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Show All 9 Items

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.

"I'll be honest, we're throwing science at the walls here to see what sticks. No idea what it'll do."
- Cave Johnson
Stereolithography (SL or SLA from Stereolithography Apparatus) is an additive manufacturing
process using a vat of liquid UV-curable photopolymer "resin" and a UV laser to build parts one
layer at a time. On each layer, the laser beam traces a cross-section pattern of the part onto the
surface of the liquid resin. Exposure to the UV laser light cures, solidifies the pattern traced on
the resin and adheres it to the layer below.

I have wanted a 3D Printer for a while now and there are some very reasonably priced kits
available like the Makerbot, Ultimaker and the RepRap project. I could have just bought a kit
and started printing things but at the time I had not seen great resolution or print quality from
those. I started looking around at the other 3D printing technologies and found SLA made some
amazing quality prints, so I decided to try making my own. Since I started this a while back those
projects have come a long way and they can make some beautiful prints now. There are also
people working on a UV resin and DLP projector 3D printer which is showing promise.

I decided to enter this in the Epilog Challenge Contest because I could really use a laser cutter :-)
I also have some ideas how to redesign this project, for creation on a laser cutter. I wouldn't mind
making kits for people if I had one.

Something to keep in mind is the current cost of commercially available UV/Visible resins. 1
Liter is about $200 - $250 so compared to ABS or PLA for the plastic extrusion printers it is
about 4 - 5 times more as far as I can tell. There are other types of resin that are cheaper but I do
not know how well they will work.

Since I wasn't really sure if this was going to be a viable method of creating 3D objects, this was
a fairly cheap and quickly designed project. I have a small Taig CNC Mill for cutting metal so
the custom parts are made of scrap aluminum I had laying around. You can probably use wood
and maybe even hand cut the parts if you are careful.

This project is Open Source Hardware.

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Step 1: Materials, Tools and Safety

This is a list of the parts I used.

General Parts
3 - 16" x 171/2" x 3/4" Plywood for the back and sides of the case
2 - 16" x 16" x 3/4" Plywood for the top and bottom of the case
24 - #6 x 3" wood screws and washers
4 - Rubber Stoppers 1 7/8" x 1 3/4"
4 - 1/4-20 x 2 1/2" Bolts
8 - 1/4-20 Nuts and washers
1 - 4" x 4" x 1/4" Black Acetal sheet (Delrin)
1 - 1 Liter Beaker

Linear Rail and Blocks from Automation Overstock

4 - AG Linear Rail 15mm x 200mm
2 - 15mm Bearing Block, 2 Bolt Flange
2 - 15mm Bearing Block, 4 Bolt Flange

Electronics Parts from Sparkfun and others

6 - microswitches with roller
3 - ROB-09238 Stepper Motors
3 - EasyDriver Stepper Drivers (Pololu drivers should work too)
3 - Polarized Connectors 4-Pin housing
3 - Polarized Connectors 4-Pin Header
2 - 6 pin female headers
2 - DC Barrel Jack Adapters - Female
1 - Sanguino (Arduino Mega would work too with code modifications)
1 - 5V FTDI USB Cable
1 - Omron G5V-1 Relay
1 - LD33V 3.3V Voltage Regulator
2 - 9V 500ma or higher Power Supplies (could use one but they are cheap)
1 - 12V - 24V 2000ma or higher Power Supply (for Stepper Motors)
1 - TIP120 Transistor
1 - 1K Resistor
1 - Protection Diode such as 1N4148
2 - 2 pin screw terminals
Various Male and female .1" headers, wire and protoboard big enough to fit everything

Leadscrew from McMaster-Carr

1 - 1018 Carbon Steel Precision Acme Threaded Rod, 1/4"-16 Size, 3' Length

Leadnuts from DumpsterCNC

3 - Acme 1/4"-16 (1 Start) Leadnuts Square flange 4 hole
3 - Acme 1/4"-16 (1 Start) Couplers 5mm Bore

Laser parts from Aixiz

1 - Aixiz blue laser glass lens
1 - Aixiz 405nm violet laser 20mW
1 - Iris Diaphragm, Zero Aperture, 21mm Outer Diameter from Edmund Optics

The UV/Visible light cure resin from Ellsworth Adhesives

1 - liter Dymax 3099 Ultra Light-Weld Adhesive
or
1 - liter Loctite 3105 Light Cure Adhesive

Tools Needed
Drill and various bits
Drill Press
JigSaw
4-40 tap
Access to a CNC Mill
Gorilla glue or similar
Long clamps
Hacksaw
Files

Safety
Laser Safety Goggles such as these. They must protect against 405nm light to be effective.
Well ventilated area, don't inhale the vapors from the resin or those produced when curing.

