Hi all, I was wondering how the steel's ended up being printed for you all because I am confused about how mine turned out. A few months ago I had a friend help me model a coin that I designed for my dad. After it was modeled I looked around at the various steel products that had been printed and eventually settled on Polished Grey Steel because it seemed like a nice balance of color (not too shiny like silver but not too dark like a patina). It was supposed to be a personalized coin and I knew that regular steel had the tendency to print brown because of the bronze so I hoped that either the Polished Nickel or Polished Grey would give it that coin look I hoped for. He received it about a month ago but told me that it looked like it was heavily rusted with the raised parts looking like they had been almost completely sanded off. Now I figure the raised edges issue was fault on my end with the model but the color seems totally off from many of the colored steel examples that I had seen. I know that the steels were supposed to vary in color but I never expected a Grey (polished) finish to turn out rusty brown. I recently went down to visit my parents while on break from university and took these pictures since they didn't have one: Is this normal? Can it get reprinted to look grey or has it been too long and I simply have to re-buy it?
That doesn't look right. For me, Grey steel ALWAYS comes out matt black...But I want that as the finish! The matt black print itself is always rough as old boots, and patchy. But the Grey steel is beautiful on the whole... Here is what it looks like being printed on a design a bit like yours with a mostly flat surface and low raised edging. Yours looks lower and might benefit from a slightly taller footprint.
Ok will do. Ah I see, kind of a shame if it naturally prints that way. I was hoping the coin would have a bit of a shine to it like a new or well cared for coin (hence the choice of a Polished steel). If that's the case it seems like it'd be better to print it in either Polished Nickel Steel (which I saw had some odd color variants) or one of the Silvers (which is WAY too expensive for something this size). As for the edging, yeah I had wondered about them being tall enough in the model but since I didn't model it (only designed it) nor printed it before I wasn't sure how it'd turn out. Needless to say I think I should have the model itself redone then reprint it in another metal to see if it works out better.
color balance looks off. This is probably what it actually looks like. That said, it looks like the piece was chemically treated like gray steel prints, but didn't get enough polishing.
You can also rub a little olive oil or mineral oil on the coin and that'll bring out the darker color as well. I've printed many many many things in steel and it is fairly inconsistent. For the gray steel, 80 or 90% of the time comes out properly but it will also sometime have red highlights - think Arizona desert - mixed in. Depends on the batch of metal powder ExOne uses. The bronze steel is the most consistent - but it too can vary. Stainless will range from silver to yellowish. Polished nickel steel is a crap shoot. The gold and matte black are surface finishes so they typically turn out how they should, but again, not all the time. It's a very frustrating material if you are looking for a consistent look. For the coin, raw bronze or brass would probably look best. You can also get that aged look by adding a liver of sulfur patina or a hot olive oil patina.