The peachy printer: $100 photolithographic 3D printer?

[cloudscapes]

Am I right to assume that there's liquid trapped inside closed models?

[MFX]

I think the general idea of the Z axis is inspired thinking. A different high density liquid may be better than salt water (maybe glycerine?), that said I'm not sure any drift in drop size will be a major issue, some drops may be slightly over, some slightly under so there's a good chance they will even up to an extent over time. If you were really worried then a simple sensor strip in the tank could zero the count every 1cm or so . Give it some decent galvos with feedback (loads of Chinese ones on Ebay) and could be a winner. Trying to churn it out for $100 is a mistake though, a $300/400 would still be cheap and probably produce much higher quality prints.

Martin.

[casinada]

The formlabs product is shipping, is real, and looks solid but it is not cheap   $3299 
http://formlabs.com/products/our-printer
I don't see anything about a lawsuit on their site.

The peachy product looks too imaginary and flaky. Why don't they show a full working prototype. They only show bits and pieces and some fancy 3D simulations. Even the purchase options look weird to me.

[pickle9000]

The specs on the formlabs unit are amazing, as are the sample outputs.

[MFX]

The formlabs product is shipping, is real, and looks solid but it is not cheap   $3299

Er. "Form 1 Pre-order (January)"

[Marco]

Formlabs shipped kickstarter units.

[Tost]

What parameters ?
nozzle geometry will be constant, temperature isn't going to change much, density should be constant for a given mix and could be calibrated, change in pressure due to decreasing head if liquid could also be compensated for.

Right, fluid density will not be an issue and surface tension of water which is much more sensitive to temperature and contamination (e.g. deposit of tensides from cleaning) may be acceptable too.

But the contact angle at the nozzle/liquid interface will be an issue. The nozzle surface will change significantly over time, especially with water because of a growing biofilm (high NaCl-concentrations will impede that but will not prevent).

It is to consider that the droplet size depends on vibrations too. Even quite small vibrations will cause an earlier droplet release and therefore a smaller average droplet volume.

Furthermore there is strong evidence that this concept will not be practice: nobody used that concept before where precisian better than 20% was required.

[mikeselectricstuff]

What parameters ?
nozzle geometry will be constant, temperature isn't going to change much, density should be constant for a given mix and could be calibrated, change in pressure due to decreasing head if liquid could also be compensated for.

Right, fluid density will not be an issue and surface tension of water which is much more sensitive to temperature and contamination (e.g. deposit of tensides from cleaning) may be acceptable too.

But the contact angle at the nozzle/liquid interface will be an issue. The nozzle surface will change significantly over time, especially with water because of a growing biofilm (high NaCl-concentrations will impede that but will not prevent).

Long-term effects like this can be calibrated out. probably do want a biocide there to to avoid ickiness

It is to consider that the droplet size depends on vibrations too. Even quite small vibrations will cause an earlier droplet release and therefore a smaller average droplet volume.

vibrations should avarage out as there will be a vary large number if drops for any meaningful Z axis movement. There are no motors to produce any synchronous vibrations that could cause offsets

[Tost]

Long-term effects like this can be calibrated out. probably do want a biocide there to to avoid ickiness

Sure you can use a toxic water mixture (If you want). But still you have a lot of other effects that can change the surface (e.g. absorption, adsorption, oxidation, dust). Even if it wouldn’t be an issue during the print, I guess a proper calibration without precision scale will not work below a hour (for better than 5% error).

vibrations should avarage out as there will be a vary large number if drops for any meaningful Z axis movement. There are no motors to produce any synchronous vibrations that could cause offsets

Vibrations will make the drop only smaller never bigger, so the average drop size will depend on the vibration amplitude and frequency which can change significantly during a print (e.g. Street Trafic is quite time depended). There is a reason you have to spend quite some money for a decent flow meter.

A much better low budget solution would be in my option a pressure sensor that measures the level of liquid. It will give no precision short term changes but that should be quite easily to predict by extrapolating last measurements in a smart fashion.

[CanadianAvenger]

Formlabs shipped kickstarter units.

They are still shipping them. They have completed shipping to all their US and Canadian backers, and are currently working on all the international ones.  I got mine back in August, the print quality [when it works] is amazing, but you do get a lot of failures. I also believe my unit may have a bit of a calibration issue. But otherwise I am quite happy with it, and am sure any issues my printer has will be worked out.

[filip_cro]

Formlabs shipped kickstarter units.

They are still shipping them. They have completed shipping to all their US and Canadian backers, and are currently working on all the international ones.  I got mine back in August, the print quality [when it works] is amazing, but you do get a lot of failures. I also believe my unit may have a bit of a calibration issue. But otherwise I am quite happy with it, and am sure any issues my printer has will be worked out.

Can you find some good review of it?  Or post some pics of your prints?

[CanadianAvenger]

https://support.formlabs.com/entries/27382436-My-Form1-Prints

Not mine, but is an impressive example. If you brows around the support forums, you'll find many more.

[filip_cro]

Are you sure that we talk about same 3D printer???

[Marco]

Are you sure that we talk about same 3D printer???

Your original question has a quote block mentioning Formlabs ... his example is from a Formlabs printer.

[filip_cro]

Are you sure that we talk about same 3D printer???

Your original question has a quote block mentioning Formlabs ... his example is from a Formlabs printer.

Ups 
I didn't read full thread.

[Marco]

They have a Youtube video up showing the construction of their beta kit ... the Galvo assembly is an amazing piece of work, it's extremely low mass. The construction however is extremely fiddly, a lot of kit buyers are going to screw that up

[Kean]

Wow, that looks neat but awfully fiddly!
I wonder what percentage of the 4000+ backers are going to be able to make a working assembly.

[miguelvp]

What will worry me more is that they don't address the safety of the resin at all, or at least I didn't see anything about it.

IIRC the resins are highly carcinogenic, maybe they have found safer resins. In any event, proper protection equipment has to be used when handling those resins. Once cured is safe AFAIK.

[Marco]

IIRC the resins are highly carcinogenic

I'm sure there will be some which are, but as far as I know epoxy and acrylic monomers are generally just allergenic ... I'd worry more about the dye.

[Muxr]

So it turns out this was a long con all along:

Prepare for some truly terrible acting:

[sswift]

He could win an oscar!



Well maybe not.

[Rasz]

  

that performance alone was worth $100