actually, the power level of the snapmaker is way too low…
also, the platform stability is nowhere near enough for such a task…
most free space stintering machines, and multi-laser crystallization machines have a 1/2 ton (or greater) base for stability alone, and must provide 1-2 KW (again, or greater) for the power head…
i also want more module functions, but they must fit within the platform’s physical limitations…
william…
I see your point, william, but I also know that advances in technology create innovation in technique which often feed to more advances.
There was a time that a laser suitable for marking metal was $100k and the size of a car. Then it came down to $35k and was the size of a coffin (small coffin at that). But it still required a decent water-circulation-based chiller. Next up $5k and no longer needs a water-based chiller.
If there were a vacuum base, it could replace the adhesive base and perhaps be less likely to require replacement. At the very least I bet someone would find a way to use the vaccum to their advantage on some projects.
If a vacuum base had been available as an option during launch for about the same price as any other module, I’d have likely bought one just because I know how creative my team can be in that room.
All innovation has a start point… and we are there. I wonder what Snapmaker will look like two years from now. No doubt suggestions on the forum will all go into the development melting pot to cast future models.
i will admit, i am far from an expert in 3d print systems…
but from what i have worked with, liquid and powder based stintering and crystallization systems require extremely stable platforms, more stable the smaller the focus…
snapmaker lives in the 0.001" world, and does not work with ultra fine particles…
i was hoping to do some “free air” stintering with the snapmaker myself, but came to realize with further study, it just is not a fit…
there are many more things the snapmaker can do, and most likely will do so with all the interest i’ve witnessed here…
but physics does matter, and snapmaker is not a cast iron monster required to do molecular level processes…
One thing that I think would be hopefully easy to add would be a set of rollers for scrolling work in the Y direction infinitely, so that the Laser or CNC module can work on a long thin item such as a sign, or it would let you cut out a lot of pieces from one long piece of stock. In my head, this is a set of four rollers, one or two of which are motorized; the work must always be pinched between all four rollers, keeping it in place; one above and one below, a pair on the +y and a pair on the -y side of the work head. The rollers might be solid metal, hard rubber, or something like a soft foam that would roll over small uneven items without jamming.
In fact thinking about it, if the rollers were only pinching the edge of the platform as opposed to going across the entire width (or if only the bottom were full width) you might be able to use this to have a long platform for 3D printing on, too, although it wouldn’t be a heated bed.
I can imagine that the biggest problem with such an idea is making sure the material is consistently fed in a pure Y direction, because if it ever got crooked or jammed, you could stand to mess up a very large print. Still it seems like there should be a solution somewhere.
@doug The Palette+ looks interesting. Neat how it prints a separate tower in between colour transitions to make sure the colours on the main model stays distinct. I wonder how much prep work you have to do for a multi-colour print? The upside with this system is you can have infinite colours in your model.
Most FDM machines use an extruder nozzle with an M6 thread - that’s basically the standard (as far as I know). Orifice sizes vary but it seems that .4mm is most common.