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from the waiting-for-the-high-speed-3-D-copier-machine dept.
MIT's new desktop 3D printer technology increases speeds up to 10x
[A] team of engineers at MIT have shown off a 3D printer capable of creating builds up to 10 times the speed of their consumer counterparts. According to the team, objects that take around an hour to print on conventional systems are done in a matter of minutes.
The system is built around FDM — the same technology used in most desktop 3D printers, which deposits melted plastic layers to build up a structure. MIT made some key tweaks to the print head in order to speed things up, including a screw mechanism that feeds filaments through at higher speeds by getting a tighter grip on the plastic than the traditional pinch wheel model.
The print head also added a laser near the new mechanism capable of melting the plastic much more quickly. Those pieces were coupled with a speedier gantry capable of moving the print head at a higher speed in line with the upgraded print speed.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 30 2017, @08:40PM (3 children)
Which is itself a valuable invention.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 30 2017, @09:04PM (2 children)
Applying existing methods for very similar processes to another process isn't really an invention, it's common sense. Injection molding machines have had screw feeds since their inception. Lasers are new (I think at least, I've been out of field for a few years), but are they capable of doing high-volume work or are they hobbyist-scale only? Usually melting/heating the media in the head too fast is a cause of trouble anyway - feed interruptions, burnt material leading to contamination or clogging, etc. On the other hand, it might keep the screw from heating up as much as they tend to, which would prevent some problems... I think I need to finally get around to building a 3D printer.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 30 2017, @10:57PM
Make sure you add lasers. And,while at it, sharks.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Zinho on Thursday November 30 2017, @11:00PM
This isn't the kind of screw you're thinking of; they're using filament that has a threaded profile on the diameter, then spinning a barrel nut around it to drive the filament. Their logic was that the traditional drive wheels didn't have enough engagement with the filament, so they figured out a way to grab more filament at once. $DIETY only knows where they found threaded filament...
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