FDM 3D printer with UV Resin?

Hi all,

probably stupid idea but why not to ask . Do you think that it would be possible to make clasic FDM printer which would use UV resin flowing from the head with UV diod instead of PLA and other filaments? I mean if there would be possible to change the normal hotend for something where the UV rasin would slowly flow out and would be imediately solidify by UV light (some small cheap UV diod if suitable). Like I said, it is probably stupid crazy idea . I have only experiences with couple of normal cartesian and delta printers and no experiences with UV resin printers. But I just thought to make something what would be combination of both. Sorry in advance for such stupidity and thanks for your comments.

... look here - [reprap.org]

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

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

... here is the related (10 years old) thread - [reprap.org]

But actually I'm mostly using a piezo-valve-dispenser for UV curable resins - [reprap.org]

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/15/2018 01:31PM by VDX.

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

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

Thanks VDX for your posts. Looks good. I also tried my own solution for 3D printing with soil. Here you can see some test printing video here

But the question is if the UV resin could be used for it and if some cheap diods would be fast enough to make it solid when out of the nozle and if it would make a sense.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/15/2018 01:37PM by boylucky.

Ok, now I see also that they mentione the UV resin there but do not see any pictures with the result if he succeed

... with the piezo-valve-dispensers it's like "shooting" droplets on the surface, what's pretty much mechanical energy, so can distort thinwalled structures.

With a piston dispenser this would be better in terms of dimensional stability.

Curing is best done with 405nm-diodes - there are some available with optical output powers of up to 3 Watts ... I've used 3Watts for printing (but my watercooled diodes can emit up to 9Watts)

Here and attached some images from "prints" with the piezo type:




And some videos:
[vimeo.com]
[vimeo.com]
[vimeo.com]

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

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

Would it be OK to use normal UV-LEDs instead of Laser-diodes?

... my 9Watt-UV-emitters are LED's, not laserdiodes:





And yes, normal 1W- or 3W-LED's are sufficient too - you can combine more of them to get higher powers:

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

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

Sorry to resurrect an old thread, but I was thinking about making this type of printer. I can only find a couple of examples of people considering it.

I see that with your piezo valve dispenser, you were able to solidify drops. What resolution were you able to accomplish? How quickly were you able to cure the resin with the 4 led setup you shared a picture of?

Thank you!

... the smallest droplet size depends on viscosity and "content" of the paste - the blue glue was around 0,07mm smallest, other pastes could be like 0,04mm.

The curing time depends on droplet size too, activators/inhibiters and additives - some 10 milliseconds per droplet, but I'm either dispensing/curing continuous with the nozzle-design, or (with the piezo-jetter) printing the complete slice, then curing it competely too by moving the UV-LED's in meandering paths to cure every bit.

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

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