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Metal 3D printer

Making an electron gun is a first stage of my future plans - to make DIY electron microscope/EBM metal 3D printer.

hynaHyna
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Having seven years of experience with electron microscopes and five years with 3d printers I decided to make my own electron beam welder/metal 3D printer/electron microscope. Sounds crazy? YES!

How it works? It converts kinetic energy of accelerated electrons to heat.

I'm thinking about this project more than year. Now it´s time to make it real! Almost all parts are already sourced, so let's build it!

  • New vacuum chamber

    Hyna • 05/25/2021 at 10:42 • 0 comments

    100 kg of iron. It require few modifications, but with this chamber it will be possible to increase acceleration voltage and stay safe from x-ray.

    Chamber was donated from ThermoFisher Scientific, thank you :)

  • Grant application

    Hyna • 05/18/2021 at 10:19 • 0 comments

    Just quick vide for small grant application. More detailed video in english will follow.

  • When the beam gets out of focus

    Hyna • 04/20/2021 at 00:07 • 0 comments

    Melted solder on anode. About 200W by an accident.

    As a next step, i need to redesign HV feedthrough. I used to use spark plugs, but for filament @2Amps, the spark plug resistance increased slowly from 5R to ~15 Ohm each. That is an issue, since the filament has 1 Ohm and  Im using 6s RC battery with stepdown. So there is no headroom for proper regulation.
    I'm wondew what is inside of the spark plugs, or why the resistance increased.


    Im facing hard decision to discard whole setup and start again. I want to increase accelerating voltage to 30kV. But with current setup with glass jar, it is big no no due to x-ray.


    Also the electron gun deserves proper calculations/simulations.

    Last thing is that e-gun is classified in my country as  "small" sources of ionizing radiation and undergo regulations. The State Office for Nuclear Safety has trainings for radiation safety, which is not that expensive. Maybe it is time to refresh some knowledge.

    It will require some fundings to move to the next stage...

  • New wehnelt

    Hyna • 04/13/2021 at 13:52 • 0 comments

    Filament centering in wehnelt.

  • playing with beam

    Hyna • 04/05/2021 at 22:41 • 1 comment

  • Implosion protection

    Hyna • 11/13/2018 at 22:03 • 0 comments

    Boys from our hackerspace are afraid of glass jar implosion :) This is the metal frame which will be covered by fine metal fabric.

  • Quick update - vacuum

    Hyna • 11/07/2018 at 20:30 • 0 comments

    New silicone gasket for better vacuum.


  • Maker faire Prague

    Hyna • 06/24/2018 at 09:59 • 0 comments

    @MakerFaire

  • Electron gun

    Hyna • 06/20/2018 at 00:31 • 1 comment

    A lot of progress in these days. 

    Three days left to Maker Faire Prague ...

  • HV power supply

    Hyna • 04/16/2018 at 22:42 • 0 comments

    Done with vacuum controller, time to make some HV :D

    STM32->gate drivers->full-bridge at 50kHz->transformer>500W dummy load.

View all 11 project logs

  • 1
    Power supply

    SMPS_1: Isolation transformer

    • just for Isolation - designed ideally to 60kV - in real life it will be much less
    • potted in epoxy 22kV/mm = 3mm gaps between PRI/SEC and core = very high leakage inductance = soft source
    • half bridge topology was chosen due to high leakage inductance.
    • idealy no feedback at all = problem due to leakage inductance - soft source
    • to minimize leakage inductance, primary winding will be splitted in hlaf. PRIM | SEC | PRIM
    • 20-50kHz

    SMPS_2: classic buck converter

    SMPS_3: step up

    SMPS_4: current or voltage fed voltage converter - depends on power (e-beam weldes vs SEM)

    • Mains -> DC, buck, full bridge
    • FPGA driver

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Discussions

Athamanatha Kitsune wrote 01/23/2021 at 17:31 • point

My friends and I would very much like to help you complete this project.

  Are you sure? yes | no

Nathann wrote 01/04/2020 at 14:24 • point

Hi, it's been a while since the last update. How is your project going ?

  Are you sure? yes | no

Hyna wrote 01/07/2020 at 14:52 • point

Hi, sadly no progress at all during last year. But expect an update about hvpower supply within month or two.

  Are you sure? yes | no

jirenblack3 wrote 12/21/2020 at 02:29 • point

Hello! Really great project, was wondering if it is still being worked on?

  Are you sure? yes | no

hakim tahi wrote 07/29/2019 at 10:19 • point

could you please explain who we print in 3D metal 

  Are you sure? yes | no

Nathann wrote 01/04/2020 at 14:25 • point

I'm no expert but I Believe the idea is to bind some metal powder with an electron beam. then add another layer of metal powder and bind it. etc etc until you have a finnish part

  Are you sure? yes | no

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