Step 2: Y Axis
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A couple of notes before you begin.

The bearing blocks come with a piece of plastic where the rail goes, this holds the bearings in
place. Do not take it out. When putting the bearing block on the rail just push the plastic piece
out with the rail. If you have to take the block off the rail push the rail out with the piece of
plastic lining it up the way it came.

Some of the pictures have bearings for support on the end of the Acme rods, I found that they
were not needed due to the short length of the rod.

If the assembly order doesn't work right or you have questions about anything let me know and I
will modify the instructable to include the changes.

Please use laser safety goggles for 405nm lasers. This laser is strong enough to cause permanent
eye damage.

Cut all the parts on the mill. The part drawings are attached as dxf files and the sketchup file is
there also.

Drill holes in the stepper mount flanges and the edge of the Acme nut block. See image notes
above.

Insert the Acme nut into the mounting block and mark the holes. Drill them out and tap them
with a 4-40 tap or drill them larger and use machine screws long enough to go through and a nut
to hold them.

See the drawing above for how to cut out the top part of the case.

UVLPrinter.skp1 MB

XY - Laser Mount 12.7mm.dxf181 KB

XY - Main Beam 9.8mm.dxf151 KB

XY - Stepper Mount One 12.7mm.dxf154 KB

XY - Stepper Mount Two 12.7mm.dxf154 KB

Z - Arm 9.8mm.dxf152 KB

Z - Bracket 12.7mm.dxf154 KB

Z - Plate 6.8mm Delrin.dxf151 KB

3D Printer - Model.dxf1 MB

XY - Main Beam Acme Rod Mount 12.7mm.dxf149 KB

3D Laser Printer DXF files.zip190 KB

Step 3: X Axis
Mark, drill and tap with a 6-32 tap the bottom of the stepper mount. Attach the stepper mount to
the bottom plate with 6-32 machine screws.

Attach the stepper to the stepper mount. My stepper used M3 screws.

Mount the linear rail to the bottom plate using 4-40 screws and nuts.

Drill holes in the laser mount flanges and mount to a 2 hole bearing block. (I know it shows a 4
hole block in the pictures you should use a 2 hole block.)

Step 4: Assemble X and Y

First put the rails into the two bearing blocks making sure to push the plastic bearing retainer out
with the rails. Then screw the plate to the two bearing blocks. Check to make sure the rails are
parallel by measuring the distance apart at both ends of the rails. Then check that they are square
to the plate. If they are not parallel then loosen the screws and adjust until they are and then
tighten.

Once the assembly is adjusted set it on the top piece of the case and then mount the stepper.
Screw the Acme rod into the nut and the coupler then attach to the stepper.

Once everything is lined up mark and drill the holes for the rails to attach to the top piece of the
case. Attach with machine screws, nuts and washers on the outside of the board.

Step 5: Z Axis
Drill the flange holes in the Z arm mount. Drill and tap 4-40 holes in the end of the arm mount
by the slot. See the picture below.

The arm should fit into the slot and stick out a little past the end. Cut a short piece of 1/8" thick
2" x 1" aluminum and drill holes to match the ones in the end of the arm mount. Then place the
arm into the slot and screw the aluminum on to clamp the arm in place. See the pictures above if
you need clarification.

In the bottom piece of the case use a jigsaw to cut out the hole for the Z axis stepper.

To mount the stepper to the case bottom you can see the picture above but that was actually kind
of hard to line up right. You could find a single piece of aluminum that is wide enough to cut a
hole that matches the raised circle area on the stepper. Once it is cut you can mark and drill the
holes for the stepper and then holes to mount to the case.

