DIY Photopolymer machine

I came across this article whilst on line. Does anyone have more details of this machine as the print quality looks very good.

I wouldn't be too hard to rapid prototype the frame of this machine.

DIY Photopolymer printer

This one is most impressive, indeed.

Not obvious how this would work, though. To some extents it looks like he illuminates the current layer through a glass plate. However, this would immediately glue the new layer to the glass.

Also with Stereolithography, getting the layer of fresh resin on top of the already built part thin and flat is one of the biggest challenges. Not even mentioned how this is done, there.

---

Generation 7 Electronics	Teacup Firmware	RepRap DIY

It looks to me like the part is fixed to the top plate and is built upside down to how we do it in a reprap.

The bottom bed is flooded with a thin layer of liquid polymer, hardened with the projector, the part lifts up (maybe away from the bottom surface to allow another layer of polymer to food under the part.
When the part is finished it is hanging under the top plate. Im assuming the lower transparent plate is non adhesive in some way and the part rises when the polymer is still in a jelly state so it doesn't stick.

The web site / blog is down at the moment, so I will take a look and maybe contact him later. I looked at the price of the projector and they start from around £115 for that type.

This is indead a brilliant design.

In my opinion it works as follows:
The building area is filled with an opaque photopolymer liqid.
The bottom of the building area is transparent.
The bottom of the building area is illuminated with a beamer.
Illuminated areas will harden.
Sticking is prevented by using a non- sticking polymer, probably PE, nothing sticks to PE.
After a few seconds of illuminating the model moves up and new liquid is pulled in from the sides.
I hope his design will be open source !
I is the best idea I have come across in a very long time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5x7A7fh4SU&feature=related]Youtube video[/url]
This is probably where he got the idea from...
The envisiontag site states that patents are pending.
Hope this won't prevent the idea to become open source.

I read that, for his second version, he improved the formula of his photopolymer liquid.
Does anyone have an idea how to make such a resin ??

I'm curious, why do people use halogen projectors for these processes rather than LED? Is it the brightness or color spectrum?

HereinCS Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I'm curious, why do people use halogen projectors
> for these processes rather than LED? Is it the
> brightness or color spectrum?

Because the resin cures with UV (or near-UV) wavelengths of light. Halogen bulbs emit tons of UV. LEDs emit hardly any. I've also heard that UV damages the liquid crystals in an LCD display (that's why Junior's printer uses a DLP projector), but I haven't found a reliable reference.

As I mentioned in another post, this site has a detailed (step by step) description of a photopolymer 3d printing process:
3d printing cemms
Not talking about a machine as it looks like a lab experiment where a halogen projector and a staging device are the only noticeable mechanical components involved.

martinprice2004 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I came across this article whilst on line. Does
> anyone have more details of this machine as the
> print quality looks very good.
>
> I wouldn't be too hard to rapid prototype the
> frame of this machine.
>
> DIY Photopolymer printer

Take a look HERE.

---

Bob Morrison
Wörth am Rhein, Germany
"Luke, use the source!"
BLOG - PHOTOS - Thingiverse

Hi Bob,

this 'citing' is typical for spam-bots, so don't await a reaction

---

Viktor
--------
Aufruf zum Projekt "Müll-freie Meere" - [reprap.org] -- Deutsche Facebook-Gruppe - [www.facebook.com]

Call for the project "garbage-free seas" - [reprap.org]

I HATE SPAM!!!

---

Bob Morrison
Wörth am Rhein, Germany
"Luke, use the source!"
BLOG - PHOTOS - Thingiverse

Shameless plug for my kickstarter project:
[www.kickstarter.com]