Re: 3D Printer fun

Neil,

Do you have any pictures of your printer setup, it's basicly what I
want to build. Chris has some usefull links for UV-curing binder wich
is probally the best way to go. How did the flour work, I was
planning on using that too. Perhaps there are better solutions Z-corp
uses two types one is a starch/cellulose material and the other is a
plaster type of material.
The plaster material is stronger. For the layer building they use a
rolling cillinder, it looks pretty nice, if you apply some pressure
it becomes probally better.

Hugo


--- In CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO@yahoogroups.com, Neil Gillies <neil@i...>
wrote:

> Hi All
>
> Thought I'd jump here with some old information...
>
> Many moons ago, I built a similar system using a stripped-down

inkjet

> printer (old gummed up HP Deskwriter as I remember).
>
> Anyway, the system was to lay down a layer of cornflour (cornstarch

in the

> US?) then fire the pattern on using sugar solution - anyone that

can cook

> will know how hard this mixture can be when it goes off!
> Being a Scotsman of course, the financial advantages had some

appeal :-))

> The Z axis was a really crude M6 threaded stepper - the powder was

dumped

> via a small hopper at one end and spread using a plastic spreader

attached

> to a model aircraft servo (financial again :-) The whole assembly

moved

> under the printhead .The print area was quite small - about 70 *

70mm.

> The sugar solution was dumped into the printhead the same way that

we refill

> cartridges today (syringe).
> As you can imagine, the initial results were crap - the main

problem being

> to find a decent solution to the powder spreading - ensuring also

that

> there weren't any draughts helped :-)
> However, with perseverance, I eventually produced a semi-useable

part (the

> only one :-) - it was a special aileron horn for a model a/c I was

building

> at the time. I never did produce the rubber mould for it, but the

part is

> still sitting on my workbench somewhere today (assuming it hasn't

dissolved

> (the parts are a little hygroscopic of course - perhaps 30 mins at

gas mark

> 5 might help :-)
>
> I didn't have any special STL software to produce the rasters for

each layer

> - I ended up building the original model in Vectorworks on my

Macintosh,

> then manually taking a cross-section every 0.5mm to produce each

layer -

> PAINFULL !! As an aside, I did the same thing to produce one of

those

> pharaohs heads in balsa wood :-)))
>
> The printer was just attached to the printer port on the mac - the

other

> items were serially driven using a PIC attached to the modem port -

all a

> bit agricultural of course - mad eh :-)
>
> Perhaps this may give someone a few building blocks for something a

bit

> fancier. One thing I would suggest 'though is to use a raster

system rather

> than the vectored approach of the usual CNC "router".
>
> I'd be interested to see photos of any attempts that might be made -

I

> always fancied having another more serious attempt at it.
>
> Cheers
>
> Neil
>
>
>
>

______________________________________________________________________
_____

>
> Neil D. Gillies Tel: +44 (0)

1383-823489

> iGull Technologies Fax: +44 (0)

8707-059481

> 11 River View Mobile: +44 (0)771-

4330793

> Dalgety Bay, Fife neil@i...
> Scotland KY11 9YE

http://www.igull.co.uk

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