3D printing has reached many homes, and the professional services available have multiplied in recent years, but we cannot deny that it still remains a kind of 'art' with a certain mandatory intervention on the part of the user. At the same time, one of its natural weak points is the delay in printing, but a group of researchers at Ecole polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne has just presented a 3D printing method based on photosensitive resin and high-precision laser beams that reduces the waiting time to less than 30 seconds for small objects.
The traditional approach, layer by layer
I imagine you have seen the basic process more than once: When a 3D printer starts its operation, it does so layer by layer, placing new material with great precision. Sometimes that is not enough, and the print collapses for reasons the user cannot control… but that cause enormous losses of time and filament. In other words, we must work with what we have, double-check everything, and hope for the best.
However, in a laboratory environment that is a nightmare. Experts require precise, consistent, fast and easily repeatable results. That brings us to the need to optimize 3D printing, and at the Ecole polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) they have something that, although it is not unprecedented could break every rule written about 3D printers to date:
Tomography, lasers and photosensitive resin
Based on the principle of tomography, this 3D printer combines a photosensitive resin with laser beams. A series of algorithms calculate the intensity, location and exact direction in which the beams must be directed, following the shape of the object to be printed. The resin is hardened by the effect of polymerization, and the final result is a solid structure, without layers (something very useful in creating soft objects, which tend to disintegrate easily).
Obvious applications in medicine
The first applications that come to mind are medical. Mouth guards and hearing aids appear at the top of the list, but there is also speculation about printing tissues, and even organs. For the moment, the printer can produce parts with a maximum size of two centimeters, and a precision of 80 micrometers, but those responsible believe that the system could be expanded to create parts of 15 centimeters.
https://vimeo.com/390754083Half a minute to print
The best part for last: this 3D printing done with resin and laser beams takes less than 30 seconds. Compared to the chilling sessions that some users must face on their traditional 3D printers, the time savings (and by extension, the leap in quality) would be extraordinary… as long as it finds a way to reach a home system. We hope so.
Official website: Click here
