Autodesk announces new 3D printer and open platform
autodesk.com
autodesk.com
Can someone explain how the ship in the 3D printer concept rendering is suppose to be have been built and how it's staying in place?
http://inthefold.autodesk.com/.a/6a017c3334c51a970b01a3fd089...
In my opinion they should focus on making larger and stronger 3D objects and ways to make it easy and affordable rather than delicate looking model ships. If I could quickly print something like a 2 inch custom pipe joint (that was fairly strong) in a short amount of time then this thing would be very valuable.
It's literally fused to the surface as it's drawn up from the vat (imagine the apparatus shown in the Wikipedia diagram but upside-down with the laser below the resin vat)
Is there a similar built device that you know of?
There was also this one called "Peachy" on hackaday last year http://hackaday.com/2013/09/22/a-100-stereolithography-3d-pr...
edit: also here's the link to the HN discussion of this printer https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6424132
I guess they're showing delicate things like this because the popular/cheap extruded plastic filament printers of today can't do things like that easily.
In fact, this BBC article goes into more detail about their thinking and plans: http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-27412849
YES! Please someone make it larger. I would've bought the thing by now (any printer, under $3k) that lets me print something up to 12x12 inches.
I don't see why someone doesn't just do it already. You've got all the mechanism down, now why not just make it bigger? I am pretty sure I'm not the only, I keep hearing this over and over again. I don't get what's keeping these companies from making them bigger
For example, ABS and PLA have well known shrinkage when they cool. ABS can be a few % per layer. Each layer, then, is pulling against the previous. Imagine printing something like a flat disc. It will "want" to peel up at the edges. The larger the object, the more significant this shrinkage is. At 12" you are truly going to have problems.
For SLA printers like the Form1 and other printers that use optically cured material, the problem is the same. These parts exhibit "creep" and "warp" and in fact, many of them will warp badly in sunlight long after they've been printed. Also, depending on the mechanism of feature formation, the device doesn't scale. Look at the B9Creator with its projector - the larger you go, the less resolution you have.
While I have seen and produced prints much larger than you are talking about (on both professional and hobbyist printers), they have problems and limitations that could not be solved by simply extending the mechanism.
Autodesk did something very unexpected a while back: they made a bunch of pretty good tools available for very little money. Like Fusion 360.
That said though, there's a reason these products exist and there are people who need them.
Interested to see how they plan to differentiate this printer from the similar DLP offerings out there already (DLP printers are big in the jewelry industry)