RepRap retailer and open source 3D printing proselytizers RepRap Central have issued a new challenge to the RepRap community. Rather than asking them to simply design and build their own FDM 3D printer, they have suggested that the community work on a new subtype of FDM 3D printing that they have dubbed Fused Layer Manufacturing.
This year’s RepRap Central challenge is to create a 3D printer using a Fused Layer Manufacturing (FLM) process that will print an entire layer at the same time. That means developing an entirely new type of printing head and extrusion system that has never been done before.
“Imagine the benefits of this type of 3D Printer. Very rapid build times, super smooth vertical operation, a level of accuracy yet to be experienced and super quiet operation,” RepRap Central explained in the challenge announcement.” What could this look like? Well we think it would only need a (Vertical) Z Axis. Gone are the mechanics of the current X and Y Axis used today in most if not all existing 3D Printers. A remarkably innovative ‘active extruder’ would be key to the design. We think it may even fill the width and depth of the entire X and Y build area. It could be a hybrid extruder possibly made from a mix of technologies, 3d printing/injection moulding?”
Honestly, just thinking of the mechanics involved in creating something like that is making my head hurt. RepRap Central isn’t kidding when he says that it is not going to be easy to do. This type of printer sounds like it would need to completely recreate FDM technology from the bottom up. Not only would a way of extruding an entire slice of your model at the same time need to be developed, but the software capable of controlling such a complex extruder would need to be written.
But this is the RepRap community, and if anyone can crowdsource some ideas, this is where it’s going to happen. I’m pretty excited to see the results of this challenge, and if you want to participate, you can just jump right in. There are no formalities other than wanting to try your hand at something. The entire point of open source technology is learning from what others have done before. Every unsuccessful attempt is an opportunity to get it right. Every failure is really just one thing that you don’t have to try. Let’s see what the RepRap community comes up with, it should, at the very least, be interesting.
this is exactly what a DLP 3D printer does, except it uses resins and not thermoplastics
Your not going to achieve the speed gains we need with resin technology, not to mention the costs and the practicality of use.
on the speed part, yes I agree, I think the biggest speed on the z axis of a dlp printer is around 1.3 inches per hour, put the cost is not that big ( nowadays you can find UV resins at about 45$/L, the same as ABS filaments) plus I think a FLM printer would be more costly and high maintenance just because of the extruder (that must work with micrometer precision for it to be a viable option)
Actually DLP printing has the potential to be very fast (<1s / layer). Even in its infancy it is much faster than FDM. I have a DLP printer that does about 1 layer / 10 seconds; independent of layer complexity of course. As cos mentioned, cost is about the same now. I'd love to see the community give DLP a closer look.
What about the Carbon3D printer
Lasers?
Yes, I’d say almost certainly.
The author quotes me as saying four things. I didn’t say anything about
this at all, and I only agree with one of the things attributed to me
(fast builds). I do think that this is an interesting initiative, but
it would be nice if people didn’t make up quotes from me.
I’ll fwd it to Mike so they can correct the Quotes.
Thanks.
Best wishes
Adrian
Dr Adrian Bowyer
http://adrianbowyer.net
Edit made! So sorry about that Adrian! Thanks, Nils!
Just to clarify, this Challenge originates from the RepRap Central. Adrian Bowyer has not been involved but of course, any input from Adrian and the RepRap Community would be most welcome. We are still formulating the Challenge details, it’s going to be open to anyone, Individuals, Teams, Companies around the World and we are looking to challenge the current status quo. If we can revisualise current FDM methods and move to layer based 3D Printing it really could result in a very significant step forward. It won’t be easy but then real challenges rarely are.
For the record, any quote attributed to you in this piece were NOT attributed to you from me and NOT included in the draft that was submitted. I’m very sorry for any confusion.
Sorry again to Scott, Adrian, and RepRap Central! I should clarify that the original Adrian attribution was made by me, not Scott. In the haze of the editing process, I confused RepRap Central for RepRapPro and made the delusional edit of attributing it to Adrian, thinking that an important detail about the story had been left out.
Not sure if it’s an understandable mistake, but more of a hallucinatory one. But a mistake nonetheless and I should have acknowledged it right off the bat. So sorry everyone!
Having been sniffy about being misquoted, here’s an idea: biochemists use a lot of micron-scale polymer beads, the surface of which they functionalise and then coat with ligands so they bind to specific receptors. Project an image from a DLP onto a photosensitive flat surface such that the bright areas become such receptors and the dark areas don’t. Then wash a suspension of beads over the surface so they bind only to the areas that were bright. You have just made one layer – repeat. (You may have to alternate each layer between ligand and receptor to get them to stick together, so two photochemicals would be needed.)
If you could make different light colours activate different receptor or ligand types, then you could stick different bead materials in different places in each layer…
Sounds like the first entry for the 2015 layer based 3D Printing Challenge, not only layers but layers with multiple properties.
Mike, the article still today (28th) mentions Adrian – ‘Bowyer isn’t kidding when he says that it is not going to be easy to do.’
What would be really nice is if a company like RepRap Central would be prepared to offer some support to developers and individuals – not in paying for development time but maybe materials or parts at a discount. One of the biggest issues with open-source development is trying things out, it takes a lot in time and expended costs quickly add up. And believe me, virtually no one donates to open-source projects or individual developers regardless of the work they do for the community.
They also don’t state if the idea should be encouraged as a RepRap project or not – meaning that it has a self replicating nature. Using 3D Printed parts could make this challenge much more accessible to many more people and further the goals of the RepRap project too.
Putting my positive head on – I don’t think it’s actually all that hard to achieve, just needs good coordination with a team that can re-do all aspects of a 3D Printer, now that doesn’t sound too impossible, that sort of thing has all been done before…
Ugh! Thanks, Rich! So sorry about that 🙁 It goes without saying that this should reflect upon me and my editing skills and not Scott!
We’ll certainly do what we can. The Challenge is open to all, individuals, teams, development communities, the education sector and of course companies around the World. If we take the next step and start to print entire layers at a time rather than spend our time constructing each layer then we’ll change the way the majority of the Worlds 3d printers operate and really put the rapid back into rapid prototyping. Negating the need for x and y axis will certainly Impact RepRap Printer designs and may lead us to an ever closer self replicating 3d printer.