CMU School of Drama


Thursday, November 17, 2011

Build a Laser 3D Printer - Stereolithography at Home

instructables: Here is how to make a Stereolithography 3D Printer. It is still a bit of a work in progress but so far it is working pretty well. This is mainly an experiment which started as a Delta Robot Stereolithography Printer but ended as a more traditional Cartesian Stereolithography Printer.

4 comments:

Luke Foco said...

These technologies are getting more and more interesting. The fact that more of the technologies are becoming replicated at home really allows for some innovation. This laser technology claims to be better resolution than previous 3D printers and it would be cool to see a side by side comparison of these technologies. It will be interesting to see how the lowering of price on the 3D printing technology effects props creation moving forward.

Tom Strong said...

Yet another toy that I'm going to have to resist picking up, and now it's particularly difficult since the price keeps coming down. The finished product seems to be smoother and more homogenous than the product from an extrusion printer. If it wasn't for the relative difference in cost between the liquid UV resin and the ABS feedstock this could be a very advantageous process compared to what's readily available out there. I look forward to seeing what will be available in a couple more years as the technology matures even more.

Robert said...

This seems like a really cool thing that this guy has made and it is amazing that he wants to make kits for other people if he wins the laser cutter. But with the material that you have to use to make the piece so expansive I wonder if it would just be easier to buy the maker or something like that if you were to do this for a long time. I understand if you’re going to do a few of these it would be smart to make this but then I wonder if it would be smart to out sourced the making of this and I wonder what the shelf life would be. I know that the plastic that other 3d printers use does not really go that bad. I hope that this guy wins this competition.

Reilly said...

While this is a remarkable feat of construction, or reconstruction, it just does not really seem all that realistic to have all the materials/skills necessary to build your own laser 3D printer. It is unrealistic to think that most people are even capable of building a regular printer. That being said, I agree with the previous posters that the fact that one could potentially create a laser 3D printer at home is exciting- the technology is become more readily accessible which is going to allow for a lot of advancements. Though the products that are being printed right now seem to have a sort of minimal size limit, I wonder how things will change once the technology improves and we can make 3D printers at home that can create things like tables, or maybe things that don't feel plastic at all like cushions, or mirrored surfaces. It's definitely true that this holds a lot of promise for the props world.