What is the basic principle of a light curing 3D printer?

1 .What is SLA 3D Printer?

Light-curing 3D printers use SLA technology, which is the world's first technology to realize rapid prototyping of goods. This is mainly based on the principle of photopolymerization of liquid photosensitive resins, referred to as stereolithography. As the text indicates, photosensitive resins are light-sensitive resin materials that cure quickly when exposed to light.

Second, photosensitive resins are mixtures of photoinitiators, monomer polymers, and prepolymers that can be cured at specific wavelengths of UV light. SLA DLP models are generally made of photosensitive resin materials. The surface of the product printed with photosensitive resin material is smooth and the molding quality is high.

2. The molding principle of SLA light-curing 3D printer:

We can often design 3D solid models using CAD software. It is a scanner controlled by a numerical control device, which irradiates the surface of the liquid photosensitive resin with a laser beam according to the designed scanning path, so that the resin layer in a specific area of the surface is cured, and a part of the part is generated when the first layer is processed; Then, cover the curing layer at a certain distance from the 3D printer lifting platform with another liquid resin, and while scanning the second layer, firmly attach the second cured layer to the first cured layer. Once the prototype is removed from the resin, it is finally cured, and then ground, plated, painted, or colored to get the desired product.

1. Precautions for the use of software.

1.Size requirements: When making sure that there are no problems with the model, use the STL format to slice, and pay attention to whether the size of the model meets the requirements when slicing.

2.Model requirements: In the case of no support at the bottom, the bottom of the model that needs to be printed must be able to support the whole model, if the bottom of the model is uneven and the base has only a few contact points, please use repair software to cut the bottom flat or sink with slicing software.

3.Support check: Remember to check the three parts when adding support.

1) Whether the support is obstructed to the model itself, so as to prevent the support on the model from being inconvenient to remove when the support is removed;

2) Whether the support in the suspended position is in place, to prevent the incomplete model printed without support in the suspended position;

3) whether the support at the bottom of the model can be added in place, to prevent the model edge from being printed incompletely, or the model with less support can not be printed;

2. Precautions before printing.

1.Machine placement: Do not place the machine near flammable and explosive materials or high heat sources, please place the machine in a ventilated, cool and dusty environment;

2.Power socket: The power plug needs to be plugged into a three-prong socket with a ground wire, please use the power cord provided with the machine, and do not use the power cord of other products during installation;

3.Machine placement environment: Do not place the printer in a large vibration or other unstable environment, the machine shaking will affect the printing quality of the printer;

4.Check the fixed position: Before printing, you need to check whether the knob on the platform and the fixed position on the trough are locked to prevent instability during printing;

5.Check the screen illumination: Check whether the screen illumination is normal before using the machine, please wear anti-ultraviolet glasses to check. Do not look directly with your eyes while testing the screen to avoid damage to your eyes;

6.Check Before Printing: Make sure to check before printing the model.

1) Before printing, be sure that there is no residue in the trough, if you are not sure whether there is residue in the trough, please be sure to clean the tray to prevent crushing the release film.

2) When printing, you must make sure that the platform is parallel and slightly close to the printing screen, and the screen may be tilted after printing, so you should take out the material trough, clean up the printing platform and return to zero to see if it is parallel to the screen, and then take a small part of the A4 paper and put it in the four corners of the printing screen to level it in turn to see if you can twitch the paper slightly.

3. Precautions for the use of photosensitive resin.

1.Use consumables: Shake the photosensitive resin slightly from side to side before use, and do not shake vigorously to cause the formation of a large number of bubbles.

2.Contact with consumables: Do not directly contact the photosensitive resin or contact with the eyes, if it causes allergies or discomfort, please rinse with water immediately, if the situation is serious, please seek medical attention in time;

4.Consumables preservation: When the photosensitive resin is not in use, it can be filtered and then ** into the bottle, or the material trough can be covered with something to prevent direct sunlight and strong light, and prevent dust from entering.

Hope it works for you.

Nowadays, there are many technical classifications of light-curing 3D printersLongitudinal cubeXiaofang will take you to learn about these two main popular light-curing technologies and precautions for the use of light-curing machines.

One is DLP3D printers.

