Vat Grown RepRap
Vat Grown Reprap with UV Resin
The basic idea of Vat-Grown Repraps, is that you can build a prototype of much higher resolution much quicker and therefore greater quality/productivity, using UV Curing Resin, than you can extruding plastic. The primary difference is that the build can be done using a UV or at least LED based laser, or projector that has UV radiation to get pinpoint accuracy in some graphics based manner and thus reduce the wastage of the extrusion designs.
CAVEATS
- All Vat Grown RepRap designs use UV curing Resins, which tend to be quite expensive in comparison to two part resins.
- UV curing is only started by the exposure process, once a resin element is finished it must be "Baked" in a UV oven,
- There may be a rather pungant odor to the uncured and curing resin, as volatile chemicals are released requiring ventilation, and last but not least, The hardness of the UV resins is limited to much less than extruded ABC plastic.
Characteristics
A Vat-Grown RepRap, can be recognized by the Red Laser-Shield, or opaque top and sides of its build area. This exists because UV Rays are harmful to human skin, especially when linked to lasers. And the existence of a tray, vat, or tank in which the uncured resin sits, as it is exposed to UV Rays.
There are probably three different ways that vat grown systems can be exposed:
