The B9Creator 3D Printer

It seems that KickStarter is chock full of 3D printers kits these days and every week there is a new startup company with an improvement to the latest designs. This week we're looking at the B9Creator 3D Printer. 

 

Michael Joyce's B9Creator is a resin-based 3D printer, unlike most other inexpensive 3D printers that are based on melted plastic filament. The B9Creator gradually solidifies layers out of liquid resin, eventually building an entire object. 

 

But how well does it print? You must first understand how the resin process works. It uses a miniature projector, similar to one might be found in an office meeting room. The B9Creator's projector renders a 1024 x 768 pixel image. 

 

Software slices each layer into a 1024 x 768 image, which is then displayed on the surface of the resin. Ingeniously, the resin solidifies once exposed to light from the projector, instantly creating an wall solid areas of each layer - far faster than plastic filament 3D printers, which must mechanically traverse each solid area of each layer. 

 

The resolution of the B9Creator is dependent on how wide you focus the projector. In all cases it solidifies 1024 x 768 bits, but they'll be smaller if you focus within a smaller real area. It sounds like you can go at least as low as 50 microns (that's 0.05 mm, smaller than any plastic filament 3D printer we've heard of). What about the vertical resolution? The B9Creator can apparently perform lower than 10 microns (an astounding 0.01 mm!) However, the time required to print a layer remains identical, so printing at a higher vertical resolution will correspondingly increase your print time. At "typical" resolutions of 0.1 mm you can print "12-20 mm per hour". Hm, perhaps we should print tall objects sideways to make them faster? 

 

The KickStarter initiative closes on June 12, but the project has already almost tripled its goal of USD$50,000. As is customary, there are several donation levels offered, but the interesting ones for printer kits and assembled versions range from USD2,375 to USD$3,775 depending on several factors. It appears that the final price will be in the USD$2-3K range, based on these levels. 

 

Finally, the best part: the entire project will be open sourced at the conclusion of the launch! This means that other individuals and companies would be able to improve the design and we think we'll soon see a menagerie of powerful resin-based personal 3D printers. Can you imagine the MakerBot Resinator? The BFB Flash? What will come of Junior Veloso's proprietary resin-based 3D printer?  

 

Via KickStarter and B9Creator (Hat tip to Holto)

Open3DP is Now Open3DP

The busy folks at the University of Washington's Solheim Additive Manufacturing Laboratory in their Mechanical Engineering Department have opened up again. 

 

Opened up? That's right, they were "intellectual property" closed for several weeks as their legal department imposed a rather crushing IP regime upon them. However, they've managed to overcome this by convincing their authorities to accept use of a Creative Commons license for their works. 

 

This means their amazing developments, formulas and prototypes can now again be shared with the world. Great work!  

 

Via The University of Washington

Open3DP is Now Open3DP

The busy folks at the University of Washington's Solheim Additive Manufacturing  Laboratory in the Mechanical Engineering Department have opened up again. 

 

Opened up? That's right, they were "intellectual property" closed for several weeks as their legal department imposed a rather crushing IP regime upon them. However, they've managed to overcome this by convincing their authorities to accept use of a Creative Commons license for their works. 

 

This means their amazing developments, formulas and prototypes can now again be shared with the world. Great work!  

 

Via The University of Washington

Playing With FreeCAD

Can't afford a big-time 3D CAD modeling software program? You're not alone and you're not without solutions. There are free 3D modeling software options, including the very popular but impossible to learn Blender. But Blender just isn't CAD. Each 3D modeling system is best used for certain kinds of designs and if you are designing parts you'll want to check out FreeCAD.

 

This multi-platform (Windows, OSX and Linux) software system is quite comprehensive, providing parametric modeling, 2D / 3D design and a very extensive system for programmed plugins to do practically anything you'd like to try. You can even embed FreeCAD into your own programs. 

 

FreeCAD is based on several underlying open source software packages, not the least of which is Open CASCADE, which provides the 3D engine for the system. FreeCAD also handles import and export of popular file formats, including STL, most useful for 3D printing.  

 

We suggest you give FreeCAD a try. It's not a Solidworks and it is experimental (as in, expect crashes and miscellaneous misbehavior now and then), but depending on your needs - and budget - it just might be a fit for you. 

  

Via FreeCAD

Design with ImplicitCAD

Have you heard of OpenSCAD? It's an open source software project that can be used to produce 3D models without a visual interface. How's that work again? You write a kind of computer program whose instructions gradually generate all the pieces of your model. It's a grand idea that we'll delve deeper into in the future. 

