3D DLP Printer Builds An Orange TARDIS

This micro-sized TARDIS is the latest print from [Ron Light]’s Sedgwick 3D DLP printer. Yes, it’s orange, but the print quality for such a small object is pretty astounding.

The Sedgwick 3D printer is currently available as a kit on Kickstarter. For five hundred bones, the Sedgwick provides all the parts – minus a DLP projector and resin – to make your own miniature Type 40 with a broken chameleon circuit. There’s a lot more this printer can do, from miniature cathedrals to hollow geodesic spheres.

This is the latest in what will be a long line of DLP projector / resin 3D printers, and the most affordable one to date. The last one we saw was an awesome $2400 machine that included a projector and resin. At $500 for a projector-less kit, the Sedgwick still handily beats even the cheapest option we’ve seen so far.

[Ron Light] is from Kansas City, and our boss man [Caleb] ran into him at the KC Maker Faire a few weeks ago. You can check out that little interview and a few videos of the Sedgwick doing its thing after the break.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cX968O6wHRI&w=470]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pX2P82pIG1o&w=470]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5G1kPQzZn9w&w=470]

16 thoughts on “3D DLP Printer Builds An Orange TARDIS

  1. Keep up the good coverage of these. 3d printers are costly kit. The resolution is getting such (i especially like the resin method) that it can do enough to make it actually worth the investment.

    At some point this itch will be too great and Im gonna have to get one of these. Your post on what not to bring to a makerfaire I agree with, but this type of printer I think is worth keeping up on.

    1. The laser beam would have to be very tiny indeed. Think about how small the individual pixels are on a DLP at a distance of about 30cm to the resin…

      I’ve seen DIY laser projectors, but none of them are very precise though.

  2. DLP’s are getting competitive but are not yet there I’d say. In this case there also is something missing in the presentation videos. I can’t quite put my finger on it but I don’t feel that pull. The tardis sample video is has a weird angle and all the finished products look like melting candy. Redo the videos and the kickstarter would stand a greater chance of succeeding I think.

    DLP printers might really take off when some inexpensive picoprojector is enough. That would make the printer smaller, more portable and potentially battery powered.

  3. Interesting the different techniques used; the Sedgwick3D illuminates from overhead (so the printed object gets submerged as it grows) compared to the B9Creator which has the projector underneath (so the object grows out the top into open-air).

    I can see that the under-projection method reduces the depth of the resin bath (and so the quantity of resin sitting around) but care needs to be taken on the optical qualities of the “bath” base. Unlike the “overhead” method which has no ‘medium’ between the projector and resin but does have the problem of needing a deep resin bath to lower the object into.
    I couldn’t tell in the videos as to how he is getting over ensuring the top layer of resign is consistent thickness: was he lifting it to keep a film on top or simply relying on the volume of unset resin to hardened resin staying the same?

    1. Mmmm, resin bears…

      On a more serious note, anybody know what the physical properties of the cured resin is? Can a printed piece be painted/drilled/sanded/cut/actually used in the physical world? Like, if I print a bottle opener for example, will it break on first use? If I print a fantasy figurine, can I paint it?

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