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Speedy 3D Printer Uses Light Projected Into Resin To Create Solid Objects All In One Go, Rather Than In Layers (technologyreview.com)
A research team from the University of California, Berkeley, and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory has created a printer -- nicknamed the "replicator" -- that shines light onto specific spots in a rotating resin that solidifies when exposed to a certain light level. What this does is forms the entire item all in one go, rather that forming items by laying down one layer of material at a time, like most 3D printers. MIT Technology Review reports: "We've carried out a range of prints taking from 30 seconds to a few minutes," says senior author Hayden Taylor. He reckons that printing the same objects in the traditional way could take more than an hour. While the machine competes on speed, it still cannot match the details and size that other printers can achieve. The biggest item it can print right now is just four inches (10 centimeters) in diameter. Other printers can make things measured in meters. The sophistication of the machine lies in the software that creates intricate light patterns to accurate solidify the material.
The printer itself is fairly straightforward. It uses an off-the-shelf video projector plugged into a laptop that projects images of what you want to create, while a motor turns the cylinder of resin. Taylor thinks that because it's so relatively uncomplicated, both commercial and at-home versions of the printer are feasible. "The barrier to creating a very simple version of this tool is not that high," he says.
The printer itself is fairly straightforward. It uses an off-the-shelf video projector plugged into a laptop that projects images of what you want to create, while a motor turns the cylinder of resin. Taylor thinks that because it's so relatively uncomplicated, both commercial and at-home versions of the printer are feasible. "The barrier to creating a very simple version of this tool is not that high," he says.
If you like transparent stuff.
Hey, let me introduce you to this cool thing we've been using for thousands of years, hundreds of thousand of years.
It's called Paint.
We used highly viscous (up to ~90,000 cP) or solid (thermally gelled) precursor materials to minimize relative motion between the printed object and the precursor. High-viscosity precursors also limited molecular diffusion-induced blurring.
They don't use magic to rotate the cylinder of resin, but a motor. That qualifies as "mechanical part".
...gis sdrawkcab (usually not responding to ACs; don't bother posting as AC)
If you rotate the projector around the object (instead of the article's rotating the object) maybe the the quality can be improved?
The deathless prose quoted in TFS was burped up by one Erin Winick, who, believe it or not, bills herself as an Associate Editor for MIT's Technology Review newsletter. This despite her seeming inability to comprehend basic English grammar or unwillingness to proofread the writing that appears over her byline. Or both.
We truly live in an age of wonder - as in "I wonder who hired this illiterate dimwit ... ?
Check out my novel.
It's not a replicator. It only uses one crappy material, and it can't print me a tea, earl grey, hot. Whoever decided on that name is a schmuck.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Is this a repeat from like 20 years ago or something? I'm sure I've seen a machine that does precisely what's described in TFA, but a long, long time ago.
So, we have a technology that an 3D print most any shape that people can build at home? There goes any plan of controlling the production of weapons. You can call for bans, registrations, confiscations, but they will do no good if people can print any kind of durable item that is smaller than a breadbox.
Maybe, possibly, at some point, these gun grabbers will realize that there can no longer be any effective gun control. At least we can't have it without dumping the rest of the Bill of Rights down the toilet.
I'm just giggling to myself over recent attempts by Democrat petty tyrants trying to ban "assault weapons". They think they can just ban these things and therefore they go away? That's not how the world works. For people to respect the law requires that the law be deserving of respect. People won't respect a law that requires them to be disarmed while the criminals engage in black market trade of the weapons these petty tyrants fear.
Here's what the petty tyrants need to fear, a public that no longer respects the rule of law. If you want to control crime then control the criminals. That means having police, prisons, courts, and (most importantly IMHO) a public that sees the government as being effective in punishing crimes.
What has happened is the government cracks down on otherwise innocent people for violating some obscure weapons law and they find themselves in the difficult situation of locking up parents and homeowners for defending themselves against rapists and thieves. Well, punish the raping and thieving instead of possessing the tools of self defense.
I realize I may have stepped over the line into NPC territory with my comment but this is where 3D printing will bring us, the means to produce most anything we desire in the privacy of our homes. That includes those "assault weapons" the petty tyrants of the world wish to bar from private ownership. Well, if we aren't already at a time where all gun control laws are impossible to enforce then we will be there very soon.
I would not be so upset of the "assault weapon" bans if the term did not simply translate into "what we want to ban today". Define "assault weapon" first, stop moving the goal posts on what it means, and then we might be able to have a meaningful discussion. Until then I will keep laughing on how technology is yet again speeding along while legislation moves at glacial rates.
I am armed because I am free. I am free because I am armed.
Yes it's all printed "in one go" but it's still printed in layers, just like a movie is a series of still images.
What a bunch of dumbasses.
When microcomputers came out in the late 1970's, they were hyped a lot more than 3D printers were in 2009. And look where we are almost five decades later.
Wow, I thought we were about to talk about the other 3D printer from about a week ago, the one that separates the layers with a different light frequency instead of an oxygen barrier.
I'm impressed with this new one.
We use a 3D resin printer to make prototypes that we mold off of. We have found that the resin 3D printers are a little smoother, and we don't have to spen as much time to give the item a smooth finish. Here is an example of some items we molded from 3D prints https://lightedpinballmods.com...
Dan https://lightedpinballmods.com/