[[Powder_Printer]] (was Re: LEGO RepRap)

Hi Sebastien,

today i was emailed by ZCorp (DE) about a new e-book regarding powder-printing.

It's mostly based an the ZCorp-printers, so maybe a big chunk of underlying advertising included ... but in the english section you can find some interesting infos and documents about powder-printing too

[Edit: I split this off, added [[link]] to title page. -Sebastien]

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/22/2010 04:50PM by SebastienBailard.

Hmmm ... I might take a look at it when I've got a few spare hours.

But I don't know if I have the time. I've got journal articles and books on RP that I should read first, really. And I tend not to pay much attention to the commercial stuff.

If you see anything we can use, add a note to [[Powder_Printer]], although that cuts into development time, and it's not docs, necessarily.

Also these guys are cool with us archiving their recipes, so we might start that when we've got some time. I think we'll need a script.

Also, we'll use the usual protocols to link back to the source page. (Cite author, back link) I had a word with Dr. Mark Ganter to check, and he's happy with it, but warned that some development (comment) takes place in the comments. It's the same blog/documentation issue.

[open3dp.me.washington.edu]

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I think we should go with LGPL for our recipes. What do you think? It seems to be the most straightforward way.

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Mark mentioned that powder printed pieces work well for lost wax -> bronze. You just have to varnish them or wax them first. As a sculptor, I'm happy to hear this.

Hi Sebastien,

... yesterday i received some samples of ceramic and glass microspheres for experimenting with paste-mixtures.

I think some of this stuff could be the ideal powder-basis for printed hightemp ceramics for moulds or such - think about my results with glass-spheres and waterglass withstanding 800°C to 1500°C

I'm busy with paste-dispensing and laser-sintering, but if you need some specific materials for PP then i can specify my orders and particle-grades for this application too

Viktor

what laser are you using?

... i have a 50Watts-fiberlaser with 1070nm and a focussed spot around 30 microns with a single lens or below 10 microns with a beam-widener ...

Viktor

Viktor i think i saw you on another forum about lasers, i remember reading that and i was like woah. if i remember right you got it for free or cheap right?

I'm busy with paste-dispensing and laser-sintering, but if you need some specific materials for PP then i can specify my orders and particle-grades for this application too

That would be nice. But first, I have to :
(1) Finish soldering up the boards for my darwin. Luckily, 4-5 soldering tips and soldering irons later, I seem to be making some process.

(2) Finish the twiki->mediawiki stuff, flush the "official" developers out of hiding and into a mailing list which is world joinable on the the forum, and start a working group on the [[Library/5x10000s_Problem]]
[objects.reprap.org]

(3) Go spider everything of Adrian's+everybody, etc. off of thingiverse, etc., or whatever website of the month our RepRap user-developers are using. I'll start with Adrian. This ties into the new "We are all RepRap Developers!" idea that appears to be current [[Library]] policy. This will no doubt come as a mild but pleasant surprise to Zach, who has apparently forgotten he's a RepRap developer, but no matter.

(4) Build [[Eiffel]]

(5) Start on powder printer stuff.

I'm holding off on (3) until we've got some more mediawiki infrastructure and people, but I need to work hard on everything else.

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Regarding, I think some of this stuff could be the ideal powder-basis for printed hightemp ceramics for moulds or such - think about my results with glass-spheres and waterglass withstanding 800°C to 1500°C

I'll do some research on dirt-cheap [[Investment]] as used in bronze casting and get back to you. I think what we need is fine, not particularly chemically pure sand, from a building construction supplier. I don't think we're that lucky, but let's look into it.

Also, Viktor, if you want to have a bit of fun, do a simple couple pictures of your laser cutting out a RepRap symbol out of plywood, etc. and post it here/on the wiki.

Go macroscopic if you can, ~10cm-20cm+, and maybe make a box.

I warn you, if it is a slow day, news-wise, I may tack it up on blog.reprap.org, credited to you and linked to a wikipage and in the forum. I'll do up some german language text too.

It may help bootstrap the LaserCutter forum a bit. Or so the boys and girls on the agitprop committee think, and they pay my outrageous salary.

Also,
you'll like the links in [[Laser_Cutter/Background]].
[objects.reprap.org]

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/22/2010 09:19PM by SebastienBailard.

Hi Sebastien,

i'm working o an exhausting/filtering system for the laser-fumes and some workarounds for my CNC-software, so i can change the millhead with the laser 'on the fly' - then i'll start over with my CNC-mill at home and make some pictures ... the previous laser-related work was covered by NDA, but now i'm 'free'

@RyanGeorge: - yes, i posted in some other threads some infos about the fiber-laser ... i got it 'for free' by changing with some of my other stuff relating micro-visualisation and cooperation-projects, but normally it's an expensive toy costs more than 30.000 Euros

But some of the lasercutting stuff can be done with fibercoupled diode-lasers you can by for some 100 Euros - i built a brazing system with an 8Watt-diodelaser with 0,1mm spotsize for 300 Euros (+300 Euros for electronics, powersource and lenses) and at home i have a 1Watt-diodelaser with 0.06mm spotsize, which can cut thin plastic-sheets or mark good absorbing surfaces, but not metals ...

Viktor

Cool!

What kind of thin bulk stock can you cut with the 8W diodelaser?

Can you do thin plywood, for example?

That would be really cool if you could do that..

I have a feeling we all would have seen one by now on instructables.

There would be a LazerBot by now if you could cut thin ply!!

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Bodge It [reprap.org]
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BIQ Sanguinololu SD LCD board	BIQ Stepcon	BIQ Opto Endstop
BIQ Heater Block PCB	BIQ Extruder Peek clamp replacement	BIQ Huxley Seedling
BIQ Sanguinololu mounting	BIQ standalone Sanguinololu or Ramps mounting	Print It Stick It Cut it

My rep strap: [repstrapbertha.blogspot.com]

Buy the bits from B&Q pipestrap [diyrepstrap.blogspot.com]
How to Build a Darwin without any Rep Rap Parts [repstrapdarwin.blogspot.com]
Web Site [www.takeaway3dtech.com]

... i tried some plastics with the 8Watt-diode which i had limited to 4Watt optical power for longer lifetime - with a spot of 0.1mm i could melt/cut through maybe 2mm black ABS and maybe 10mm black cellular rubber, but only with relative slow feedrate of some 100mm/min and with much fuming

My actual dieodelaser at home has 1Watt power (what i reduced to max. 0.7Watts) and a fiber with a core of 0.06mm diameter and i used it to cut plastic foils from 0.1 to 0.5mm thickness - black and good absorpting materials are processable, but white or diffuse reflecting materials (bright wood too) are cursed and often won't burn with the first hit, so you need more time or some coating for enhancing the initial absorption ...

Blowing (and exhausting!) away the fume should speedup the feedrate, as the fumes absorbs a big part of of the energy, but for a good diodelaser-cutter i would estimate a minimum power of 10Watts and a fiber with 0.06mm core-diameter, what costs over 500 Euros

Viktor

At 10 W, or "good" as you put it, we'd start to connect with the demand in the general hacker community.

A "RepLaserCutter" would start to take over the market of the general laser cutters they have in fablabs, hackerpsaces, architecture model making, etc. As you've probably figured out, there's lots of geek demand.

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You know any of these guys?
[hackerspaces.org]

Hi Sebastien,

... i know one of the guys in Frankfurt, but it's some ten years ago we met last

Actually i'm more involved in CNC - see the usermap here

Viktor