DLP is a 3D printing technology that has emerged in recent years, similar to SLA molding technology. It can be said that DLP is a variant of SLA. When the product is processed, a digital microscope is used to project the cross-sectional pattern of the product onto the surface of the liquid bright resin, so that the resin is cured.

Characteristics of the process:

1.The performance of the product is close to the SLA process, and the molding speed will be faster.

2.Due to the limited resolution of its digital light mirrors, it is ideal for printing smaller products.

3.The projector can be used as a light source.

The second process: LCD process.

As the name suggests, this is a new technology that uses LCD as a light source. Let's simply understand LCD technology, that is, the light source that replaces DLP technology with LCD.

It's interesting to note that LCD technology is actually quite different. The dividing line between the two is the wavelength of the light source, one is 405mm ultraviolet and the other is 400-600nm visible light. LCD light-curing machines have a variety of names in the industry, such as Choice Mathematical Light Processing (MDLP), LCD DLP technology, UV screen shading curing, etc.

The advantages of this technology are also obvious, such as high precision, fast speed and cheap machine.

Regardless of the technology, the precautions for the use of the light-curing machine should include these two items: leveling and paying attention to the safety of the use of resin. There is a high probability that the platform will fail if the model is not adjusted, and then the resin generally has a certain toxicity and cannot be in direct contact with **, so you should wear gloves when using it.

Whether it is DLP or LCD, there are advantages and disadvantages, the key depends on how you choose, but in the process of using the machine, we must pay attention to the precautions for the use of these two light curing machines.

1.If you are not sure whether there is any residue in the trough, please remove the tray of the machine, and then remove the curing surface in the trough, remember not to touch the release film in the trough with a metal shovel.

For different different machines, the size of the model, and how much support are all parameters that interfere with the first time, so customers who are generally new to light-curing 3D printing can first ask professional technicians to understand the range of parameters, and then try to test the effect of printing, and change the parameters of appropriate model printing accordingly.

3.Printing environment: Do not apply in direct sunlight or space with strong light, the machine should be clean in air, no obvious floating objects, temperature: 26-5 degrees Celsius, for excellent printing quality, please print in an indoor constant temperature environment.

3D printing is no longer a rare news for now, in many cities, it has been used in construction, medical and other fields, and in some places there are 3D printed Internet celebrity attractions, such as bridges, statues, etc. At the same time, the upgrading of 3D printing products is getting faster and faster, and the earliest light-curing 3D printers used in the market still have their place. At present, the common light-curing 3D printing is divided into three types: SLA, DLP, LCD, according to its specific implementation form, taking LCD as an example, and briefly discussing its advantages and disadvantages.

First of all, one of the obvious characteristics of LCD light-curing 3D printers is that they have high precision. Judging from the information provided by the industry's powerful brand Zongwei Cube, its light-curing Photon series currently has an accuracy of up to 50 microns, which is better than the first-generation SLA technology and has nothing to do with the current advanced desktop DLP technology. Light-curing 3D printers can ensure the accuracy of printing after molding, which is conducive to the printing of some building parts.

In addition, like DLP technology, LCD is a surface forming light source, so printing multiple parts at a time does not affect the speed, providing favorable conditions for large-scale mass production.

In the ** aspect that users who love 3D printing are very concerned about, light-curing 3D printers are also economical, and the cost is easier to control compared with other 3D printers. In addition, the light-curing 3D printer has a simple structure and is easy to assemble and maintain. In addition, all light-curing resins are theoretically compatible, which can save you a lot of trouble.

Whether it is from the first point of view, or from the technical point of view, the cost performance is worth mentioning, which is also the obvious advantage of light-curing 3D printers.

Of course, light-curing 3D printers have many advantages, but naturally there are also shortcomings, such as slow printing speed, but with the development of the industry, the shortcomings are constantly shrinking or even eliminating. As mentioned above, the fastest speed of photocuring photon can reach nearly 100mm h, which is several times faster than the initial light-curing speed. The continuous iteration of technology is expected to become faster in the future.

In recent years, great progress has been made in domestic light-curing 3D printing, and many companies with strength and potential have been born. For example, Photon, which is a light-curing company under the Zongwei Cube brand, has accumulated very rich experience in the development of light-curing technology, and is also in a leading position in the industry in terms of technology. In the future, the development of light curing will bring more surprises and possibilities.

