Re: Stereolithography machine

--- In CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO@yahoogroups.com, "James C. Nugen" <jnugen@...>
wrote:

>
> --- In CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO@yahoogroups.com, Alan Marconett <KM6VV@> wrote:
> >
> > I think we need the UV laser stuff first.
> >
>
> It looks like it may be possible to use UV leds instead. I did some
> Googling and found some info on a particular resin, which mentions
> 365nm as a quick curing wavelength:
> http://www.polychm.com/ds14.html
>
> Nichia makes UV leds with a peak of 365nm:
> http://www.nichia.co.jp/product/led-lamp-uv.html
>
> And this site describes actual industrial use:
> http://www.nitride.co.jp/english/uv/jushi.html
>
> It may require multiple leds and a lens to get a high enough
> intensity, but it should work.
> ---
> James Nugen
>

Combining lots of LEDs in a useful way so you end up with a tight
focus is not overly simple. Apart from anything else because they do
not provide a collimated output the spot size you can achieve is
limited, unless you use a pin hole or couple into a fibre, both loose
a lot of light. I guess it might be OK for nano or thin parts but my
gut feeling is that if you want to make a decent sized object it might
take a heck of a long time. Again this all assumes a gantry rather
than a scanning mirror system and that will already decrease the speed
of an already slow process by a factor of ??

it does make you wonder about direct writing to photo resist on
standard PCB laminates. Buy a old plotter and run the same program
with an LED-fibre-lens combo in place of the pen a few times.

Graham