To mount the circle platform onto the arm just drill and tap with 4-40 tap the bottom of the arm
then drill a hole in the platform and mount with a screw.

Step 6: Finish the Box

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Clamp the box together as shown and make sure everything is as square as you can make it.
Then drill holes following the pictures above and screw together with wood screws and washers.

You can use store bought leveling feet or just make some with a stopper, bolt, 2 washers and 2
nuts. Follow the pictures above. Just drill into the stopper far enough to fit the head of the bolt
then drill holes in the bottom of the case. Use a bullseye bubble level to level the case by placing
it in the center of the bottom then turn the bottom nut on each foot to get the case level.

Cut three 9" (about 228mm) lengths of ACME rod. File the ends so that the threads are formed
well enough to thread into the ACME nuts. You may have to use a small triangle file to form the
threads back to a usable shape.

Once the case is assembled you can attach the Z axis linear rail to the back of the case. First
assemble the whole Z Axis including the linear rail, the ACME rod and the ACME coupler. slide
the coupler onto the stepper shaft. The rail should be flush with the back of the case, if not then
you may need to adjust the position of the Z stepper.

Position the rail about where it is in the pictures above and mark the 4 sides. Take the Z
assembly back out. Measure the rail from the end to the center of the first hole then the space
between the other holes and mark lines across the outline of the rail on the back of the case. Find
the center of your marks on the back of the case and draw a line down. Where the lines cross
drill holes to mount the Z axis rail and then mount it.

Drill a hole in the top big enough for the 4 pin connectors on the steppers to go though.

Step 7: Stepper Driver Board

Show All 10 Items
I may design a proper circuit board for all this but since I was designing as I went this was the
most flexible setup for me.

Hopefully the drawings and pictures make sense, let me know if clarification is needed. This was
my first use of Fritzing so it's not as pretty as I could probably make. The Fritzing file is attached
below.

Start by soldering the polarized 4 pin connectors into the Easydriver boards on top. Then solder
the male header pins into the other holes on the Easydrivers on the bottom*.

*One thing I should have done is put the header pins marked MS1 and MS2 on the top so it was
easy to jumper them to ground or solder up some headers on the protoboard for jumpers. I ended
up wanting to change the microstepping from the default of 8th step microstepping. I have added
these jumpers to the drawings now.

Once you have the male headers soldered, cut the female ones to match then put them on the
male pins and place them in the protoboard spaced out with enough room to work.

Solder the screw terminal to one end then wire up it up to each of the headers for the Pwr In on
the Easydrivers. Mark + and - on the screw terminal.

I used a 10 pin header and ribbon cable to pass the 6 step and direction pins and ground to the
Sanguino. you could just put a regular header row to pass the signals straight to the Sanguino.
Dont forget to connect the ground from the different boards together.

The wire colors for the coil pairs in my steppers are yellow+blue and green+red. Verify your
stepper coil pairs by following these instructions. Solder the female polarized headers to the
stepper wires using the pairs you verified for your steppers.

The drawings show headers for the microstepping selection. I am using half steps for the X and
Y axis and it is working pretty well. To use half stepping put a jumper on the ms2 pin to ground.

UVLPrinter.fz696 KB

Step 8: Laser Driver Board

There is most likely a better way to do this but I am not an Electrical Engineer, the parts I used
were on hand. This setup has worked fine for me for hours of printing so far.

The drawings below are a little different than what I have wired but should work. You could also
put this all on one board, this was the biggest board I had on hand.

The Laser driver board takes 9V from a wall wart power supply to drive the relay and the
LD33V 3.3V Voltage Regulator that powers the laser. The TIP120 transistor switches the relay
which switches the ground of the laser to turn it on or off.
Step 9: Limit Switches
The limit switches keep the controller from accidentally moving too far in one direction. They
can also be used to home the machine and tell it where to start from.

Solder wire to the NC and common pins on each switch.

