Selective Laser Sintering Overview and the Best SLS 3D Printers on the Market
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 6 พ.ย. 2022
- Selective Laser Sintering Overview and the Best SLS 3D Printers on the Market
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Hi everyone! This is Top 3D Shop, and in this video, we will tell you about industrial and desktop SLS 3D printers - how they work, what they are capable of, and, of course, which devices deserve special attention so that you can choose the best model for your demands.
SLS 3D printing technology dates back to the 1980s. It was invented by Dr. Carl Deckard, at that time a student at the University of Texas, and his professor Dr. Joe Beaman. The first commercial printers based on this technology entered the market in 1992. They were meant for rapid prototyping, but soon the technology proved itself useful in a variety of different industries, such as healthcare, engineering, and consumer goods production, not to mention the rest. Now SLS, or selective laser sintering, is one of the most popular types of additive manufacturing, providing more and more opportunities both for businesses and customers.
How do such printers work? Selective laser sintering, as the name suggests, uses a high-powered laser to heat the printing material, which is always in a powder form, to make a solid object. The powder is heated just to the point of sintering, not melting. To start printing, you need a CAD file, or a 3D scan, which you’ll export in a 3D printable file format, like OBJ or STL.
Before the printing process commences, the printer preheats the build chamber, which should be filled with powder, to the temperature just below the sintering point, and printing begins. The powder is dispersed in a thin layer on the print bed, and the laser heats certain areas, so that the powder sinters and forms the first solid layer of the future model. The print bed then goes down a bit, and the process continues, layer after layer, until the job is done.
Once your 3D model is complete, it needs to be cooled down and cleaned up from the remains of unfused powder at a cleaning station. Then it’s for you to decide whether to use it right away or add some post-processing, like sandblasting, polishing, or dying, if needed.
All SLS 3D printers’ workflows seem to be pretty similar. They can differ in such parameters as the type and power of lasers employed, the build volume, and the types of compatible powders. Still, there is one main feature which allows dividing such machines into two main types - that is their size. First SLS printers were enormous, and even the smallest of them required no less than 10 square meters of installation size. Naturally, such devices couldn’t be regarded as a home-use solution and remained the privilege of industrial companies until 2016, when the first benchtop SLS 3D printer hit the market. It wasn’t small enough yet to be used at home, but was perfectly suitable for small businesses and prosumers. Since then, a decent number of desktop SLS printers have emerged in the market. Let’s discuss the two types more specifically, and compare the most noteworthy models in each class. - วิทยาศาสตร์และเทคโนโลยี
Doesnt really matter what the printers cost, the price of the powder is insane.
While some of the leftover can be reused, a single part will be quite expensive.
Lacking price points :(
Agreed. there is NO REASON to hid prices in 2022. it seems more sketchy. You will not scare away a person that can only affford a prusa by telling us these machines are 20k. a person looking at these machines either has the money or they dont... So lead the way and give pricing and options on that ...for sure.
@@miestermindcosts over 100k
The basic formlabs start at 15k for a basic model
The Formlabs Fuse 1+ 30W starts at $24,649 for just the printer or $24,999 for basic starter package. You'd definitely want the Sift for depowdering/sifting/powder recovery & refreshing/dosing/mixing. That brings you to $36,893.
Ideally, due to cooling times, you'd want the High Efficiency package that comes with two build chambers for $41, 640.
I believe when you buy the packages with the Sift unit the class 3 bonded, grounded, explosion-proof vacuum is included ($3k). This grade vacuum is required for safe cleanup of SLS powders as they have the ability to ignite when sparked.
You can also buy their new Fuse Blast post processing station, or provide your own media (glass #9 or #10) blasting station. You can use #12 or #13 media as well, but it definitely leaves a white haze on the parts you have to clean off.
Great video, gave you a like. Can anyone tell me: Is the powder removed from the finished print reusable?
İ am just interedted how strong are printer parts
Note, The Formlabs Fuse 1 is no longer available as the Fuse 1+ was released in 2022. The Fuse 1+ utilizes a 30W laser which is a significant improvement over the Fuse 1's 10W laser. This, along with an integrated agitator in the hopper, allows for improved print speeds to the tune of nearly 2x over the Fuse 1. The 30W laser also allows for a greater variety of materials such as Nylon 11 Carbon Fiber and TPU. (The Fuse 1 can only print Nylon 12, Nylon 12 GF (glass filled), and Nylon 11). There is no option to upgrade to a Fuse 1 to a 1+ so a new printer must be purchased. The only change required for the Sift post-processing unit is a firmware update to support newer materials (and potential bug fixes and changes).
By replacing the Fuse1 with the improved Fuse1+, Formlabs also doubled the price…
@@fluxcapacitor Price only increased $10,000 on the Fuse 1+
@@nrgzrbny Admittedly. I always forget that Formlabs already almost doubled (+85%, more exactly) the price of the Fuse1 wrt the $9,999 price point they promised during its development stage.
So now, this is "only" a 50% price increase from 1st gen to 2nd gen. "Only" $10,000. lol
- Expectations (promise): $9,999
- Reality (Gen 1): $18,500
- Gen 2: $28,000
I wonder how much the 3rd gen will cost at this rate!
@@fluxcapacitor And they moved the hopper, changed the color, delivered it 4 years after the promise date, and it still wasn't quite ready.
I uploaded a model to one company for a quote and for something about 20 inches x 7 x 5 the quote was around $10,000 for aluminum. I called them to check and they said the quote was correct. I want to use this technique for art but at that price it is not cost effective.
If you want to print with aluminum, then you should try SLM printer instead of SLS
Heard terrible things about formlab fuse. Literal nightmares about terrible print quality. Not accurate whatsoever.
There are/were shrinkage compensation formulas that need(ed) some tweaking for sure. If I recall correctly, there was a manufacturing fault with the build chambers that was causing layer lines or z shifts. I was informed of this about 3 or so months ago. The engineers in Somerville discovered it and I believe updates were sent to the factory and a rebuild / repair plan was likely rolled out. I think it was a user serviceable fix. There were definitely some quality control problems with the factory making the Formlabs build chambers as they had previous issues that were also user serviceable. That said - users shouldn't have to be reworking brand new equipment.