MIT team develops 3D printer that's 10x faster than comparable 3D printers

Re:MIT team develops 3D printer that's 10x faster than compa... by Animats on Saturday December 08, 2018 @03:34AM (#18634467)

Right. That's what you get when you build a 3D printer like a CNC machine. Titan takes in pellets directly, rather than bothering with filament. They probably use a heating system and drive screw like an injection molding machine. They can print with more plastics than filament printers. They end up with a lot of moving mass on the print head, but that's what big motors and controllers are for. The Titan unit uses 14KW of power.

I'd once considered heating the surface to which you are bonding with a laser, just ahead of the extruder, so you weld hot surface to hot surface, not hot surface to cold surface. That's why filament type 3D printers make such weak joints between layers.

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Re:MIT team develops 3D printer that's 10x faster than compa... by Ardren on Saturday December 08, 2018 @04:29AM (#18634583)

I think the 400cm^3 figure was for the non-pellet version while the pellet version can use 10mm nozzles and extrudes a ridiculous amount more. I wish there was more published information about both of their extruders, they look quite interesting.

I'm guessing that absurd power requirement is for the 85C heated enclosure variant, otherwise I'm no idea where the 60amps are going.

I remember reading about a slicer with an option to use the hotend just as a heat source that traced the previous layer to smooth/blend it. Using a laser may be a good method of improving the surface finish as well.

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Re:MIT team develops 3D printer that's 10x faster than compa... by walrus01 on Saturday December 08, 2018 @07:24AM (#18634917)

What is the $ per kilogram cost difference if you can buy bulk PLA plastic pellets vs. buying filament on a roll? For a benchmark comparison figure the generally well-reviewed Monoprice filament ranges from $18 to $20 per 1kg spool.

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Re:MIT team develops 3D printer that's 10x faster than compa... by jojoo on Saturday December 08, 2018 @09:01AM (#18635232)

it's about half as expensive.

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Re:MIT team develops 3D printer that's 10x faster than compa... by jstanley on Saturday December 08, 2018 @11:31AM (#18635977)

What's the best way to keep the laser pointed just in front of the nozzle?

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Re:MIT team develops 3D printer that's 10x faster than compa... by oliveshell on Saturday December 08, 2018 @12:20PM (#18636268)

Not the parent commenter, but I imagine mounting it so it rotates around the nozzle’s axis would work. Fiber optics would help if the laser unit is too big to have swinging around on the print head.

You might also need to be able to tilt the laser up/down to vary the distance from the nozzle.

It should be pretty easy from there to have the computer keep it pointed at wherever the nozzle is going next.

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Re:MIT team develops 3D printer that's 10x faster than compa... by Animats on Saturday December 08, 2018 @01:49PM (#18636767)

I was thinking 3 lasers 120 degrees apart, turned on as needed, rather than a mechanical solution. 5W laser diodes would probably be enough power.

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