Recent content by hazel1919

  1. H

    Challenges in creating a 3D printer

    Hi Danger, I hope you are well, I don't know if you frequent here any more... I thought you might like to see how the project has taken off: http://www.metalbot.org/ I am truly sorry to hear about your circumstances.
  2. H

    Challenges in creating a 3D printer

    I am very sad to hear this. First port of call: rest and recover. As usual... that is certainly an interesting suggestion :smile: . The viability strongly depends on the usefulness of the alloys, but it is an out the box thought for sure! Again, I hope you get well soon. Just take...
  3. H

    Challenges in creating a 3D printer

    Hi Danger! Check out some preliminary designs for the Metalbot printer... http://www.metalbot.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=111 If you have google sketchup you can download the model here... http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/details?mid=154316e5f0930d093ff7a6479db06f74&prevstart=0...
  4. H

    Challenges in creating a 3D printer

    Here is a very interesting project which is along the lines of where we need to go... for your perusal http://focussls.blogspot.nl/ . There are some interesting discussions going on!
  5. H

    Challenges in creating a 3D printer

    Hi Danger! The sprinkling system was originally considered. We were even going to have ultrasonic transducers underneath a curved sheet of metal that would gently drop the powder in place. The trouble with this is that it needs to be very precisely tuned... where as when using a spreader you...
  6. H

    Challenges in creating a 3D printer

    It is an interesting suggestion. The biggest requirement would be for the surface of the 'build table' to be extremely flat - imagine spreading a layer of powder only 30 microns thick, over a 200mm surface area. That table needs to be FLAT, so I suppose this is a question for the machining...
  7. H

    Challenges in creating a 3D printer

    Hi bigaggie, You bring up good points. So regarding temperature. When we aim the <10um laser beam onto the powder we want the powder to melt and fuse to the layer below. This ties in with your second point because the higher wattage the laser, the more expensive it costs (and that is no...
  8. H

    Challenges in creating a 3D printer

    I am not sure if you saw the thread over on Reprap.org that started this project? http://forums.reprap.org/read.php?1,190528 Currently the only commercial systems are being manufactured by Arcam (using electron beams) and EOS (Fiber lasers). These systems start at a base price of $680k. So...
  9. H

    Challenges in creating a 3D printer

    Hi everyone! I would like to discuss the pros/cons and engineering challenges one would face in order to create a 3D printer capable of printing in metal. I have created an open source initiative (linked to below) that deals with this subject, there is quite a bit of information I have...
  10. H

    Interesting video on high voltage in a capacitor

    Can I bump this thread?
  11. H

    Interesting video on high voltage in a capacitor

    Hi guys! What an interesting wiki page! I was researching MEMS tech on a completely unrelated project and sure enough one of the primary applications of electrostatic motors is in MEMS. So 'electrostatic motors' are the dual of magnet based motors. They rely on high voltages at low...
  12. H

    Interesting video on high voltage in a capacitor

    Interesting... I did not think of that. The problem is that there are no magnets, no induction coils and the wires carry '50Kv' at very low currents according to the owner of the video. The resin contains a 'capacitor', I.E is a large foil disk that is connected to 0v - gnd - and a thin...
  13. H

    Interesting video on high voltage in a capacitor

    Dear all, Could someone help me understand what is happening in this video... Does it have any application in science or industry? Many thanks,
Back
Top