This is ReprapWorld s first SLA-DLP 3D printer kit. You can now build yourself a 3D printer with an awesome resolution and print speed compared to the FDM printer. This kit does not include the beamer. We recommend the SLA-DLP kit with a beamer, reasons outlined below in the requirements paragraph.
SLA-DLP
SLA stands for Stereolithography, which is an additive manufacturing technology by using a polymer (resin) that hardens under influence of light. DLP is a technology of projecting an image onto a surface by using a projector. So the combination of these two technologies (SLA-DLP) results in hardening a polymer by projecting an image onto the surface of the liquid. In short, the printer in this kit will project an image per layer onto the resin and build an object by doing this repeatedly for all layers.
Compared to FDM we have found printing with resin mostly easier as the slicing of the object is much simpler. The resin can be a bit messy, so having some plastic gloves and toilet paper ready is much recommended. The object will reasonable stick to the build platform, depending on the contact area. Carefully removing the print with a sharp chisel is fairly easy to do, comparable in effort to FDM printed objects.
The print will be printed top-down, meaning the platform moves up away from the projected image during the print. This has as advantage that the basin for the resin can be much lower as opposed to a top-up approach, without reducing the build height.
Build volume and resolution
This kit comes with a recommended print surface of 80x60mm for best results, with a maximum of around 250mm in height. The recommended build surface of 80x60mm can be adjusted by placing the beamer lower allowing for larger prints, however this will decrease the resolution of the print as the same amount of pixels will cover a larger area. Also the lighting time will need to be increased as the light intensity per mmsup2; is lower, resulting in a longer print time. The resolution of 0.02mm is fairly easy to reach as opposed to FDM printers. This will result is almost invisible layers on the final object. To reduce printing time you can use a bigger layer height. Up to 0.1 mm is reasonably doable, with only slight adjustments in lighting time.
Requirements
You will need a computer with reasonable capacity to display 3D images onto the screen and do slicing. Compared to FDM the slicing software is much less complex as there is no tool-path calculation. This results in much better slicing times and demanding less from your computer. Your computer also needs an additional VGA connector for connecting the beamer to your computer.
If you buy the kit without beamer, you will also need a beamer. The better resolution of the projected image results in better resolution of the object in the XY-axes, a minimum of 800x600 is recommended. Note that the distance of the projected image to the beamer is very low, not all beamers are able to project a sharp image on that distance. Be aware that the plastic parts in this kit are ready to go with the beamer included in the kit and probably will not fit your beamer requiring you to modify parts.
ReprapWorld provides an adjusted Marlin version specifically for this printer kit. As the kit uses Minitronics for controlling this movements, you can use Arduino to easily upload the firmware onto the board. Also we provide free host software. This software will run on your computer and control the electronics, while displaying an image onto the beamer as second monitor.
This kit has two weeks lead-time