3D Printering: Print Smoothing Tests With UV Resin

March 8, 2018 by Donald Papp 16 Comments

Smoothing the layer lines out of filament-based 3D prints is a common desire, and there are various methods for doing it. Besides good old sanding, another method is to apply a liquid coating of some kind that fills in irregularities and creates a smooth surface. There’s even a product specifically for this purpose: XTC-3D by Smooth-on. However, I happened to have access to the syrup-thick UV resin from an SLA printer and it occurred to me to see whether I could smooth a 3D print by brushing the resin on, then curing it. I didn’t see any reason it shouldn’t work, and it might even bring its own advantages. Filament printers and resin-based printers don’t normally have anything to do with one another, but since I had access to both I decided to cross the streams a little.

The UV-curable resin I tested is Clear Standard resin from a Formlabs printer. Other UV resins should work similarly from what I understand, but I haven’t tested them.

Continue reading “3D Printering: Print Smoothing Tests With UV Resin” →

Hackaday Prize Entry: DIY DLP

July 1, 2017 by Inderpreet Singh 8 Comments

The 3D printing revolution is upon us and the technologies associated with these machines is evolving every day. Stereolithography or SLA printers are becoming the go-to printer for high-resolution prints that just can’t be fabricated on a filament-based machine. ADAM DLP 3D printer project is [adambrx]’s entry into the Hackaday Prize and the first step in his quest for higher quality prints on a DIY budget.

[adambrx]’s current iteration employs a Raspberry Pi 3 and a UV DLP Projector, all enclosed in a custom frame assembly. The logs show the evolution of the printer from an Acer DLP to the current UV DLP Light Engine. The results are quite impressive for a DIY project, and [adambrx] has put up images of 50-micrometer pillars and some nifty other prints which show the amount of work that has been put into the project.

It is safe to say that [adambrax] has outspent the average entry to the Hackaday Prize with over €5000 spent in around 3 years. Can [adambrx] can keep this one true to its DIY roots is yet to be seen, however, it is clear that this project has potential. We would love to see a high-resolution SLA printer that does not cost and arm and a leg.

Want Gesture-Tracking? All You Have To Do Is Lift Your Finger.

May 2, 2017 by James Hobson 12 Comments

Watching Tony Stark wave his hands to manipulate projected constructs is an ever-approaching reality — at least in terms of gesture-tracking. Lift — a prototype built by a team from UC Irvine and FX Palo Alto Laboratory — is able to track up to ten fingers with 1.7 mm accuracy!

Lift’s gesture-tracking is achieved by using a DLP projector, two Arduino MKR1000s, and a light sensor for each digit. Lift’s design allows it to work on virtually any flat surface; the projected image acts as a grid and work area for the user. As their fingers move across the projected surface, the light sensors feed the information from the image to the Arduinos, which infers the location of each finger and translate it into a digital workspace. Sensors may also be mounted on other objects to add functionality.

So far, the team has used Lift as an input device for drawing, as well as using it to feign gesture controls on a standard laptop screen. The next step would be two or more projectors which would allow Lift to function fully and efficiently in three dimensions and directly interacting with projected media content. Can it also operate wirelessly? Yes. Yes, it can.

While we don’t have Tony Stark’s hologram workstation quite yet, we can still play Tetris, fly drones, and mess around with surgical robots.

Get Subpixel Printing With A DLP 3D Printer

July 26, 2016 by Cameron Coward 14 Comments

A DLP 3D printer works by shining light into a vat of photosensitive polymer using a Digital Light Processing projector, curing a thin layer of the goo until a solid part has been built up. Generally, the resolution of the print is determined by the resolution of the projector, and by the composition of the polymer itself. But, a technique posted by Autodesk for their Ember DLP 3D Printer could allow you to essentially anti-alias your print, further increasing the effective resolution.

Continue reading “Get Subpixel Printing With A DLP 3D Printer” →

This DLP 3D Printer Build Is Going Really Well

June 6, 2016 by Gerrit Coetzee 11 Comments

We suppose [Dan Beaven] got up one day and said, “I’ll make my own resin 3D printer, with resin management and an advanced separation mechanism!” It’s a build log that shows just how possible it is to roll your own resin printer.

The machine isn’t finished yet, but the example prints coming off it are already very impressive. [Dan] stopped the print midway to get this photo of the detail on the stairs in the standard rook torture test.

[Dan] wants a lot of features from his machine that some of the more polished commercial printers are only now offering. One really nice one is the sliding and twist separation instead of tilt. This will allow for cleaner separation between layers during a print, a lower failure rate, and also faster print times.

He also added resin management with a peristaltic pump. This reduces the size of the build vat, and less resin will be exposed to the elements and wasted. It also means that the printer can run unattended. In the resin handling area of the printer he’s also added a carbon air filter. This lets him run higher performing resins without gassing him out of house and home with fumes.