First we have a 3D model, now we have two ways to get a 3D model:

1.Through a variety of 3D modeling software, show the model design in your brain. 3D modeling2

3D scanned sculpture.

After using the 3D model, import the model into the slicing software of the 3D printer, place the model, make simple settings, and the slicing software will automatically cut the 3D model into thin slices along the Z-axis direction of the model to form a printing path. (The thickness of the film is determined by the level of the printer, which directly affects the surface effect of the printed model.) ）

After importing the path data after slicing into the printer, the printer printing platform is lowered to the lowest position of the resin tank, and the thickness is increased (for example, so that a thick layer of liquid resin is formed between the printing platform and the bottom surface of the resin tank). The printer controls the laser to quickly scan along the cross-section of the model layer, irradiating the liquid resin, and the scanned resin layer produces a polymerization reaction and solidifies (transparent under the resin tank).

After the first layer of curing is completed, the printing platform increases the thickness and forms a new liquid resin on the surface of the resin cured in the upper layer, which is scanned and cured again, and the new cured layer is glued to the upper layer. Cycle by cycle, stacked continuously until all layers are cured.

This is the principle of SLA3D printer light-curing.

Modeling, exporting STL data: Modeling is the initial basis for 3D printing. If you don't know how to model, you can also go to the model ** to find and** model, now there are many models on the Internet for free**.

Precautions should be taken during the model slicing process: Choose a smooth and non-porous bottom surface, and do not choose the largest contact surface close to the base plate. The bottom is raised by 5 mm, and all supports are selected.

The support parameters are as follows, and then check whether some of the supports are firm. The closer to the bottom plate, it needs to be supported, otherwise it is easy to fall off.

Preparation before printing: Before using printing filaments, you need to shake gently to avoid shaking vigorously, causing a large number of bubbles and affecting the printing process. When preparing for printing, remember never to come into direct contact with photosensitive resin, and be sure to wear gloves to avoid allergies or discomfort.

- The 3D printing process generally includes four steps: data acquisition, data processing, 3D printing and post-processing.

Offline printing is true to the table, but printing often takes a lot of time.

Today's light-curing 3D printer is still a popular one, after all, its application field is also very close to our lives, such as, handmade products, jewelry, dental molds, etc., so that we can see it in our daily life. There are three types of our common light-curing 3D printers, namely SLA, DLP, and LCD light-curing 3D printers. TodayLongitudinal cubeLet's talk about how it works and how they compare to each other.

1. SLA light-curing 3D printer.

The principle of SLA forming is mainly to use ultraviolet light as a light source, and then control it through the galvanometer system, so that it can draw the shape of the object on the surface of the liquid resin, then drop the object down for a certain distance, and then immerse the platform in the liquid resin, and so on, forming a solid print.

2. DLP light-curing 3D printer.

The basic principle of DLP molding, the model is first cut horizontally into layers with 3D printing software, and then the first layer of resin model shape is projected, and then light-curing molding, the first layer of molding, will slightly increase the object, projecting the shape of the next layer of model to the resin, so repeat, layer printing model.

3. LCD light-curing 3D printer.

In fact, in terms of actual principle, the principle of LCD and DLP is basically similar, the difference is that the light source of DLP is replaced by LCD. It adopts the imaging principle of LCD liquid crystal panel, and uses the red, green and blue primary colors of the filter to filter out infrared rays and ultraviolet light that have a certain destructive effect on the LCD board (there is a certain damage to the LCD board), and the three LCD plates are projected into three primary colors.

Fourth, the comparison of the three molding technologies.

Molding speed: DLP>LCD>SLA

Printing accuracy: DLP>SLA>LCD>FDM

Range of print sizes: SLA>DLP>LCD

Range of materials: (DLP LCD) >SLA

Service life of the main components: DLP SLA>LCD

Machine's**: SLA>DLP>LCD

** for consumables: SLA DLP LCD

Compared with the old Zhaoxia, the situation is also clear at a glance, and if you choose to buy a light-curing 3D printer in the future, I believe you also know how to choose.