New 3D printer

Is this the printer so many of us have been waiting for ? At only $6,990 it's certainly within the budgets of more people.

http://www.3ders.org/articles/20111130-asiga-releases-uvled-3d-prin...

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pico.jpg, 16 KB

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Permalink Reply by Julian Chatt on April 2, 2012 at 5:25pm

The printer in the uTube film that uses the plastic wire is a more basic version of the machine that Hewlett Packard sell, as far as I know HP have just put their badge on another machine. The basic machine often pops up new and used on eBay and there is a huge range of plastic wire available. The surface quality depends on the heated nozzle size that extrudes the plastic but is never very smooth. I have tried burning out to cast in Bronze. It worked, just, but I wouldn't want to do it again. The fumes and extra smoke from the ABS plastic wire were really bad !

The EnvisionTec and Objet printers which are widely promoted for, and used in the jewellery industry are 25 to 50 micron in the X & Y axis but they don't have such a fine control as the Pico in the Z axis which could make it better ?

The speed for decent quality is 6mm thickness per hour ( Asiga's figure, not my guess ! )

I've spent hours eMailing and researching the photopolymer resins and so far I haven't discovered any 'magic' new developments which would suggest the Pico machine uses anything new and unique. Here in England we have to be so careful about ordering liquids to be shipped from the States because of all the anti terrorist controls. There's no point buying a machine if we can't import the resin !

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Permalink Reply by Mike Tarbuck on April 2, 2012 at 5:31pm

One thing to remember is you need a curing light source. They do not sell one as of yet. But they give a couple of sites that sell them. Just go email that they have a limited number to sell. Sales are open on the website they say.

I like the price but still need some questions answered.

Edit I see they do have the light to cure the plastic. $500.00 Calabration tools $300.00 Wonder if this is if you need new ones. I would hope it comes with the unit. Why does the smallest plate size cost more??

Mike

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Permalink Reply by Julian Chatt on April 2, 2012 at 5:34pm

They are selling a 36W UV light curing unit for $500

I'll not make any comment about the similarity to the units sold for UV curing nail polish......

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Permalink Reply by Mike Tarbuck on April 2, 2012 at 5:58pm

I thought it was a high price. Before when they had links up for other one, they were half the price. Plus you could make you own for a lot cheaper.

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Permalink Reply by Mike Tarbuck on April 2, 2012 at 6:00pm

Still there is not any info on how much it takes to make a ring. This is one thing that concerns me. If they don't have this info available what else are they not telling. Am I missing it???

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Permalink Reply by pat schmidt on April 2, 2012 at 6:21pm

I'll be going to this show I'll see what's 'new'... and see if they have any small printers I know they'll have alot large printers and alot of millsboth small and large , and lazors!

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Permalink Reply by Mike Tarbuck on April 2, 2012 at 10:32pm

Let's us know what you find out Pat.

Thanks

Mike

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Permalink Reply by Julian Chatt on April 3, 2012 at 2:12am

I've just had an eMail from the people at Asiga.

"Our resins come in 500mL bottles and will last for over 12months
if stored in a cool dry place"

500ml is the same as 500 cubic cm. The density of the resins is 1.184 & 1.181 gm/cubic cm so if we allow the .18 gm per unit as wastage then we should expect, under ideal conditions a yield of up to 500 gms of parts per bottle. That will include sprues, support structures etc so if the actual yield of useable bits is only 33% of that then we should end up with around 165 grams of finished resin parts ready to invest and cast. Rings I've had grown on Objet and Envisiontec machines have weighed up to 2gm, their resins being slightly lighter. That's going to give us a maximum price of around $3 to $4 per part.

I can live with that.

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Permalink Reply by pat schmidt on April 3, 2012 at 2:19am

question ..if the resin you grew weighed 2grams (apx 3dwt) how does that compare to wax weight ..if I took 3 dwt wax model and cast, the piece would weigh apx 42 dwt or 2.2 oz of gold (14kt) ...so the question is how much did the 2 gram piece weigh after casting

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Permalink Reply by khayreyah amani wahaab on April 3, 2012 at 2:28am

well 12 months doesn't sound too bad. they are small bottles however.

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Permalink Reply by Julian Chatt on April 3, 2012 at 2:35am

I use a mixture of 4.5 and 6mm wax sheets that I get from Rio Grande and blocks that I get cut to size for my JWX 10 jigs from an industrial wax supplier here in England.

They both average around 1 gm / cubic cm compared to the resin models of around 1.4gm / cubic cm

A 2gm wax model should weigh about 2.8gm in resin, they will both weigh apx 42 dwt when cast in 14kt Gold as it's the volume of the model which matters, not how much it weighs.

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Permalink Reply by pat schmidt on April 3, 2012 at 3:32am

we always go by how much the wax weighs not the volume to get the weight of the metal needed for casting, all the casting houses I know of also use the weight of the wax models I wouldn't even know how to get the volume of a 'hand' cut wax I just throw it on a scale (dwt) then multiply buy14 add 3dwt-5dwt for spures and bingo it's done!...you should see about getting your wax from some other suppliers rio grande is high!....I mostly buy solid block wax then repour it in my molds, then slab the block to sizes I need, I also make my own tube molds for pouring wax tubes or solid rods...this way I reclaim all wax for 'reuse'...a 2oz (ring?) is very heavy and must be exspensive! I find most of my 'mens rings weigh apx 7-12 dwt at the most anything heavier is too heavy unless the guy is 500 lbs