Put a little dab of gorilla glue on the switch then place it so the bearing block with hit the switch
before going too far. A 1/2" in from the end of the rail is fine. Tape them in place, making sure
they make good contact to the wood. The X axis ones were glued to the aluminum plate and it
worked fine. If you have switches with holes for mounting you can drill and mount them that
way. I couldn't find screws small enough for the mounting holes on the ones I had.

Run the wires up and out the hole for wires in the top of the case. I tacked them in place with
wire staples.

Solder all of the common side switch wires into a 6 pin female header. Then solder the NC side
wires to another 6 pin female header.

Step 10: Wire it all up

Mount the boards to the top of the case with screws or nonconductive double sided foam tape.

*Do not plug any power in before you connect the steppers. Connecting or disconnecting the
steppers while power in on to the stepper drivers will fry the driver board.

Connect the the steppers to the Easydrivers.

Connect the laser to the 3.3V header for it on the laser board.

Connect the ground for the limit switches and then the signal to digital pins on the Sanguino. I
used 17-22.

Connect the Step and Dir pins to the Sanguino. I used 2-7.

Connect the laser pin to the Sanguino. I used pin 23.

Make sure ground from the laser board and the stepper board are both connected to ground on
the Sanguino.

Connect all the power supplies. 9V for the laser board, 9V for the Sanguino and 12V - 24V for
the Stepper board. I connect all of these to a power strip to control them all at once. You could
wire a header on the laser board and then connect it to the Vin pin on the Sanguino to power it
from there if you want.

Connect the the 5V USB FTDI cable to the Sanguino. It is marked with the wire colors. If using
an Arduino Mega just use a regular USB cable.

Step 11: Software Setup

Download and install the Arduino IDE and install it. If using a Sanguino see this page for the rest
of the setup.

Download and install Replicatorg and install it.

Download the file UVLPrinter.zip below and extract it to your Arduino Sketchbook folder or just
open UVLPrinter.pde wherever you extract it from. It contains a modified version of the Sprinter
firmware.

Open the pins.h tab and change any pins that you may have connected differently than my setup.
The step and dir pins should be easy to find, the MIN_PIN and MAX_PIN for each axis are the
top and bottom limit switches. Anything with a -1 is not used. Everything else should be easy to
figure out.

#define X_STEP_PIN 6
#define X_DIR_PIN 7
#define X_MIN_PIN 19
#define X_MAX_PIN 20

If you are using anything other than half stepping you will need to go into the configuration.h tab
and change the following line.

float axis_steps_per_unit[] = {251.971678, 252.4475, 1007.87402,700}; //Half Step

The information needed to figure this out is the 16 Turns per inch on the Acme rod, the 200 steps
per turn of the stepper and the microstepping. If using 1/8th stepping then take the 200 steps of
the stepper times 8 to get 1600 steps.

The calculation for figuring out the steps per mm for 8th stepping is:

1 inch is 25.4mm so 25.4 / 16 TPI = 1.5875 mm per turn

1.5875 mm / 1600 steps = .0009921875 mm per step
1 mm / .0009921875 mm per step = 1007.87402 steps per mm

So for 8th stepping you would put 1007.87402 for each axis like this:
float axis_steps_per_unit[] = {1007.87402, 1007.87402, 1007.87402,700}; // 1/8th Step

The following lines are for configuring the max speed the steppers will try to move at. I start to
loose steps past 400 and the Z axis doesn't need to go faster than 200. Test out your setup and
change if needed.
float max_feedrate[] = {400, 400, 200, 500000};
float homing_feedrate[] = {400,400,200};

Once you have made any changes needed you can verify and upload the code to the Sanguino.

To setup Replicatorg copy the file uvlprinter.xml into the machines folder in the replicatorg
folder.

Start Replicatorg and click on the Machine menu then Driver and choose UV Laser Printer. Set
the serial port to the one you are using. On the GCode menu and Choose GCode Generator
choose Skeinforge (40).

Go to File then Examples and pick any of them. then press the Generate Gcode button. Press the
duplicate button and Name it UV3D or whatever you want. Select that profile and click the
Locate button. It will open a folder with the settings for this profile. Click cancel on the GCode
Generator window. Copy everything from the UV3D .1mm.zip file into this folder replacing
what is there.