 

But what's this about ImplicitCAD? It's a significant advance in the OpenSCAD concept. Like OpenSCAD, it can produce 3D models from a software program. The difference is that the computer language used to do the generation is Haskell, a very powerful and popular functional programming language. In other words, where OpenSCAD is limited to use of its not-so-powerful programming language, ImplicitCAD can leverage the full power of a modern programming environment. Very complex mathematics can be used to generate unbelievably complex and flexible models for art and industry. 

 

As powerful as ImplicitCAD is, you still need to know Haskell. Where's the Haskell book? 

 

Via Ponoko and ImplicitCAD

Homemade Stereolithography?

Dissatisfied with your plastic extrusion-based home 3D printer? Looking for a mechanical build challenge? Perhaps you'd be interested in checking out the Laser 3D Printer on Instructables. 

 

This project describes how to build a stereolithography (SLA) machine. You should know, however, that the SLA build process is quite different from typical RepRap-style 3D printers that extrude plastic. Instead, SLA illuminates a liquid resin with UV light, creating a layer of the object when the resin solidifies when exposed to the UV light. By gradually lowering the print into the resin and fusing new layers at the surface of the liquid resin, the object is gradually built. 

 

The advantage of this system is that the resolution can be much better than extrusion-based alternatives, since the equivalent of the "nozzle" is simply how fine you can focus the UV light. 

 

While this looks like a great project we wonder about its legality. The SLA process has been deeply patented by commercial companies and the question must be asked whether they would permit it to proceed. Certainly if this project went into commercial business some questions would be asked. It will be interesting to see what happens. 

 

Via Instructables (Hat tip to Andy and Snowbear)

Hi Res Home 3D Printer Update

We're perusing Junior Veloso's blog - he's the fellow who's developing a very high-resolution personal 3D printer. The device is quite different from most home RepRap-derived 3D printers in that it doesn't heat and extrude plastic. Instead, Veloso's printer uses light to solidify resin, layer by layer. The results are pretty amazing - click the image to see the full size close-up image. 

 

This approach has several advantages: 

 

• Each layer can be created all at once, as opposed to extrusion-based printers that must mechanically trace all print areas. This makes the print process run quickly
• The resolution can be much higher because it's limited by the focal ability of the light projector and the resin's speed of solidification rather than the mechanical movements of an extruder

 

But there may be some disadvantages as well: 

 

• The cost of the resin is said to be high, but may drop when demand increases
• "Wet" printing can be messier than "dry" extrusion, where there's nothing to spill or drip

 

Veloso indicates he's interested in developing this concept into a mostly open source concept, with some him providing certain key components. He's attempting to procure a patent that should protect him from lawsuits - if his approach has not already been patented by an existing manufacturer. 

 

We're wondering how this may play out. If we look at the example of RepRap, their technology breakthroughs spurred the development of many inexpensive 3D printer companies, some of which are growing fast. But could Veloso's concept share the same result? Could we see several companies built on his tech in the future? If they can produce output like we're seeing that could be a good thing. 

 

Via 3Dhomemade

What is OHANDA?

OHANDA is the Open Source Hardware and Design Alliance, an initiative that has developed "Four Freedoms" that can be associated with an open design to ensure proper open source use. Their idea is to create an icon that may be displayed on hardware to indicate the permitted usage, similar to a "CC" license in a way. Their description: 

 

The proposed solution with OHANDA is a label in the sense of a trademark. The label will connect the 4 Freedoms with any kind of physical device through OHANDA. Think the label like other common certificates such as FCC or CE mark. The mark permits a user of the product these four freedoms: 

 

• Freedom 0: The freedom to use the device for any purpose.
• Freedom 1: The freedom to study how the device works and change it to make it to do what you wish. Access to the complete design is precondition to this.
• Freedom 2: Redistribute the device and/or design (remanufacture).
• Freedom 3: The freedom to improve the device and/or design, and release your improvements (and modified versions in general) to the public, so that the whole community benefits. Access to the complete design is precondition to this.

  

The obvious question is why can't we just use a standard open source copyleft license instead? Why go to the trouble of making official logos? The answer is actually quite straightforward: Copyleft is derived from legal definitions of Copyright, and Copyright applies only to non-physical products. Physical products are typically protected with Patents. But the problem with Patents is that they are notoriously difficult to put in place, far beyond the ability of many makers. 

 

OHANDA's solution is pretty simple: You register your product and receive a special "producer id", which legally means you're granting the four freedoms to the user. You then slap the OHANDA label containing your key information on the product. This unique label provides a link back to the product's current documentation so the original designer and intent is maintained. 

 

Via OHANDA and Slideshare