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i got the exact same email from the guy..
could he be a spammer or something?
cheers,
hp
Statistics: Posted by hp_ — Mon Dec 01, 2014 5:32 pm
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Nice work on the DIY 3d printer! I found your blog really informative and helpful. Thanks for sharing the build.
Anyway, I saw that you have changed to a pillowed flex-vat design utilizing an off-the-shelf plastic container. I have a few questions about the setup:
1) What material is the container made of? (i.e. PP / PS / PETE etc) Should I be picky about the plastic material reacting with the resin?
The transparent part of the container seems to be "PPRA". I have never seen this material before. Any way, the resin is not (yet) reacting with the container.
2) The container looks foggy. Wouldn't it degrade the resolution of the projected image? Also the UV transparency?
Well, the beamer is not shining through the container. There is has a hole in both the container & lid. So it's only the FEP foil between the lid & container.
3) What is the purpose of the pillow? Can't you just fix the container directly to the wooded frame？
I guess, the pillow is called, the way the FEP is temporary able to be changed like a pillow.
The container is fixed directly to the wood, so there is not real pillow..
4) How does a flexible tank with so much play in it (especially with the pillow) could maintain a totally flat and uniform surface for printing layers as thin as 25 microns? Am I missing something here?
Well, there is no pillow in-between. But still you have a point. The FEP foil could stretch a little, and so it could buckle (?) under litres of resin.
So how to solve this: 1) don't use to much resin on top. 2) try to stretch the foil, so it will remain more flat. 3) Maybe this is less useful for a very large build area.
5) Is tilting required for this setup?
No. This is one of the biggest benefits using a 'pillow approach'. When releasing, the foil will bend of the model by the edge of the printed part. This way it will act/form like a pillow shape.
6) How does it perform compared to PDMS? In terms of sticking force and longevity.
Please have a look in the posts before.
Hope everything is clear.
Statistics: Posted by EdgE — Mon Dec 01, 2014 3:13 pm
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Pronterface handles the USB-connection. Within pronterface, there is a program called 'project layer'.
That's the one which is projecting an image to a second screen, by dragging the window there. Then this program also send NC-code to you hardware and updating a new picture after that. The trouble, is making a SVG file first, so that's all handled in one package within CW.
Right now I like the simplicity of pronterface/projectlayer, but on long term...
Statistics: Posted by EdgE — Tue Nov 11, 2014 2:46 pm
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Here I created one PolyStyreen resin container, with 3 different sections:
* No coating
* Adhesive FEP foil
* PDMS
So the results I found so far, working with this 'adhesive FEP':
* It works better then no coating (on a PolyStyreen floor).
* It's more durable then PDMS (because of the fogging issue of PDMS).
* Transparency is worse, in comparison with the PDMS layer or without anything.
* It's still very easy to damage when having a wrong build.
(flat part, cured on this FEP, trying to get this off with a knife, will very easily scratch the FEP)
* Do to the fact, it's "adhesive", your intention is to attach this foil to something (glass/plastic/..)
So when releasing the part from the floor, you still have this 'stupid' strong layer below.
This will cause the high tensile force, you need to release the part (and brake it).
So actually you want to stick this FEP to something more elastic (an other transparent foil
).But when you want something elastic, why not using FEP without this adhesiveness?
So from my point of view, it doesn't make sense to use 'adhesive FEP' at all.
Most important is still the building speed.
So everything which makes the vat floor less transparent (like adhesive FEP, which you can see in the link above), will make your printer slower.
I'm trying to make a full list of FEP foil suppliers here: .
(So if there are more suppliers, let me know.)
Statistics: Posted by EdgE — Sat Nov 08, 2014 6:08 am
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@HP, no I don't use your clever pre-tension trick yet.
I want to understand how long it will last without...
Statistics: Posted by EdgE — Tue Oct 28, 2014 3:12 pm
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that looks really great!
and some really nice prints
are you also pre-tensioning the fep somehow?
cheers,
hp
Statistics: Posted by hp_ — Tue Oct 28, 2014 3:20 am
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Really like your posts and watching things develop!
Statistics: Posted by AndersonTa — Tue Oct 28, 2014 1:54 am
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Some updates about the build:
Beside a shutter mechanism, on of the best updates is an aligning build platform system. I more or less copied the system from Finhead and it works great. The change of getting detached print is very small. I also improved the tilting system. Since most small prints, don't require tilting at all, the vat supporting system could now do: active tilting, passive tilting or no tilting at all.
Shutter:
Build platform aligning system:
Tilting system:
Statistics: Posted by EdgE — Tue Jul 22, 2014 3:54 pm
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Very cool prints.. congrats on your progress
Statistics: Posted by hp_ — Mon Apr 21, 2014 5:34 am
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I'm still using the PDMS coating on the glass, which was flooded for some weeks with resin.
Nice example of FDM (left) versus DLP, both objects 25mm tall:
And of course the first Eiffel Tower:
Statistics: Posted by EdgE — Sat Apr 12, 2014 5:36 am
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