Aww, thank you! We almost made it, but in the end it didn't work out. We dismantled the machine, but I would love to find the time one day to rebuild it and start tinkering with it again. We certainly learned a lot about business, making physical products and engineering along the way. If you have any questions about the design or need advice for your own, I would be happy to tell you all I knby Joshua Dickerson - Powder Printing and Selective Laser Sintering
QuoteDejay Congratulations! Really great news for SLS printing. Thanks, Dejay! I agree- so far as we can tell we're being encouraged to continue our development track to an extremely low cost SLS/SLM 3D printer. They're even sharing some of their proprietary info to speed us along.by Joshua Dickerson - Powder Printing and Selective Laser Sintering
QuoteEzrec So, from your IndieGoGo update, it seems that you now have a commercial backer - congratulations! Thanks, Ezrec! Sorry I haven't updated you guys here yet. Yeah we totally weren't expecting that. Our Indiegogo only raised around $600, but was an astounding success in that a bigger 3D printer company noticed us and offered us a partnership. We appreciated everyone's contribution butby Joshua Dickerson - Powder Printing and Selective Laser Sintering
Hey everyone, We're completely out of money and options at this point, please support our Indiegogo campaign in any way you can. It feels like a dream is dying. We don't want to give up on this- this is our SOS! Even if you can't contribute, please share our link with anyone you can. If we can't pull this off, part of our campaign is to post all material we have on our working prototype to dby Joshua Dickerson - Powder Printing and Selective Laser Sintering
QuoteDejay Hehe you could also just have said that it's part of the model This sounds really interesting. Thanks for sharing some insight. Whoops! Sorry if I got carried away there. I figured you really did spot some of the high frequency artifacts we've been struggling with lately. I thought you might want to see what the low resolution SLS prints look like, so I took some pictures. SLSby Joshua Dickerson - Powder Printing and Selective Laser Sintering
QuoteDejay Sorry to hear! Convincing people you are an entrepreneur when you're really more of a tinkerer is always a tough sell. Been there myself. You have to pretend and masquerade with the right kind of costume... e.g. business suit and lingo... Plus they always want to see patents lol. Maybe you could try a kickstarter / indiegogo. The business presentation and due diligence that you can aby Joshua Dickerson - Powder Printing and Selective Laser Sintering
QuoteDejay QuoteJoshua DickersonSo far we haven't been able to notice a difference, but we also are just barely getting the surface heater unit up and running. We were delayed by applying to a bunch of startup accelerators. When we start seeing the results from the upgrade, we'll followup with you and let you know. Ah the damn paperwork I'd bet controlling the surface temperature precisely andby Joshua Dickerson - Powder Printing and Selective Laser Sintering
QuoteDejay Nice project! I'd love to build my own SLS printer. Thank you! Anyone with a bit of tenacity can make one. QuoteDejay About the melting vs sintering and print quality, isn't sintering better to avoid "globs" of molten droplets? I've read about this here. So far we haven't been able to notice a difference, but we also are just barely getting the surface heater unit up and running. Wby Joshua Dickerson - Powder Printing and Selective Laser Sintering
QuoteTTN That would be great. It would be fantastic to have a opensource SLS machine, or information on sintering, the little tricks what works and what doesn't and such. Right now I think it's a matter of getting more research and development published, documented and tested before more members venture into this area. It's a high bar atm, as it seems there's no one who yet has SLS machine that mby Joshua Dickerson - Powder Printing and Selective Laser Sintering
Hello Mecanicu, The focal spot is 0.4mm at the moment, but the reason the prints are such low resolution is because the warping issue we mentioned already. The warping causes the material to move off from its target position decreasing the effective lateral resolution of the system. Because of the warping, we also have to set the layer size to around 0.5 mm so that there is enough clearance forby Joshua Dickerson - Powder Printing and Selective Laser Sintering
Hello Mecanicu, Thanks for responding, and for wishing us luck! We built the system completely from the ground up, including the galvo-based scan engine. We are using a 40W chinese CO2 laser tube that has been modified for better power output regulation, but we've never had to run it past 15W. We don't use a sealed chamber at the moment, but feel good enough results can be obtained without anby Joshua Dickerson - Powder Printing and Selective Laser Sintering
Hello everyone, My wife and I have been 3D printing and reprap enthusiasts for years but we have been tied up in developing a selective laser melting 3D printer, to the exclusion of all else. She's a chemical engineer and I have an engineering background, passionately making things since early childhood. Last year we approached an angel investor and received 60K in seed money, which we used oveby Joshua Dickerson - Powder Printing and Selective Laser Sintering