New 3D Printer That's Work 10x Times Faster
The MIT team develops a 3D printer that is 10 times faster than comparable 3D printers
Professors Jamison Go and John Hart, of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Photosynthesis Group, have developed a new hardware that enables what they call Fast (manufacture of fast fusion filaments). And it's fast, see for yourself.
Desktop 3D printers are great for creating complex, high-quality pieces
on demand, but their greatest weakness has always been speed. And there are
several factors of speed limitation for 3D FDM / FFF printers, the four
main ones being: the amount of force that can be applied to the
filament when pushed through the nozzle, the speed with which heat can
be transferred The filament to be melted is, at what speed the print
head can move around the construction area and the speed with which the
material solidifies after extruding it because it needs to support the
next layer.
The problem of solidification was solved like most
other developers, throwing air. The remaining obstacles required more
creativity. When the filament is pushed, it is usually done by running
it between a transmission gear and an idler; the tension is put on the
drive gear, which has small teeth that bite the filament and push it
down as the drive gear rotates. If there is too much tension in the
filament, the driving gear goes into the filament and accumulates with
plastic before losing the grip. Very little tension results in slip and
holes in the extrusion.
Go and Hart decided to thread the
filament and pass it through a threaded nut; When the nut is rotated by a
motor (through the belt), the filament lowers. The anti-rotation
rollers prevent the filament from twisting when the nut rotates. This
method of extrusion is not only faster but also much more precise than
the typical configuration of the transmission gears. The next
heating build-up of the filament fast enough to melt it was laser
treated. A quartz chamber is coated with gold reflectors and, as the
filament passes through the chamber, a laser bounces inside and preheats
the filament before traversing a traditional heating block. All
technologies are improved with lasers.
Finally, Go and Hart designed a parallel gantry system with servo drive that moves the print head quickly and accurately with little reaction, the rippling or waving movement that most desktop 3D printers exhibit when they print too fast. Here, speed is enabled primarily by the use of a heavy-duty frame and powerful motors instead of a novel solution.
The new printer fumed the competition in the speed tests, including a $ 100,000 commercial 3D printer. The 3D printer built by the research team costs $ 15,000, so it is not likely to hit the market soon. The quality of the prints could be better, probably improved by adjusting the retraction and layout settings, but the quality is still very good considering the speed at which they were printed in 3D.
Hart also worked with Sebastian Pattinson, a professor at the University of Cambridge, to demonstrate a 3D cellulose printing technique. Cellulose is cheap, renewable and has desirable mechanical properties, but 3D cellulose printing has proved difficult due to its tendency to decompose when heated. By treating the cellulose with acetate, they could dissolve it in acetone and extrude it successfully with a 3D printer. Acetone evaporates (and is captured), leaving only cellulose acetate. A final bath in sodium hydroxide removes the acetate and the result is a part of cellulose. The 3D duo printed a set of medical tweezers and even printed 3D prints with an antimicrobial dye that was 95% more resistant to bacteria.
Professors Jamison Go and John Hart, of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Photosynthesis Group, have developed a new hardware that enables what they call Fast (manufacture of fast fusion filaments). And it's fast, see for yourself.
Finally, Go and Hart designed a parallel gantry system with servo drive that moves the print head quickly and accurately with little reaction, the rippling or waving movement that most desktop 3D printers exhibit when they print too fast. Here, speed is enabled primarily by the use of a heavy-duty frame and powerful motors instead of a novel solution.
The new printer fumed the competition in the speed tests, including a $ 100,000 commercial 3D printer. The 3D printer built by the research team costs $ 15,000, so it is not likely to hit the market soon. The quality of the prints could be better, probably improved by adjusting the retraction and layout settings, but the quality is still very good considering the speed at which they were printed in 3D.
Hart also worked with Sebastian Pattinson, a professor at the University of Cambridge, to demonstrate a 3D cellulose printing technique. Cellulose is cheap, renewable and has desirable mechanical properties, but 3D cellulose printing has proved difficult due to its tendency to decompose when heated. By treating the cellulose with acetate, they could dissolve it in acetone and extrude it successfully with a 3D printer. Acetone evaporates (and is captured), leaving only cellulose acetate. A final bath in sodium hydroxide removes the acetate and the result is a part of cellulose. The 3D duo printed a set of medical tweezers and even printed 3D prints with an antimicrobial dye that was 95% more resistant to bacteria.
