my66s55 Posted December 6, 2017 Share Posted December 6, 2017 (edited) Over the past couple of years the 3d printing community has been active in perfecting a different type of s.l.a. d.l.p. printer. The conventional style, as was the one I built and used, cured u.v. resin with the light source from a d.l.p. movie projector or laser beam. The new type uses the light produced by an l.e.d. diode that passes through an l.c.d. light panel such as is done on a computer screen. This difference in the light source did two things. The best resolution from a d.l.p, projector is 1920 x 1080. This creates a pixel count of 12 per square millimeter. The l.c.d. panel used in the new printers have a resolution of 2640 x 1440 that produce 27 pixels per square millimeter. Over twice the resolution. Secondly, a d.l.p. projection costs $600.00 plus. An l.e.d diode and l.c.d screen costs less than a quarter of that. End result, lower cost and higher quality printing. One year ago, two Chinese companies introduced a version of he l.e.d. printer. One of them being Wanhoa. Improvements were made through the year and the result is two well made printers. Wanhoa, who is a large, well know producer of desk top 3d printers, is the least expensive. They still weren't plug and play until this last October when Wanhoa introduced the D7 Box. There is a Wanhoa Duplicator Facebook page with 5061 members and tons of help. I purchased mine on November 2 and it was shipped DHL from mainland China. It was received November 7. Full tracking was provided. My cost was $495.00 for the printer and $125.00 for the box. Shipping was free. The box runs the printer and eliminates the need for a computer. It's basically plug and play although, there is still a learning curve. Here's what it looks like. Next, I'll show some print results Edited March 19, 2018 by my66s55 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Bartrop Posted December 6, 2017 Share Posted December 6, 2017 Looks promising. How high an object will it make, and how much is the resin? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
my66s55 Posted December 6, 2017 Author Share Posted December 6, 2017 (edited) The print height is 180 mm. A little over 7". I printed the body and rear fenders of my 37 F & F Delehaye at 100 micron layers in a little under 6hrs. It's 73 mm. I'll post photos later. The resin is $76.00 a liter. It goes a long way and there is very little shrinkage with the one I use. Edited December 6, 2017 by my66s55 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Belugawrx Posted December 6, 2017 Share Posted December 6, 2017 Very interesting,...and the price is relatively reasonable... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Bartrop Posted December 6, 2017 Share Posted December 6, 2017 (edited) Can you make the layers any thinner, and can you reuse the undeveloped resin? Edited December 6, 2017 by Richard Bartrop Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
my66s55 Posted December 6, 2017 Author Share Posted December 6, 2017 I'm going to post pics of test prints as low as 20 microns.Yes, you simply pour the unused resin through a strainer and funnel back into the resin bottle for future use. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
my66s55 Posted December 8, 2017 Author Share Posted December 8, 2017 A new printer needs to have print specks established before any real printing can be done. In this case, it's the lowest light exposure per layer that will give you the best quality print. So you use a calibration file and start testing with differing numbers. Each layer thickness calibration used will have different numbers. The one on the top was 35 microns layers and the one on the bottom was 20 microns layers. If you look just to the left of the letters 5,6,7, you can can make out the letters that are very small and spell breaking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spex84 Posted December 8, 2017 Share Posted December 8, 2017 You have my attention!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
my66s55 Posted December 16, 2017 Author Share Posted December 16, 2017 I created this thread as an education piece to keep those who are interested in desktop 3d printing abreast with current products. In doing so, I use terminology that may be foreign to some. The size of 1 micron is 1/1000 of a millimeter. There are 25.4 millimeters in 1 inch. A piece of copy paper for your printer is 9 microns thick. A 3d printed layer of 100 microns is about 11 sheets of compressed copy paper. A 20 micron 3d printer layer is just over 2 pages of copy paper. The photo below gives you an example of the difference of 4 difference 3d printed layers. Starting with the top one at 100 microns thick, the second 50 microns, the third 35 microns and the bottom is 20 microns. You can see the difference if you count the layer lines on the right hand section of the oil pan. These "steps" are what causes the non smooth surface of a 3d print. The lower the level, the smoother the angles surface. When you print at 20 micron layer height, you can't run your finger nail over the surface and and feel any ridges. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bernard Kron Posted December 16, 2017 Share Posted December 16, 2017 Resolution, more than anything, is the challenge and the measure of progress in the 3D printing field, much as it was in 2D. Of course 3D modeling, per se, literally adds an order of magnitude of complexity to creating source files but that's not the focus of this thread. I'm hoping you'll be able to keep us abreast of the evolving, and progressing, state of the art, particularly in the low-cost field. The benefits to our hobby are potentially enormous, and there's every reason to be optimistic that they will come to fruition in due course. Thanks for starting this thread and sharing your knowledge with us. The posts so far are quite illuminating. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lownslow Posted December 17, 2017 Share Posted December 17, 2017 i love that machine its great for small parts and accessories best mass scale printer is the MOAI which im in the process of calibrating Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phirewriter Posted December 17, 2017 Share Posted December 17, 2017 Thanks for the update, even more reason that I'm glad I've waited to purchase a printer and have spent time learning 3d modeling. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vintagercr Posted December 17, 2017 Share Posted December 17, 2017 I am fascinated by 3D printing. I look forward to seeing more updates. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
my66s55 Posted March 19, 2018 Author Share Posted March 19, 2018 New prints, new camera: Carter wcfb carbs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spex84 Posted March 19, 2018 Share Posted March 19, 2018 That looks good Doug! Any chance you could get a really, really clear photo? Maybe more light, setting the camera up on a stable surface and using the timer feature to eliminate shake...I think it's a testament to the detail of this print that it's too small to see anything to criticize! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flat32 Posted March 7, 2019 Share Posted March 7, 2019 I'm printing my Stromberg carburetors at 10 micron layer height with my Solus DLP printer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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