size limits...
Posted by ceti331
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size limits... August 30, 2009 09:38PM |
Registered: 14 years ago Posts: 10 |
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Re: size limits... August 31, 2009 03:27AM |
Admin Registered: 16 years ago Posts: 13,891 |
... the lower border is dependant of the accuracy/resolution of the positioning system and smallest diameter of the extruded tray or dispensed droplets.
Actually i'll guess the best achievable accuracy is around 10 microns (RepRap is designed/specified for 100 microns accuracy) - i have mechanics, electronics and reference-switches that are capable of 0.1 microns accuracy, but the mechanical setup (especially the bearings and repeatability of the angular position of the stepper-stator) is only defined down to 2 to 3 microns repeatability per module.
With the extruder the current limit should be around 300 microns finest structural resolution - here the size of the nozzle hole and extruding force/pressure is the essential variable.
With dispensing fluids and pastes through a syringe you should hit the limiting parameters around 100 microns ... maybe down to 80 microns.
For single droplets and a 'dipping' dispenser-head i managed to place arrays of droplets with 30 microns diameter - this technology is capable of droplets below 1 micron, but then it's really 'slow' in respect of building up volume.
With a 'nano-inkpen' where a wetted tip of an AFM draws fluid lines some guys already managed to scribe 20 nanometer thick lines with conducting ink ...
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The upper dimensions are only limited by your feeding range, toolhead-specs and time - there are some fabbing systems for architecture, building complete houses out of hardening materials ...
Viktor
Actually i'll guess the best achievable accuracy is around 10 microns (RepRap is designed/specified for 100 microns accuracy) - i have mechanics, electronics and reference-switches that are capable of 0.1 microns accuracy, but the mechanical setup (especially the bearings and repeatability of the angular position of the stepper-stator) is only defined down to 2 to 3 microns repeatability per module.
With the extruder the current limit should be around 300 microns finest structural resolution - here the size of the nozzle hole and extruding force/pressure is the essential variable.
With dispensing fluids and pastes through a syringe you should hit the limiting parameters around 100 microns ... maybe down to 80 microns.
For single droplets and a 'dipping' dispenser-head i managed to place arrays of droplets with 30 microns diameter - this technology is capable of droplets below 1 micron, but then it's really 'slow' in respect of building up volume.
With a 'nano-inkpen' where a wetted tip of an AFM draws fluid lines some guys already managed to scribe 20 nanometer thick lines with conducting ink ...
***
The upper dimensions are only limited by your feeding range, toolhead-specs and time - there are some fabbing systems for architecture, building complete houses out of hardening materials ...
Viktor
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Re: size limits... August 31, 2009 09:59AM |
Registered: 16 years ago Posts: 101 |
The resolution as it gets smaller you start to run into problems of speed, so really it's not an issue of size, more one of the time it takes to make things goes up along with your resolution. At least until multiple print heads start to be developed that work in parallel.
Coarse larger items would be relatively easily created and in fact things like paste extruders have been developed (I'm working on a more advantance version, so are other people). Though most likely a design more like a combination of the mendel and Darwin.
Coarse larger items would be relatively easily created and in fact things like paste extruders have been developed (I'm working on a more advantance version, so are other people). Though most likely a design more like a combination of the mendel and Darwin.
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