A friend and former coworker approached me about trying to build a non-wetting DIW 3D printer. We wanted a system that could rapidly customize pharmaceuticals, safety equipment, and variable-thrust rocket engines.
Most DIW extruders use augers and other pumps at the extruder head to push material through the extruder.
We wanted to design an extruder that did not expose permanent parts of the printer to the printing materials to reduce maintenance, so we used a double pinch valve/retraction system similar to a peristaltic pump.
One of our first tests was trying to mix a tiki cocktail using the system. We hadn’t quite dialed in the extrusion pressure and we made a bit of a mess…
I designed the frame using aluminum extrusions and a conventional “Core XY” layout.
The printer used a large removable build plate that was held in place with magnets.
All of the skin panels were laser-cut aluminum.
A track of LEDs around the perimeter of the front panel operated as a status light and progress indicator…
…and was concealed behind an acrylic diffuser.
We couldn’t find a material scientist willing to join our little adventure and ultimately ran out of money.
