallic print is stainless steel (hope better than Tesla quality) and it‘s fully printed - not the walls only.

      At all it costs 130€ for the print, oil, silicone sealant and some other things. Saved me approx 2-4000€ for a new shower cabinet as spare parts were out of production. A picture in comment below.