I have found the correct sizing of ring and cage, my only trouble is the flexibility of the nylon. is there any way to get the one I want made in metal? or is the metal 3d printing of shapeways not accurate enough for the requirements of the cage?
I will defer to JosieLynn for that question. But here is what I think she'd say based on previous comments she has made: 3D printed metal is difficult to hold the tolerances. So what you THINK you are going to get won't be. Second, rendered in metal, the devices become rather heavy. Both are sufficient reasons for me to hold off on a metal cage just yet. I REALLY don't want the heavy piece sagging downwards. I love the lightweight of the Cherry Keeper.
Basically it would cost a fortune because traditional 3D metal printing won't work well enough. You'd have to get fabricated metal which brings you right back into the Mature Metal sweet spot. 3D printing of metal isn't there yet......give it a few years.
A lot of the metal 3D printing creates a "green" item that is then sintered and during sintering they shrink. The printed "green" model can be made larger to account for this, but the trouble is the shrinkage may not be uniform. So anything needing to be accurate like an integrated locking mechanism is hit and miss. I did find one laser process that did not need post production sintering, but it resulted in costs higher than custom stainless cages.
Hello - it is perfectly feasible in different metals - there are 4 way I can imagine doing it : casting - machining - soldering or 3d printing + sanding - I can investigate it - do you have the 3d files ?
I had tried to get it printed in metal twice, from two different vendors with two different processes. Both were horribly out of tolerance to the point where I had to use metalworking tools just to get them connected. The silver ring is about 3mm stretched, and the gold one has the lock at a funky angle. Both were in the $200-$300 range https://twitter.com/JosieLynnJewell/status/1192218886852272128 https://twitter.com/JosieLynnJewell/status/1207008339382718466 I'm sure there are some more costly processes that might produce a better representation of how the model should look - there's a newer 3M process that essentially FDM prints a metal-infused filament and then melts out the non-metal parts. I haven't tried it yet, but it is different than the previous methods. I had a customer reach out who is a metal worker who wants to try sand casted brass, which I am allowing as they agreed to assume the risk as they felt confident they could correct any problems that were encountered. They still have yet to place the order, but we just worked this out over the weekend. This process is even more costly and a ring alone is in excess of $200
I laud the effort to create the terrific Cherry Keeper designs in metal. I hope we can get there someday. Question: Would aluminum be adequate as a material? With 3mm bars maybe that's enough material for strength, but still lightweight. (Light weight is a MAJOR factor for me) Even is someone hand crafted a Cherry Keeper out of steel for me, I am not sure it'd be comfy any more.
i believe aluminum would be lighter, but would likely require a clear coating be applied over the metal. It is soft enough that it rubs off and I believe you would end up with gray colors nether regions.... Based on my previous experience with aluminum not chastity related.
sls-printed titanium would be ideal. the accuracy and precision on that is crazy. but so is the price.
So, as an update to this, Shapeways has provided me an account manager, and they have a team of printing experts who are going to work with me to see how we can get from where we're at now to being able to print these designs in 316L stainless steel. No timeline, as this just happened in the last two weeks, but I do hear you and this was one of the things I've asked them to help make happen (along with a few other nice changes).
We shall watch with keen interest JosieLynn. I gotta admit, a metal version seems to be quite a complicated endeavor. I doubt you can simply keep all of the same dimensions (weight?), but if you narrow diameters and such, the feel of the device can become an all new thing entirely. Fascinating project. But if anyone can do a great job at it, it's you. Count me in please if you want a beta tester who will approach things from an engineering perspective...rather, a chaste engineer's perspective..... God Speed JosieLynn!
Wow count me in would be glad to beta test even at a cost. if you need any input..have 3 cherrykeepers love them! Good luck.