Design of electronics for a high-resolution, multi-material, and modular 3D printer

Electronics for a high-resolution, multi-material, and modular 3D printer were designed and implemented. The driver for a piezoelectric inkjet print head can fire its nozzles with one of three droplet sizes ranging from 6 pL to 26 pL at approximately 10 kHz. The system developed for curing photopolymer materials is low-power, low-cost, and safe, using ultraviolet light-emitting diodes instead of a gas-discharge lamp. Fabrication cost is less than $10,000, but the printer's 600 DPI resolution is comparable to that of industrial 3D printers. Printed objects exhibit detailed features and a gradual transition between materials with different mechanical properties. The printer's modular design allows modification of the printer to employ different fabrication technologies.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2013

Author dc:creator

• Kwan, Joyce G

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Wojciech Matusik

• Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/85435

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/85435