RepRapMicron - The Next Small Thing In 3D Printing
Keynote Theatre | Fri 23 Jan 10:45 a.m.–11:30 a.m.
Presented by
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Vik Olliver
@vik@mastodon.nzoss.nz
@vikolliver
http://blog.reprap.org
Vik is an ageing longhair coder/hacker/maker and core developer of The RepRap 3D Printer Project, currently running the Masterton Fab Lab Makerspace in Masterton, New Zealand. He's ridden the computing wave since the 6502 CPU, and hasn't fallen off yet. Known mostly for his 3D printer work and inventing PLA filament, he also committed journalism back in the day. He has designed implantable heart monitors, satellites, life support systems, home computers, accessibility aids, kinetic penetrators, and phone phreakers. He gets bored easily.
In his spare time he messes up git commits, and turns dollars into decibels.
Vik Olliver
@vik@mastodon.nzoss.nz
@vikolliver
http://blog.reprap.org
Vik is an ageing longhair coder/hacker/maker and core developer of The RepRap 3D Printer Project, currently running the Masterton Fab Lab Makerspace in Masterton, New Zealand. He's ridden the computing wave since the 6502 CPU, and hasn't fallen off yet. Known mostly for his 3D printer work and inventing PLA filament, he also committed journalism back in the day. He has designed implantable heart monitors, satellites, life support systems, home computers, accessibility aids, kinetic penetrators, and phone phreakers. He gets bored easily.
In his spare time he messes up git commits, and turns dollars into decibels.
Abstract
It's easiest to think of RepRapMicron as a multi-material 3D printer that makes millimetre-scale objects with micron-scale precision. A device assembled from 3D printed parts that are large enough for mere mortals to fumble together with a screwdriver. It is cheap, Open Source, and made from readily available materials. While designed to be useful for making tiny circuits and devices, it acts as a prototype for the design of a much smaller fabrication machine that it itself will make.
The current modular system has allowed the hardware to continually evolve, improving the precision and build volume. We'll show how it can deposit layers from UV printer resin and other materials, like ionic gels for active electronic components, and gold leaf for conductors. We'll also need to take a look at smart material concepts with multiple material types in each layer.
RepRapMicron is no longer the only player in the field. Other community developers creating amazing new actuators that can move by nanometres. There is collaboration between these Open projects, which are based on Open Source toolchains.
This presentation covers the advances towards, and new capabilities of, micron-sized printed components - and many new problems. Freeing a printed micron-scale widget from the print bed, for example, without flinging into oblivion. The old problems are still there, of course: how to image, manipulate, and assemble things that are far too small to see.
And then, inevitably, there's the ubiquitous nature of cat hair...
It's easiest to think of RepRapMicron as a multi-material 3D printer that makes millimetre-scale objects with micron-scale precision. A device assembled from 3D printed parts that are large enough for mere mortals to fumble together with a screwdriver. It is cheap, Open Source, and made from readily available materials. While designed to be useful for making tiny circuits and devices, it acts as a prototype for the design of a much smaller fabrication machine that it itself will make.
The current modular system has allowed the hardware to continually evolve, improving the precision and build volume. We'll show how it can deposit layers from UV printer resin and other materials, like ionic gels for active electronic components, and gold leaf for conductors. We'll also need to take a look at smart material concepts with multiple material types in each layer.
RepRapMicron is no longer the only player in the field. Other community developers creating amazing new actuators that can move by nanometres. There is collaboration between these Open projects, which are based on Open Source toolchains.
This presentation covers the advances towards, and new capabilities of, micron-sized printed components - and many new problems. Freeing a printed micron-scale widget from the print bed, for example, without flinging into oblivion. The old problems are still there, of course: how to image, manipulate, and assemble things that are far too small to see.
And then, inevitably, there's the ubiquitous nature of cat hair...