You should be configured with the basic settings for running the printer.

uvlprinter.xml1 KB
 end.gcode166 bytes

replace.csv30 bytes

start.gcode243 bytes

UV3D .1mm.zip41 KB

UVLPrinter.zip68 KB

Step 12: Laser and Iris Mount

Place the laser in the slot for it and tack in place with dabs of hot glue on each side.

Put on Laser Safety goggles now.

To turn on and off the laser, open Replicatorg and connect to the printer. Click the control panel
and then toggle the checkbox for Valve.

Move the Z axis down to about the level where you will fill the beaker. I usually fill it to about
500ml unless I am printing something tall. Turn the lens in the laser until the dot is a small as it
can go, there is a point where it will get small then big again, try to get it as small as possible.

Slide the iris into the slot for it and line it up with the laser. Center the iris by turning the laser on
and moving the iris around. Close the iris slowly and watch the dot get dimmer until it almost
disappears then open it up just a little bit so the dot is small and not too bright.

Once you have it lined up carefully tack it in place with hot glue. There is probably a better way
to do this with set screws or something else but I haven't spent the time to redesign it yet.

You will have to adjust the iris and laser focus if you change the build height. I have not come up
with an easy calibration system yet. I will update this if I do. Right now I adjust the iris and print
something and see how well the layer thickness and line width worked.

Step 13: Print Something!

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Using the 1 Liter beaker that I have the print area is about an 85mm circle by about 100mm
tall. You can adjust the build area size in the uvlprinter.xml file if needed.

To use Replicatorg there is already an excellent How To at Makerbot's wiki.

To set the Z height on this machine pour the resin into the beaker up to the height that you set the
laser at. Use the control panel in replicatorg to move the Z platform down into the resin to coat
the platform then back up to just above the surface of the resin. Set all the axises to 0 then close
the control panel and print.

The Z axis lowers into the resin then raises and waits a few seconds after each layer is printed.
The commercial printers use a wiper to wipe a precise amount of resin across the part but that
would have made the design much more complicated. This process isn't perfect but so far seems
to work alright.

I have only done a little bit of work with coloring the resin so far. What I have tested so far is
using Castin' Craft pigments and dyes and they seem to work.
Step 14: Wrap up

So, there it is. It works, but should you build one? Well that depends on what you want to get out
of building/buying a 3D printer. If you just want to print 3D things for cheap then no, I wouldn't
build one. Get a Makerbot or an Ultimaker or build a RepRap. If you want to tinker and possibly
get some amazing prints and don't mind that they cost a bit more to print than the others then go
for it. I would love to have some other people testing and thinking up new ways to tweak this.

As for cost of building the machine, I think I spent about $600 - $800 for everything. Less than
the extruder printers but the material cost is about 4-5 times more so it's not really the economy
option.

There are also other ways to print with UV cured resins, like using a DLP projector to show
images for long enough to cure a layer. There is one person that has made one that seems to work
well but it looks like it is closed source and going to be expensive when he starts selling it. There
is also a Yahoo group called diy_3d_printing_and_fabrication with people sharing their DLP
based builds and resin tests.

You should have used a laser galvanometer (galvo)! Sounds great, if you find one accurate
enough for under a few hundred dollars let me know!

Just for fun, the picture above shows most of the bad prints I've made so far.

I probably missed something so let me know if you have questions and I will get to them as soon
as I can. Thanks for reading.

We have a be nice comment policy.

Please be positive and constructive.

1-40 of 155 Next »

RobHopeless (author) 3 years agoReply

Venus de Milo

Ceiku3 months agoReply

I had the same thought exactly about other extruder based 3D printers. So nice to see you have
done so much good work with this =)
And I don't know too much about this, but do you know of any way to improve accuracy?

