Helios One 3D Printer from Orange Maker - Uses Heliolithography technology

[Eddie]

We've all heard of SLA and FDM, but a company called Orange Maker plans on releasing a new 3D printer that uses a technology called heliolithography. It is similar to SLA but uses a non-stop continuous flow system. The printer looks really nice and from the videos it looks like it would be very efficient. No price has been announce yet, but it will be available in 2015. Read more about this at http://3dprint.com/7958/orange-maker-helio-one-3d/

What do you guys think? Will it be any better than SLA?

[Feign]

So... in three years they have a fancy name, some stock footage of a reprap and some pretty renders.

I think I see how this works, but I'll be excited when I see a prototype and at least a tiny bit of explenation, thanks.

[mkapras]

@Feign - please share your thoughts! I can't tell how this works! "Helio" means sun as far as I know. I'd like some explanation too. Until then, looks like more vaporware to me.

[Feign]

Mechanically, 'helio-' can also refer to an orbital or spiralling movement. What I suspect this is doing is having the laser project on a single line on one half of the turntable while the table slowly turns, likely through a ridge shaped prism so that the resin can't easily stick to it. As the table rotates (painstakingly slowly, that animation is probably at about 10x speed) the object forms in a single, long helical layer.

It's a novel concept, they've probably got it patented, but there are so many pitfalls to the method (for very little benefit) that it's likely indeed destined for whaterver place vaporware goes.

[mkapras]

OH, so it's more like "heli" as in helicopter. It's the spinning that's the big differentiator? Hmmm... Keep the laser steady and move the part? I could see problems with that too, but I'm no engineer. I guess we'll see...

[Feign]

Well, less like "keep the laser steady" and more like "only move the laser's mirror on one axis rather than two" The difference being because the moving plate causes turbulance in the resin, there is less liklihood of the resin sticking to the tray. There is also less liklihood of it sticking to the build plate and to itself. Also, the problem of distorting and eroding features on the part if it's moving too fast (the outside) or too slow (the center). However they fix these problems that I dunno (they're why the idea never got out of my notebooks), perhaps it's something novel, or perhaps those are problems they've not even thought of yet.

[JRDM]

They call it not-SLA, but it just looks like another form of SLA at most.

I wonder if they've ever looked at a Dimension machine.

[Valter]

Is there any news notice about Orange Maker 3d Printer???