New Vat Coatings and People

So far I've tried Sylgard and PTFE film...now I've come across FEP. Some of the benefits you initially see are that it's cheaper and there are various methods for applying it with heat. You can grab some from CS Hyde if you want to experiment too.

I've come across this material thanks to some suggestions from Bobby from Elite Imageworks, creators of the Deep Imager 5 DLP 3D printer. It was a nice surprise to find out that they are somewhat local, looking forward to visiting when they have the time.

I haven't been printing as much due to a dead projector bulb(and a new bulb is more than the projector), but that leaves more time for research! I started to look into a new projector and having seen the Deep Imager 5 and its tiny pico projector on an X/Y system, I wanted to see what was available. Low and behold I came across Steve Hernandez's work. The name might be familiar if you are building/operating a DLP 3D printer, he is the creator of CreationWorkshop tool for slicing and controlling DLP 3D printers (donate if you use it, it's really awesome!)! Oh and guess what...he's a local as well! I've reached out to him in hopes that we can meetup, we'll see if that ever comes to fruition. Steve is also looking into using a pico projector for a DLP printer, really anxious to see what he ends up doing.

So the main thing to take away here is that if you want to do anything with SLA/DLP 3D printing, you should be in the state of Maryland :P.

Before the machine died, it was on display at the Smithsonian's X3D event, unfortunately I was quickly approached about the smell of resin in the air and didn't actually print.

Open3DLP at the Smithsonian X3D Tech Gallery

...this was it's last print before its untimely demise.

RIP Dell 2400MP Projector

Back on it!

Well August happened...and then I returned to normal life in Baltimore, MD and settled back into the chaos of working my normal job. Since then, I've had next to no time to dedicate to this project...but as of today. I can proudly say I am back on it!

Kind of helps get you focused when the project is featured in the Make magazine 3d printer special edition  (Out on newsstands today, get a copy, read my articles/reviews :P), being exhibited at the Smithsonian X3D event and ultimately letting down your friend in terms of documentation of your project (Sorry, Jordan! This weekend, it's REALLY, ACTUALLY happening).

So what's the plan for Open3DLP, well for one I still need to do all the testing I had promised and get those quantitative data out in the wild. New vat axis with tilt/slide, I've been brain storming lots of ideas and am going to get fabricating with a few prototypes.

In the meantime, the real action is happening back at Rice where as of last week, their DLP printer is back at it curing resins! Bagrat Grigoryan is heading up that initiative and I know that the project/machine/research will do well with him at the helm.

I'm also looking into getting some custom parts made for the THK actuators I have for platform attachment and machine attachment. On that note, I still have THK's up for grabs if anyone is still interested, 2 pairs (short and long). Message me if interested.

Time to brush off that dust and bring down off that shelf