Like a better lense etc.

curlrup2 years agoReply

Ok great I got my firmware to work. Ij ust started over. I have one question. I have my
Skeinforge profile set up and the machine set up in ReplicatorG. When I hit run I am getting
errors saying that the g_Code is telling each axis to run faste rthan it is allowed to run...where
would I tweak that? Thanks

elliot.mcallister curlrup3 months agoReply

you have to double check if the acceleration is enabled. This error message is for makerbots I
believe...as long as your motors are enabled to accelerate and able to pull the tourque you should
be ok.

elliot.mcallister3 months agoReply

Hey, great project! I got one up and running based on your software. I still have one issue with
the M113 code. This in reprap is for the power management...I was wondering if you used this
command to reduce the power on your laser or of you eliminated it from the code with the
replace files. If you did eliminate it, how is that accomplished? Did you use a replace and
truncate command?

tahi_instructables5 months agoReply

Hi there,

Nice work. I am interesting in laser module. Please tell me what is laser module name?

Sincerely,

Tahi
sniffrumble7 months agoReply

Mostly what I have done so far is adjust the laser and iris then print a sample and measure it and
either adjust the laser or the settings to fit.

3D Printing Forum7 months agoReply

Very cool!

sheepbars8 months agoReply

This is effin' amazing! Great work!

creditrepairaid9 months agoReply

Mostly what I have done so far is adjust the laser and iris then print a sample and measure it and
either adjust the laser or the settings to fit.

zcapitani10 months agoReply

Hi RobHopeless, I have read with attention your projects and it is very interesting. I should know
if with the laser system the final resolution of the object is the same of a DLP system I ask it
because I am interested to built a 3D printer top/down but I don't know betwen the two system is
the better. Regards Claudio.

alcurb10 months agoReply

This is effin' amazing! Great work!

gazumpglue11 months agoReply

Mostly what I have done so far is adjust the laser and iris then print a sample and measure it and
either adjust the laser or the settings to fit.

chimplost11 months agoReply

Thanks, I'll have to look into that too.

chlluk1 year agoReply

hi
great piece of work, is the Iris a must or will it work without.
Clive

macrumpton1 year agoReply

I am planning to create a 3doodler type handheld device that uses resin instead of filament, and I
was wondering if this type of resin can cure fast enough to support itself if it has a laser focused
on the stream coming out of the nozzle?

steveazhocar1 year agoReply

any way to let the laser pulse and shoot dots like a co2 laser engraver does? now it follows the
lines made by the software which I think is not as good for very fine work. let the laser pulse and
overlap the dots resulting in even finer work.

regaltaxlaw1 year agoReply

Breathtaking

sambalbij1 year agoReply

any way to let the laser pulse and shoot dots like a co2 laser engraver does? now it follows the
lines made by the software which I think is not as good for very fine work. let the laser pulse and
overlap the dots resulting in even finer work.

navidsabet1 year agoReply

hello mr andy rawson
thank you for your amazing 3d printer
but i cant upload UVL Printer code to my arduino mega
when i click verify Button strand with : 'HIGH' was not declared in this scope errore
do you try upload it to mega?
please help me!
thanks

clickworried1 year agoReply

Nice

mrwolfe1 year agoReply

Great Instructable! You could use FDM to print the complex parts in PLA (although you'd errr ...
have to have an FDM printer to do that)

Just for info, there is now a nice DLP projector instructable by TristramBudel:
http://www.instructables.com/id/DIY-high-resolution-3D-DLP-printer-3D-printer/

I'm seriously thinking that merging the two ideas might prove interesting!

mrwolfe1 year agoReply

Great Instructable! Just for info, there is now a nice DLP projector instructable by
TristramBudel:
http://www.instructables.com/id/DIY-high-resolution-3D-DLP-printer-3D-printer/

I'm seriously thinking that merging the two ideas might prove interesting!

jetlag13201 year agoReply

you did an amazing job. making stuff in and of itself is easy and fun. the resolution is amazing
compared to filament 3d printers. how does the accuracy from file dimensions to finished
product compare? i would like to use a 3d printer of the resin variety for quality resolution, but i
also want it to make parts with reasonable tolerances as well.

kennethagiusmosta1 year agoReply

WOW. Great Work. I like your project

zxcv5555781 year agoReply

Hello, very much like your project. Give me a "Arduino mega" using firmware do? E-mail:
297528783@qq.com Thank you very much for your help!
eranrom.me1 year agoReply
To my understanding the laser ground switched by the relay needs to be 'switched' to the 9V
ground. That is - when ever the TIP 120 transistor gives a signal, the relay coil is 'activated' and
the laser ground needs to be connected to the 9V ground.
Now, in the circuit picture, the 9V ground is connected to the lower right leg of the relay (when
looking from above), which according to the relay spec is indeed the leg that is 'switched' when
the coil is 'activated'. In the Fritzing diagram, however, the 9V ground is connected to the lower
left leg of the relay. Is that a mistake?

