A quick read did not turn up exactly how they 3D printed directly in platinum, but since it is surely unaffordable, definitely for me, this is just a matter if interest / curiosity right now.
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For a moment I read that as āit is surely unaffordable, thus definitely I must pursue itā and laughed a little 
But thatās for sure an interesting collection.
Do you think printing in PMC counts as ādirect printingā?
I read an article recently about printing precious metals.
It elaborated how the printers has been available for a long time, but just recently proper metal powders has been emerging.
What is PMC by the way?
PMC is likely āprecious metal clayā. A clay like substance containing metal that is molded, then fired to remove the binding material.
IMHO I do not see that as ādirect metal printingā. Laser sintering has been around for quite a long time, and is widely considered to be the process referred to as direct metal printing. There have been a few experimental attempts at directly printing molten metal (similar to the FDM printers that started the whole home 3D printing market), but they havenāt really expanded beyond that.
If youāre printing in metal clay, and then firing, Iād be hard pressed to see that as any kind of advancement on the existing resin/wax printing, followed by a traditional burnout and casting process. If anything, Iād likely argue that it probably causes more waste, time, effort, and money than what already exists.
The problem with directly printed metals is the detail is quite lacking compared to resin or waxjet. You can even see the rough texture on some of those finished pieces. For me, detail and lack of layer lines/voxels is paramount. Iāve got it pretty good so far that I donāt have to deal with them much during the finishing process. The last waxjet print I used made me sick with how difficult and annoying it was to remove them all. I canāt imagine having to polish a metal-printed piece.
Yes. Some of the pieces were very rough.
But.
The fact that Platinum Guild funded the very likely huge printing bill as proof of concept shows where people want 3D printing to go. If you can have a metal printer spare you all the time, work, & hassle of spruing, investing, burnout, casting (and related problems to overcome), then investment and sprue removalā¦why not? I mean, how much of that do you enjoy doing?
My first computer printer (Anadex 1000 - the ā1000ā likely reflecting the $1,000 price!) was a 7-pin dot matrix machine that couldnāt even print descenders like the lower part of a āgā and for many years now weāve had printers (with overpriced ink) that can print full color photos that have pretty much replaced Kodak prints (remember Kodak?)
Affordable direct-in-metal printing isnāt going to happen in my lifetime because Iām so old, but improvements and cost reductions will come, possibly sooner than it seems likely. 25 years? 20? 15? Thatās a long time in the tech world.
Not done yet to my knowledge, but definitely technically doable, would be to have a 5-axis CNC machine use the same CAD file (edited for CNC) to mill away most or all those voxels etc. and maybe even do a little burnishing!
Neil A