Check out this new open hardware stereolithography printer, still very much in beta but currently running a successful Indiegogo campaign to take this project further (and keep to open principles!). Here’s a piece about it from 3Ders.org.
High resolution Stereolithography, resin-based 3D printer is out of reach for most of us – until now. Justin Hawkins is working on developing a low cost, build-it-yourself, high resolution SLA 3D printer sLAMPS for 3D printing community.
The printer works using a galvanometer and mirrors to steer a laser into a cured vat of resin. The resin cures at 405nm (which the laser puts out) and turns the liquid pool (Of Zero VOC Environmentally friendly resin) into 3D objects.
Not like the current existing SLA 3D printer, sLAMPS’ software and firmware are open source. It consists of parts that can be easily sourced and printed at home. The design files will be shared for everyone to use.
The printer is still a beta version. So far Justin has built the sLAMPS 1.0 3D printer and tested electronics. Currently he is on getting the right vat coating and build platform to get good adherence during printing. He has tested two different PCB build platforms and it turns out that acrylated resin doesn’t stick well on pcb surfaces but well on acrylic.
Specifications on the potential print size and resolution are still to be decided, according to Justin, the print bed is about 80mm x 80mm x 100mm, and layer height will be configurable, anywhere from 0.001mm to 0.2mm.
Every Thursday is #3dthursday here at Adafruit! The DIY 3D printing community has passion and dedication for making solid objects from digital models. Recently, we have noticed electronics projects integrated with 3D printed enclosures, brackets, and sculptures, so each Thursday we celebrate and highlight these bold pioneers!
Have you considered building a 3D project around an Arduino or other microcontroller? How about printing a bracket to mount your Raspberry Pi to the back of your HD monitor? And don’t forget the countless LED projects that are possible when you are modeling your projects in 3D!
The Adafruit Learning System has dozens of great tools to get you well on your way to creating incredible works of engineering, interactive art, and design with your 3D printer! If you’ve made a cool project that combines 3D printing and electronics, be sure to let us know, and we’ll feature it here!
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Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
Have an amazing project to share? The Electronics Show and Tell is every Wednesday at 7pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat – we’ll post the link there.
Someone said it before me but I hope it does not get the same heat as MIT’s Formlab.
http://www.digitaltrends.com/cool-tech/kickstarter-hit-with-lawsuit/