FORGET What You Know About 3D Printing!!!

My brother just gave me this links, and it is an absolute have to share!!! This is mind blowing!!! It seems stranger than fiction!

Here it is: The NEW 3D Printer!

In a sense, 3D printing as you know it is a lie -- it's really stacking a series of 2D layers on top of each other, rather than forming a single object. That's where Carbon3D might come to the rescue. It just unveiled a 3D printing technique, Continuous Liquid Interface Production, that creates true, contiguous 3D items by blasting a resin pool with bursts of light (which hardens the resin) and oxygen (which keeps it in a liquid state). As the Washington Post notes, the approach both looks like and was inspired by the shapeshifting T-1000 robot in Terminator 2 -- solid objects emerge out of an amorphous goo.

The unusual method isn't just for show, of course. Since you don't need to craft items layer-by-layer or worry about eliminating seams, you can print objects 25 to 100 times faster than usual; that figurine you want could be ready in minutes, not hours. Also, the smoother, stronger output is much better suited to real-world uses, such as irritation-free medical implants. There's no mention of when Carbon3D's technology will land in something you can buy, but the potential impact is huge. You could craft 3D-printed goods at home that are much closer to commercial quality, and you wouldn't even have to wait long to hold the finished product in your hands.

www.engadget.com...

3D printing, or additive manufacturing, has the potential to revolutionize how we make things, enabling custom production of almost anything you could want. Researchers are looking into applications of 3D printing ranging from printing entire houses to artificial human organs. But 3D printing hasn’t fully caught on yet, in part due to the time-consuming nature of the process—it typically relies on building items up through a layer-by-layer approach that can take many hours. For additive manufacturing to become more generally useful, printing speeds need to increase by an order of magnitude.

A team of researchers at UNC-Chapel Hill have developed a new 3D printing process that may be fast enough to change the tide for 3D printing. Their process allows for the continual printing of objects using a liquid interface in a single step, unlike the previous step-wise processes.

To accomplish this, these scientists took advantage of a problem typically associated with 3D printing methods that relies on light to initiate polymerization (photo-polymerization): the ability to control oxygen levels. When present, oxygen reacts with the polymerizing chains, which significantly slows down the reaction. Oxygen must therefore be limited for the curing process, which hardens the product. In 3D printing, the material is typically printed in air and cured under a UV light; since oxygen is likely present, this process is slower than it could be.

The new technique proceeds by projecting a continuous sequence of UV images through the bottom of an oxygen-permeable, UV-transparent window. The window is below a liquid resin bath that is essentially a solution of chemical reactants. This window allows a small amount of oxygen to enter, creating a “dead zone” where the curing process cannot proceed. As a result, the dead zone maintains a liquid interface directly above it. The UV images then pattern the structure as it emerges from the dead zone.

The advancing part is attached to a build support plate located above the resin bath, which continuously moves upward as the part is printed below. This allows constant renewal of reactive liquid resin that the part is built out of. Overall, the process looks a bit like pulling a solid object out of a liquid bath—one that can be much shallower than the object being pulled.

arstechnica.com...

I saw this a few days ago.... this is the REAL DEAL!!!!

How can i get in on this early? i want to invest in this! What should one do to be a big player in this future industry?

This is truly amazing stuff. I watched both videos and couldn't help but wonder, "How they do that?!??!!?!"

Very cool video. Thank you for sharing.

a reply to: IndependentOpinion

I definitely want one!

F&S&

One step closer to the terminator reality, hell yes!

The practical limitations are going to be the physical properties of the cured resin.

a reply to: IndependentOpinion

Things are getting better in the 3D printing space and this is a step in the right direction but the process comes with its own limitations.

The process is still slow (the video was 7x real speed). The plastic is the only color or material that can be used (at present). The materials are not environment friendly and are likely to be expensive, especially as the general public begins to buy these machines in numbers.

What would truly be a breakthrough is a type of "Fabrication Station" combining ALL methods of 3D printing and finishing (both additive and subtractive processes).

Of course this could never happen because every little part of every process is 'owned' by patent holders who would try and extract exorbitant royalties.

Consider the fact that HP, while not yet offering a 3D printer for sale, owns over 1,000 patents on various processes that could only be used for 3D printing. They appear to be gearing up to litigate their opposition out of business and they are not the only company doing so.

Future is going to be bright.


***walks over to wall***

"Tea, Early Grey....Hot"

Ok - I showed the video to a physics friend of mine, and he said the process for this type of 3D printing us done by using lasers, which attract the chemical. Once the chemical hardens the lasers are turned off.

Very cool stuff.

originally posted by: MisterSpock
Future is going to be bright.


***walks over to wall***

"Tea, Early Grey....Hot"

It'll make you grow a third eyeball on your forehead.

a reply to: MentorsRiddle

My brother told me that it is special liquid that hardens when UV light is shined onto/into it, and that the bottom of the container is basically a projector screen that is projecting all the different "slices" of the 3D model.

The printer I work on is the usual Plastic Printer, working like a hot-glue-gun. I can say that the print time of my Plastic Printer and the Carbon 3D Printer is about the same! This is the only reason I would not buy myself one of these just yet. But yes, the Carbon 3D is much better for more detailed designs, but as with any 3D printer, much more detail means much more layers, and much more time!!!

One of my designs I did a few weeks ago would have to print 5738 Layers on .10mm slices, which means about 70 hours.

Now imagine how this technology could develop alongside the high-speed development of both computing power and nano technology.

We are already on the cusp of being able to manufacture Human cells to actively fight specific illnesses and conditions in the Human body. We can already manipulate atoms, and form molecules.

Once we have the ability to "build" a molecule using atoms to a predetermined pattern, compiling them in a specific combination can lead to the "printing" of almost anything.

Theoretically, once we have the capacity to create something from molecules, we can dismantle molecules too.

This really could lead to the creation of a Star Trek technology, where waste is separated into its base molecules and then used as "ink" to "print" anything one might need to a predetermined configuration.

But just wait until we (well , they really) can actually duplicate the original with the same chemicals... thus food and chemically reactive, identical on the inside copies... but this is certainly an important step in that direction.

The material is neat... thanks for the post.

I know everything about 3d printing, I'll forget what the op thinks he knows that I know about 3d printing which is nothing.

If the resin turns solid from ultraviolet light does this mean you need to keep the device in a dark room away from sunlight?

originally posted by: Eonnn
If the resin turns solid from ultraviolet light does this mean you need to keep the device in a dark room away from sunlight?

no

i am thoroughly, absolutely amazed and impressed!!!

If we can create protein replicator/printer created in the five-ten years, humanity might have a chance of surviving the next hundred.

a reply to: autopat51

Me too! In the last 5 year, the technology of 3D printing has made huge leaps forward!!

It's amazing. However, just like the current tech, I do wonder/worry about the chemicals/raw materials needed for this. Who is looking out for the environment or the effects of the chemicals on those printing the items? Nothing is free and it's not magic.