The Ester - DIY SLS 3D Printer

Brandon Fosdick is an Aerospace Engineer, but his true interest lies in 3D printing. He realized that there are no affordable SLS based 3d printers on the market, so he set out to create his very own, called the Ester. It uses polyester powder and a laser to sinter the material and build up 3D objects. While he is still in the developmental process, if all goes as planned he may launch a crowdfunding campaign to raise funds for further development. What do you think? Will a printer like this succeed?

Read more at: http://3dprint.com/17570/affordable-sls-3d-printer/

http://3dprint.com/wp-content/upload...-1024x574.jpeg

I like this soo much. Finally some transparency from someone that's built one of these machines.

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Originally Posted by repkid

I like this soo much. Finally some transparency from someone that's built one of these machines.

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Thanks!

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I am really happy to see this, I will be following his progress. Thanks for the info.

Awesome!

What is the polyester that you settled on? Was it difficult to find?

If you plan to do a kickstarter program I'd be very interested in the printer

Brandon (I assume you are Brandon),

Typically SLS printers have a very hot build chamber (essentially an oven), where the constant temperature is just below the temperature required to sinter the material. I may be wrong about this, but in the video, it looks like there is no heated chamber. Is this possible because of the material being used, or have you discovered the heated chamber is unnecessary?

- Mike

Hi Mike,

You're correct in that the build chamber isn't currently heated. I'm reserving that as an option for later on, but so far I've managed without it.

It turns out that the heated chamber is useful, but not quite as necessary as it's been made out to be, depending on the material and the particular part being printed. And of course, there are other ways of getting the same effect. In fact I've found that shining a desk lamp on the powder surface can work just as well. I'm currently looking into adding IR LEDs to the underside of the carriage to see if that works too. These are all things that still need to be explored, and I'm putting out Ester as a development kit so everyone can get in on the fun.

It sounds really cool, Brandon. I'm glad to hear you're doing this. Best of luck to you!

Hello a development kit sounds like a lot of fun,one question why LED it doesn't give off much heat, it would have a coolness factor though

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Originally Posted by Helix

Hello a development kit sounds like a lot of fun,one question why LED it doesn't give off much heat, it would have a coolness factor though

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If the powder absorbs in the IR range, then an IR LED will heat the powder without heating the surrounding air (much). So it won't feel like the LED's are hot, but they'll still heat the powder. It's a lot like those IR heating lamps that you see in some stores.

Gotcha makes sense

Any progress, development on Ester?

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Originally Posted by raysspl

Any progress, development on Ester?

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Not yet. I'm still working on funding. Hopefully I'll have a kit ready in a few months. Stay tuned!

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Originally Posted by bfoz

Not yet. I'm still working on funding. Hopefully I'll have a kit ready in a few months. Stay tuned!

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This is a very interesting project from my industries point of view. If you are still looking for funding; I may be able to assist. Please contact me on this list and/or through my website

http://rosaminiatures.squarespace.com