Development of DLP-Based Stereolithography System
201
surface (illumination through a transparent bottom of the vat) gives better 3D printing
accuracy compared to free surface (illumination of the photopolymer surface). The all
above-described stereolithography apparatus are very costly which are not affordable
to common- or medium-sized industries or vendors who can build their prototypes
with a cheaper cost. Therefore, development of a low-cost SLA is necessary and
which was the goal of this research.
2 Experimental Setup
2.1 Stereolithography Apparatus (SLA)
A low-cost stereolithography apparatus (SLA) was developed to produce highly
precise, three-dimensional (3D) structures from broad selection of functional materials, especially photopolymer resin. The experimental setup is shown in Fig. 1. The
developed stereolithography apparatus (SLA) utilizes focused light beam from DLP
projector and then through the objective lens over the surface of a photocurable resin,
which undergoes photopolymerization and forms solid structures. The lamp of the
modified DLP projector works as light source and DMD chip in the DLP projector
works as a dynamic pattern generator. The color wheel of the DLP projector was
filtering most of the UV light out. Therefore, glass portion of the color wheel was
removed so that maximum UV light should focus by the projector which was our
requirement for solidification of the photopolymer. Infocus makes DLP projector
with display resolution 1024 × 768 was used.
Fig. 1 Experimental setup
201
surface (illumination through a transparent bottom of the vat) gives better 3D printing
accuracy compared to free surface (illumination of the photopolymer surface). The all
above-described stereolithography apparatus are very costly which are not affordable
to common- or medium-sized industries or vendors who can build their prototypes
with a cheaper cost. Therefore, development of a low-cost SLA is necessary and
which was the goal of this research.
2 Experimental Setup
2.1 Stereolithography Apparatus (SLA)
A low-cost stereolithography apparatus (SLA) was developed to produce highly
precise, three-dimensional (3D) structures from broad selection of functional materials, especially photopolymer resin. The experimental setup is shown in Fig. 1. The
developed stereolithography apparatus (SLA) utilizes focused light beam from DLP
projector and then through the objective lens over the surface of a photocurable resin,
which undergoes photopolymerization and forms solid structures. The lamp of the
modified DLP projector works as light source and DMD chip in the DLP projector
works as a dynamic pattern generator. The color wheel of the DLP projector was
filtering most of the UV light out. Therefore, glass portion of the color wheel was
removed so that maximum UV light should focus by the projector which was our
requirement for solidification of the photopolymer. Infocus makes DLP projector
with display resolution 1024 × 768 was used.
Fig. 1 Experimental setup