The "Beginning"

So, 3D printers are pretty much all the rage these days. BUT it's mainly about FDM or FFF based printers...one form of 3D printing that has kind of gone under the radar is SLA. (Though likely its a patent thing? Or so I'm told?)

It's the oldest and original method of 3D printing invented by Chuck Hull in the mid 1980's. It's recently gotten some love in the consumer market though, a la FormLabs and the B9. Seeing as FormLabs kind of gotten into a "tiff" with 3D Systems, laser SLA method is not something I'm interested. B9/DLP based SLA is though.

So, we all might remember a certain someone (*cough* Junior Veloso *cough*) who really caused a stir (can even go as far as to say he started it?) a few years ago with the output he was able to get with his home made DLP 3D printer...we all know how that played out and Junior more or less disappeared.

I started digging into what happened there and stumbled across 3DLPrint, who seems to more or less a similar setup to that of Junior's. Sadly, the information disseminated went through various transitions and seems somewhat scattered and dated (it's been a bit since there was a post).

So, I've decided to take up the task of reviving this project and re-invigorating it under the banner of Open3DLP (just to go with OpenSL :) ).

Here you will find details on the process in which I'm undergoing to create myself a DLP 3D printer. So...it's not so much a clean start or a new beginning. It's more of an update/consolidation of knowledge from those who came before me (and oh so generously shared with the rest of us). And hopefully in the process, I can solve some of the common issues plaguing DLP resin printers (e.g. print to vat adhesion). Or at the least make known what the issues were and various ways of going about not fixing it :P.

So for starters, how about a BoM? :) (Most of it will be similar to that of 3DLPrint.com for the time being)

Misumi (I bought black anodized cause it looks nice, feel free to save with the basic bare aluminum)

HBLFUD5-C Qty. 40, brackets for joining extrusions (C option is useful for future panel mounting)

HNKK5-5 Pack of 100, useful for mounting accessories (Optional)

PACK-HNTT5-5 Pack of 100 short nuts, 5mm hardware needed (used with HBLFUD5-C)

PACK-HNTT5-3 Pack of 100 short nuts, 3mm hardware needed (used with actuators)

HFSB5-4040-420 Qty.9 Frame assembly and one for projector mounting

HFSB5-4040-160 Qty.2 Projector X positioning arms

HFSB5-4040-305 Qty.1 Z axis

HFSB5-4040-105 Qty. 1 Tilt axis

HFSB5-4040-320 Qty. 1 Cross bar for vat mounting

HFSB5-4040-400 Qty. 4 Frame corners

eBay

THK KR20 100mm and 200mm travel distances, I'll dig up the actual model numbers when I get them. (Google it if you are impatient :)

McMaster

M3 6mm Qty. 100 Mounting motors to THK actuators, actuators to extrusions

M3 15mm Qty. 100 Mounting motor assembly to THK actuator

M5 15mm Qty. 200 Used for attaching brackets

Spring Lock Washers for M3 and M5 socket caps

L Bracket (5537T241) Used as the platform attachment to the carriage of the THK actuator and the attachment point of the build platform



This will likely change overtime, nor is it complete (as of July 2nd, 2013)...you've been warned! :)

Just so you can get an overview (Iron Man colors scheme FTW!)

And with that, this design will likely go thru some radical changes down the stretch. I wanted to work with what's the "standard" for the past couple of years before putting my twist on things. 

It's astounding what's been done on some people's free time and I just want to say thank you! I hope what I come up with makes all the time and energy put into this stuff so far worthwhile.

Special thanks goes out to Peter Zamov of 3DLPrint.com, who's knowledge is where I'm forming most of this project off of.