Scanning 3D High Velocity Vacuum Printer

Description

I have long been toying with the idea of a 3D printer that prints a coffee mug in a few minutes.
At this rate of speed all current technologies break down due to limitations in moving materials
FDM can't extrude fast enough, SLS can't spread powder and melt fast enough. UV resins might eventually reach it but are expensive.

Here's the idea, a high speed stream of sugar in a heated vacuum chamber directed using electric fields. The 3d print is scanned like a CRT monitor does with an electron beam. The main differences being sugar stacks up, sticks to itself is Cheap$$$ is capable of holding an electric charge, can be made fairly consistent in size.
Sugar is just something to test with, other materials like waxes or carbon can be looked at.
The material strength and precision isn't the goal here, it is the speed to being able to hold a concept.
want to try 10 different versions of a handle or grip, or see if the enclosure fits on your project, print it out in

Details

Alright so here is what i think i need:

A tribo powder coating gun modified for a smaller stream of material.

A scanning electron gun similar to what is in a cathode ray tube.

A vacuum chamber

A focusing coil and direction coil for guiding the particles out of the tribo gun.

A signal generator to draw me a circle to test with.

A rotary vane 2 stage vacuum pump.

A radiant heat source

Basically the electron beam and particles are directed to the same location.

The beam creates a negative charge on the surface and the particle sticks to that location.

A radiant heat source could help stick the materials together/fuse them?

I'll see how long it takes me to source the parts.

Project Logs

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long overdue update
Chaz • 01/20/2015 at 16:39 • 0 comments

After much delay i managed to get a powder coating gun and tried injecting some powder into a vacuum chamber.
turns out any air stored in the powder expells the powder into a cloud as soon as it enters the chamber.
So i would either need a very high velocity stream to reduce the divergence before impact or i would need to remove all air from the powder in an earlier chamber. i might be better off trying to use the cloud in the chamber to deposit powder. eitherway this project has fallen behind with other things on my mind. I'll hopefully get back on it later this year.
the start of something wonderful
Chaz • 08/27/2014 at 21:01 • 0 comments

I decided to write this before some patent trolls sit on it or some university research turns it into the next overpriced 3d printer.
I'm super busy working on lots of other projects at the moment but I am actively trying to prove the concept.
First, can i find a material that will stack up on itself reliably and is willing to take a charge.
I need to make a test stand to fire the material out, i am thinking high velocity air jet or particle accelerator or maybe it doesn't have to be fast just accurately located and as it nears the base sticks to the nearest material. in which i could use a piezo injector. Could an electron beam be used to pre-charge the areas we want the material to stick to and then shoot a blind stream in the general direction, like powder coating.

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Discussions

PointyOintment wrote 08/28/2014 at 18:07

So it's like molecular beam epitaxy, but at a slightly larger scale? I like it. Following!

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Scanning 3D High Velocity Vacuum Printer

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long overdue update

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