0.02mm layer thickness possible with a filament printer?

[D4RR3N]

I have been looking at the Wanhao duplicator 3d filament printer on various web pages and all say it can produce a 0.02mm layer height....can that really be possible with a filament printer?
Looking at some photos of objects supposedly printed on this printer the resolution looks amazing, almost too good to be true!
I'm new to 3d printing but I thought you could only produce that kind of resolution with an SLA printer.

http://3d-printers.ireviews.com/wanh...cator-5-review
http://cjr.en.alibaba.com/product/13...D_Printer.html

[Davo]

Yes. I have printed 0.025mm (25 micron) layers, and my coworker has printed 0.010 (10 micron) layers with Hyrel printers.

You won't do it with a threaded rod in the Z, but that's why we use precision ball screws. We are positionally accurate in the Z to less than half a micron.

[LambdaFF]

To be honest, to reach that kind of precision, you need a perfect bed levelling and with a dual head it will be a pain.
If you NEED that kind of precision, why not go to a resin printer instead ?

[D4RR3N]

To be honest, to reach that kind of precision, you need a perfect bed levelling and with a dual head it will be a pain.
If you NEED that kind of precision, why not go to a resin printer instead ?

Two reasons, Firstly I am mostly interested in printing large objects and a resin printer is usually for small objects. Secondly its much cheaper and its less mess then liquid resin.

I'm actually trying to decide between XYZ Nobel SLA printer
http://www.technologyoutlet.co.uk/co...sla-3d-printer

And Wanhao D5
http://www.technologyoutlet.co.uk/co...ild-duplicator


They both have similar res so I'm tempted to buy the Wanhao because I will be able to print large objects

[printbus]

...I am mostly interested in printing large objects

How large? Do you have an idea how long one of your objects will take to print at a 0.02mm layer height? If you haven't already, spend some time learning one of the freeware slicers (slic3r, cura, etc.) enough to slice a similarly sized object found on thingiverse, and see what it estimates for a print duration. Add about 20% for a more accurate estimate.

[CaptainObvious]

To be honest, to reach that kind of precision, you need a perfect bed levelling and with a dual head it will be a pain.
If you NEED that kind of precision, why not go to a resin printer instead ?

Bed leveling is not super critical if you make the first layer thicker, say 0.2mm.
I have printed PLA at 0.05mm with a Reprap using threaded rods for the Z axis, it worked quite well but of course it takes forever and then some

[dunginhawk]

i hadnt really give much thought to the wanhao dup 5s until i started looking in to it.
wish the 8 inch build side was more like 10-12, but its still a lot of build volume.
anyone running one?

[iDig3Dprinting]

What are you going to print, at 0.02mm it will take a very long time, you may want to ask yourself whether this type of resolution is necessary. If your requirements for feature resolution (x-y resolution) is low then prominent layering could be removed with post processing.

[dunginhawk]

What are you going to print, at 0.02mm it will take a very long time, you may want to ask yourself whether this type of resolution is necessary. If your requirements for feature resolution (x-y resolution) is low then prominent layering could be removed with post processing.

im fine with .05 or .1, i just want to know if its great quality printer or not... i need big volume with quality prints, and so far the prusa i3v, and taz 5 (from what ive seen) isnt super quality, but fast large volume.