We like how [Dan] just runs right ahead and puts the printer together. He even points out kludges on the machine that are holding it together long enough for him to print a more functional part for the 3D printer– on the 3D printer. We look forward to the next installment.

Correcting Color Blindness With DLP Projectors

March 21, 2016 by Brian Benchoff 50 Comments

About five percent of the population is colorblind to one degree or another, and for them seeing the entire spectrum from Roy to Biv is simply impossible. Their eyes simply don’t have the cones to detect certain colors. The brain is the weirdest machine on the planet, though, and with the right tricks of light, even the colorblind can see more colors than they’re accustomed to. That’s the idea behind [PointyOintment]’s entry for the 2016 Hackaday Prize: color blindness correcting goggles.

Any device that claims to correct color blindness comes with a few caveats and a slightly loose interpretation of what ‘color blindness correcting’ actually is. For the same reason you can’t see deep infrared, someone with color blindness cannot distinguish between two colors; the eye simply doesn’t have the sensors to see a specific color of light. This doesn’t mean the ability to distinguish color in color blind individuals can’t be improved, though. The EnChroma glasses use an optical notch filter to block all colors between blue and green, and between green and red. This works, because the human brain is weird enough and can adapt to nearly anything.

[PointyOintmen] isn’t going with an optical notch filter. He’s using spinning color discs from a DLP projector and 3D ‘shutter’ glasses to present the world in different shades of color many times a second. It’s weird, untested, and will take a few hours to get used to, but it is a very interesting idea. Will it allow color blind people to see more colors? That’s a semantic issue, but if you define ‘seeing color’ as being able to differentiate between two different colors, yes, it will.

Hacklet 88 – Projector Projects

December 11, 2015 by Adam Fabio 5 Comments

Everyone loves a big screen TV. Back in the old days, anything over 27 ” was considered big. These days if you’re not sporting at least 50″, you’ll end up with display envy. One thing hasn’t changed though, those who want to go really, really big get into projectors. Hacking and projectors seem to go hand in hand. Anyone else remember those old DIY projection setups where the user would put their TV in a box upside down? This week’s Hacklet is all about projector hacks!

We start with [Chaz] with Projector Hush Box . [Chaz] had a good projector, but still found himself with a problem. Projectors generate a lot of heat, which is dissipated via a fan. For whatever reason, projector companies seem to pick the loudest fans available. [Chaz’s] solution is to put the projector inside a box. Done right, this makes for a quiet projector. Done wrong, it makes an oven. [Chaz] projector hasn’t caught fire yet, so we think he did it right. Two quiet and efficient PC fans direct air through the box, and around baffles which keep the noise down. An anti-reflective coated glass window lets the light out but keeps the noise in. Sound deadening foam helps cut the sound down even further.

Next up is [ric866] with 100w LED projector conversion. The killer with projectors these days are the bulbs. In some cases it’s more cost-effective to buy a new projector than to replace the bulb in an aging one. That’s how [ric866] ended up with a pair of old NEC projectors – one with a working bulb, and one without. Bulbs for this model aren’t cheap at £100. [ric866] found a cheap replacement in a 100 Watt LED. The LED in question only cost £8.99 from everyone’s favorite auction site. LEDs may be efficient, but anyone who’s played with powerful LEDs can tell you they still get hot. [ric866] had to cut up the projector’s case a bit to fit in a heat sink and fan. He also had to spend some time bypassing the various case interlock switches. The final products color calibration looks to be a bit off, but not too shabby for a quick mod!

[Tom_VdE] is serious about recycling. He isn’t one to let an old laptop go to waste when it can be turned into a projector! Remember the “TV in a box” kit we mentioned up in the title? This is the modern version of that same idea. [Tom] tore down the laptop’s LCD and placed it in a CRT monitor case with the appropriate lenses. A setup like this needs length, and focus adjustments. [Tom] managed all that by building a collapsible baffle out of plywood. A build like this needs a lot of light, so [Tom] is using a 100 Watt LED (or two). A water cooling system will keep the LED’s from melting down. [Tom] is still in the prototype phase, but we can’t wait to see his first movie night with this upcycled laptop.

Finally, we have [Alex] who built Automatic projector calibration, project #161 on Hackaday.io. [Alex] took his inspiration from [Johnny Chung Lee] to build a system which can map a projector to any angle, size, or position. The secret is phototransistors embedded in the corners of a rectangular piece of foamboard. An Arduino reads the phototransistors while the projector runs a calibration routine. [Alex] switched over to a scanning line from [Johnny’s] original binary pattern. The scan isn’t quite as fast as the binary, but it sure looks cool. Once the positions of the sensors are known, it’s just a matter of mapping the entire screen to a smaller piece of real estate. Toss in a few neat transitions, and you’ve got an awesome demo.

If you want to see more projector projects, check out our new projector project list! If I missed your project, don’t be shy, just drop me a message on Hackaday.io. That’s it for this week’s Hacklet. As always, see you next week. Same hack time, same hack channel, bringing you the best of Hackaday.io!