The World’s Smallest 3D Printer
“A research project at the Vienna University of Technology (TU Vienna) could turn futuristic 3D-printers into affordable everyday items.”
“The basic principle of the 3D-printer is quite simple: The desired object is printed in a small tub filled with synthetic resin. The resin has a very special property: It hardens precisely where it is illuminated with intense beams of light. Layer for layer, the synthetic resin is irradiated at exactly the right spots. When one layer hardens, the next layer can be attached to it, until the object is completed. This method is called “additive manufacturing technology”. “This way, we can even produce complicated geometrical objects with an intricate inner structure, which could never be made using casting techniques”, Klaus Stadlmann explains. He developed the prototype together with Markus Hatzenbichler.””
I want one!
Stephen
One Response
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The manufacturing big boys have had access to this technology in a large format since the early 90’s. The general name for it was Rapid Prototyping (RP). One RP process called Stereolythography (http://www.stereolithography.com/) uses what sounds like the exact same process. However there were/are a number of other similar technologies. One process could use nylon, casting wax, and a number of extrudable materials. Another even used plain old butcher paper for a 3D model that had many properties of laminated wood.
As if you wanted to know.