Thanks very much!

Eran

pvang11 year agoReply

Great work. I was contemplating attempting this or maybe just buying a formslab. Stereo-
lithography seems to produce better quality part than the abs filament type 3d printer.

contactscolored1 year agoReply

wow there is a great projects for beginners!

Edgar1 year agoReply

Good work!
Went to my Blog:
http://faz-voce-mesmo.blogspot.pt/2013/02/estereo-litografia-borla-exactflat-e.html

JensonBut1 year agoReply

Nice Instructable!

There are some really good things for people to learn here. (from your instructions, especially)

bsax2111 year agoReply

Hi. Sorry if you have already covered this, I haven't been able to read every word of your
instructable....yet, but, what is the curing time for the adhesive you use? I know of some
fiberglass resins that uv cure, really inexpensive, figured I could try them out as a viable option.
Im pretty sure Im going to be making this soon. Thank you and awesome instructable btw!
curlrup2 years agoReply
Well I have firmware and my machine speed set correctly...I think. However, Replicator G is
locking up when I do something siimple like open the manual axis controls and try to jog and
axis. Also If I send a job to the machine Replicator G sits there and tells me that it is estimating a
build time. Does this take a long time normally? Thanks

curlrup2 years agoReply

I just converted my old Darwin RepRap over to run just like your machine. I'm having problems
getting the Firmware to compile for an Arduino Mega. It is getting hung up. Any suggestions?
My coding skills are extremely lacking. I changed the mother board to the Mega in the code, and
hooked up all pins accordingly. Any help would be appreciated.

Curly

RobHopeless (author) curlrup2 years agoReply

Without knowing what the error is you are getting, I would guess that you are using Arduino
software version 1 or higher and I think some things need to be changed to work with that. Try it
with Arduino version 0023 and let me know exactly what happens if you still have problems.

bourno2 years agoReply

How much work do you think it would take to print from the bottom instead? Seems like this
method has gained the most steam lately for the hobbyist level to reduce the initial resin volume
purchase when looking at increasing the print size. I would like a 4" x 8" area instead of the more
typical 3" x 3" or 3" x 4".

A great instructable, thanks for the work and sharing your experience.

RobHopeless (author) bourno2 years agoReply

It shouldn't take too much more work. You would need to figure out the vat and how to keep the
resin from sticking to it but other than that it is just shifting the parts around a bit. There is a lot
of info about the vats people are using on the Yahoo group.

pjozsi3 years agoReply

Congratulations, great idea, well done!
Perhaps this could be used for galvanometer scanner, if blue the laser:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gK14SaaYMoc&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL
jcapogna pjozsi2 years agoReply
Not so fast with the galvo! Your laser attack angle will change and distort your beam geometry
at the target surface. If you really want to do it right you'll need a beam expander->Galvo-
>Ftheta lens. But if you want to print large objects and maintain your spot size/geometry you'll
need a telecentric Ftheta. Believe it or not these optics pop up now and again at optics surplus
stores.
BTW, I found this instructable to be 100% inspirational! I've been looking for something to do
with my old HeCd in my basement...was just gonna give it to the university....

pjozsi jcapogna2 years agoReply

Hi jcapogna, I absolutely agree with you!
In my experiments I mainly geometrically precise mirror movements.
I can not get cheap F-theta lens .....
Thank you for your comment precision!
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About This Instructable

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RobHopelessRobHopeless.com
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Bio:I am Andy Rawson and I make things. I usually end up making things that are expensive to
otherwise obtain. Like a Stereolithography 3D Printer or a Thermal Imaging camera. Check out
my other projects ...read more »
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Tags:3DPrinterlaserUVresincncreplicatorgarduino

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