Low-cost metal 3D printer

Low-cost metal 3D printer could be the next step in home manufacturing revolution:

Low-cost metal 3D printer could be the next step in home manufacturing revolution

A common criticism of 3D printers is that whilst they can easily replicate any number of shapes and objects, they can only do so in plastic. This might be great for printing trinkets like a mobile phone case or a chess set, but how it will it help when you need, say, a new dishwasher part?

However, a new type of 3D printer designed by engineers from Michigan Technological University might solve some of these problems. It’s open source, it costs less than $1,500 and it prints in metal.

The prototype has been developed by Joshua Pearce, an associate professor of materials science and engeineering, who admits that the unit is very much still a work in progress.

However, it still represents a significant breakthrough compared to current 3D metal printers, the vast majority of which are operated by industrial manufacturers and cost hundreds of thousands of pounds.

However, Pearce is optimistic that his design will help spur further development:

“Similar to the incredible churn in innovation witnessed with open-sourcing of the first RepRap plastic 3D printers, I anticipate rapid progress when the maker community gets their hands on it,” he said in a press release.  “Within a month, somebody will make one that’s better than ours, I guarantee it.”

Pearce’s design uses a small commercial MIG welder (one that uses inert gas) to lay down thin layers of steel, with the printing process controlled by an open-source microcontroller. The entire ensemble is less expensive than many commercial plastic 3D printers, though Pearce hopes future models will be used by small companies.

Commercially priced plastic 3D printers are becoming more common, but will they print anything we need?

“Small and medium-sized enterprises would be able to build parts and equipment quickly and easily using downloadable, free and open-source designs, which could revolutionize the economy for the benefit of the many.”

Unfortunately, the spread of low-cost 3D metal printers would also lead to increased fears of home-made weapons.  Although 3D printed plastic guns have so far only proved to be unreliable and dangerous to the user, the first 3D printed metal gun fired over 600 rounds in testing and was said to ‘function beautifully’.

For the rest of it us, it’s still hoped by many that 3D printers will one day enter the home, providing replacements parts for domestic appliances. One US study from August this year even suggested that 3D printers could ‘pay for themselves’ in just two months – though the researchers were restricted by the range of objects available to print.

“I really don’t know if we are mature enough to handle it,” Pearce said of the technology, “but I think that with open-source approach, we are within reach of a Star Trek-like, post-scarcity society, in which ‘replicators’ can create a vast array of objects on demand, resulting in wealth for everyone at very little cost. Pretty soon, we’ll be able to make almost anything.”

3-D Nano printer World Record

3-D Printer With Nano-Precision:

3D Printer

Printing three-dimensional objects with incredibly fine details is now possible using “two-photon lithography.” With this technology, tiny structures on a nanometer scale can be fabricated. Researchers at the Vienna University of Technology (TU Vienna) have now made a major breakthrough in speeding up this printing technique: The high-precision-3D-printer at TU Vienna is orders of magnitude faster than similar devices. This opens up completely new areas of application, such as in medicine.  Setting a New World Record.  The 3D printer uses a liquid resin, which is hardened at precisely the correct spots by a focused laser beam. The focal point of the laser beam is guided through the resin by movable mirrors and leaves behind a hardened line of solid polymer, just a few hundred nanometers wide. This fine resolution enables the creation of intricately structured sculptures as tiny as a grain of sand. “Until now, this technique used to be quite slow,” says Professor Jürgen Stampfl from the Institute of Materials Science and Technology at the TU Vienna. “The printing speed used to be measured in millimeters per second — our device can do five meters in one second.” In two-photon lithography, this is a world record.  This amazing progress was made possible by combining several new ideas. “It was crucial to improve the steering mechanism of the mirrors,” says Jan Torgersen (TU Vienna). The mirrors are continuously in motion during the printing process. The acceleration and deceleration-periods have to be tuned very precisely to achieve high-resolution results at a record-breaking speed.  Photoactive Molecules Harden the Resin.  3D-printing is not all about mechanics — chemists had a crucial role to play in this project too. “The resin contains molecules, which are activated by the laser light. They induce a chain reaction in other components of the resin, so-called monomers, and turn them into a solid,” says Jan Torgersen. These initiator molecules are only activated if they absorb two photons of the laser beam at once — and this only happens in the very center of the laser beam, where the intensity is highest. In contrast to conventional 3D-printing techniques, solid material can be created anywhere within the liquid resin rather than on top of the previously created layer only. Therefore, the working surface does not have to be specially prepared before the next layer can be produced, which saves a lot of time. A team of chemists led by Professor Robert Liska (TU Vienna) developed the suitable ingredients for this special resin.  Researchers all over the world are working on 3D printers today — at universities as well as in industry. Because of the dramatically increased speed, much larger objects can now be created in a given period of time. This makes two-photon-lithography an interesting technique for industry.  At the TU Vienna, scientists are now developing bio-compatible resins for medical applications. They can be used to create scaffolds to which living cells can attach themselves facilitating the systematic creation of biological tissues. The 3d printer could also be used to create tailor made construction parts for biomedical technology or nanotechnology.