Software suggestions and requests

[DoulosDS]

0.045mm is a good enough resolution for most prints (0.5 is considered typical layer thickness for laser based printing)...

I was searching the whole forum for this info; then I found in on my own thread! I'm glad to hear my $12 PS pump can meter out one slice per 1/n revs in the smallest print tank I expect to use, and could slice it a lot thinner in the largest tank I envision. And, how much faster can the pump move a slice volume of brine than the drip system? This could speed things up a lot.

As for accuracy, the peristaltic pump hose degrades gradually over time, but that change should be negligible during a print. If the pump is run at high speed, the rate of relaxation of the pinched tube may cause an error relative to running at slower speed. If the tube is unable to resume the full, unpinched volume before the next roller pinches it off, the volume between pinches will vary with pump speed. If two pumps are used: one low flow rate for slice volume, and one high flow rate for displacing the resin to cover the previous slice, I think there's no problem. The slicer pump can run slowly, and the displacement pump can run at a uniformly high speed in both forward and reverse. If there is any reduction in pinched volume due the speed of the pump, it should be cancelled out. Of course, the displacement pump would run an equal number of revolutions in both directions and stop between pinches.

!!! Whoa !!! I just enlarged the image of the motor label for the high displacement PS pump on eBay... it says the flow rate at 24 VDC is 4500 ml/min! (editing: WRONG! That's a typo on the label.) That's 75 ml/sec or 7,500 mm3/sec. In the previous example of a 7.5 cm diameter print tank, that is a Z rate of 1.7 mm/sec. That should be plenty fast for displacement, even in a larger tank, or the pump can be run at a slower, but uniform speed. I have sent the seller a question whether the pump listed is the same as pictured, and can it run on 12 VDC at 1/5 the flow rate.