Sonny Lowe published a new build:

Read more about this build...

 

Thanks Mark...

Yeah two builds at once is a bit of an undertaking, but one of them will keep me busy when the other slows a bit like it is now ;-)

As far as software we'll go with Creative Workshop from Envision Labs for now. It's what the author of the tutorial we're following used, so it should keep our research and learning curve down a bit...or at least I hope...

With this build being a collaboration between myself and Ben, is there anyway we can both access and edit the build!?!?

Thanks,
Sonny

 

K...thanks

 

Wow, how did I miss the link to the DLP software!?!? Thanks a bunch for that...I'll look it over this weekend

 

@Redmayne

Thanks for the contact and questions, you bring up some good points, some of which still need to be addressed. I agree, SLA/DLP printing it's going to get more and more popular as it's gets easier and less expensive to get into.

Reflective vs Direct Projection..the simple answer is height vs footprint. You have two choice in how you distribute the require beam length. You can project it one direction, straight up or straight down which require the full focal distance necessary for the given build area (tall and thin frame assembly). Or, you can use the mirror to distribute that focal distance in two directions (vertical and horizontal), this makes for a larger footprint and an overall shorter frame. To be honest, I am still debating that issue and have not yet taken a hard stance on either one. The simplicity factor of the vertical setup is appealing from a development standpoint, but I prefer the looks of the shorter/deeper frame...

Another factor in the general setup is which projector we choose. I really need to pull that trigger as the beam length and focal distance change from projector to projector. Although I wanted to order frame hardware soon, I think the projector will be the next purchase I make for this build, which should assist in the decision of V vs H, that in turn will allow me to finalize the design and start buying frame hardware.

Vat: That as well is still a bit up in the air. I have designed an acrylic tray with a glass bottom. My thought process was to simply bond the glass in the bottom of Vat. Another thought was find and buy really cheap (Dollar Store) storage containers, cut the bottoms out and bond the glass in a similar fashion as the Acrylic Vat. That makes them disposable and the clean up required is the glass. It should be pretty easy to clean.

Not to sound smug, but I assume you are referring to the FEP film Vats!?!? I'm embarrassed to say, I had no idea what the "fep film vats" were until a few seconds ago LOL. The really cool thing about that is that I use FEP at work all the time. the stuff I'm thinking of is red 54" wide and we have both perforated and non-perforated. We do however have a lot of other release films as well. some clear, I'm sure one of them would be suitable for the vat. And if not, I'll simply contact that sales rep and have him send a me a 10' sample, at 54" wide that will make a lot of vats ;-)

I'm hoping for a stable 120 x 120 X/Y build area. I want this more for detail work than large work, although it never hurts to be able to go big. We'll have to rely on some real world testing though to let us know what can be reasonably achieve!?!?

Please feel free to follow along, ask question and even more so give use your opinions, you have already lead me in e new direction for the vat...thanks!! I am no expert and I'm relying on whatever info I can find out there, and so far there is no one definitive way to do this...that in itself makes it a bit more fun ;-)

Sonny

 

@Redmayne,

No worries on adding fuel to the fire...all bases need to be covered

Haha, I read that very post this afternoon, it's just about sold me on the Mitsubishi Projector for the prototype printer. It's a great article, really explains the advantages and disadvantages of the top/down vs bottom/up systems. Another good read is the Little Dipper, it's along the same lines as the Chimera, and there is always the DIY high resolution 3D DLP printer listed in my build...I'm taking cues from them all ;-)

As far as top down shooting, it does work well, and seems super easy to setup and make work, but you need a lot more resin to do that, basically the vat/tub has to filled as high as the print you want to make. They also look very rudimentary and cobbled together...there's nothing wrong with that, but I want something that both works and is aesthetically pleasing. I think even if I went with a vertical setup I'd go bottom/up just to keep from having to buy so much resin right off the bat. If I need less volume I can buy a larger variety.

As far as SLA shooting from the top down, I think it has as much to do with the laser movement (rastering) as it does with anything else!?!?

Sonny

 

I'll check out the google group, thanks. I look forward to seeing what you come up with