Must be one of the most amusing cases of recycling ever

Oct 13, 2014 13:51 GMT  ·  By

Most of us probably love recycling, even if we don't all put as much active effort into making it come about, but not all recycling happens the same way. Indeed, sometimes the word “repurpose” works better.

Such is the case for the 3D printer created by a certain Russian man by the name of Mikhail Shevchenko.

A 2012 engineering graduate of Tomsk Polytechnic University, the man was able to actually make an SLA 3D printer from a bunch of optical drives. You might know them better as CD/DVD ROM drive units.

Now, we've seen custom, low-cost 3D printers before, but they've always been FDM-based machines (fused deposition modeling). This new one uses SLA instead (sthereolithography).

The difference between SLA and FDM

FDM uses a heated extruder to melt plastic filament or pellets and build objects from the ground up. An adhesive or heated build bed acts as the basis for the process, and the printer may or may not have multiple nozzles, to combine materials, and thus, colors.

The cheap 3D printers only have one extruder, though soon enough the technology will become cheap enough to allow for more.

SLA, on the other hand, uses tanks filled with resin, which is hardened and “grown” into solid objects by the application of ultraviolet light. Basically, resin is cured by bombarding it with light.

SLA allows for much thinner layers, which in turn leads to much more detailed and smooth (on the surface) objects in the end.

Usually, SLA 3D printers cost in the thousands of dollars / euro, or tens of thousands, with only metal SLS printer (selective laser sintering) sitting above, with up to multi-million figures.

However, the new 3D printer that Mikhail Shevchenko made basically runs roughshod over even the “cheap” $3k / €3k models.

The RAR Print 3D printer

The product costs just $250 / €250 if you can believe it, less than most FDM printers, let alone other SLA ones.

Shevchenko created it from CD- and DVD-rom drive parts. Such drives use laser diodes to read a disk by moving up and down over guide rods. Those rods happen to be quite similar to the ones in a CNC machine or 3D printer. Add to that the natural curing capabilities of the lasers and the designer was able to adapt them to his needs in short order. The parts that didn't come from optical drives were 3D printed themselves.

How to get one

You can't, but you can make one if you're in the mood for it. The plans for the RAR Print 3D printer are available on Thingiverse. You'll need a 300 x 400 mm sheet of organic glass, one DVD ROM optic system + UV led, wires, some PLA plastic (on a spool or two), an Arduino Mega 2560 computer board, five or 10 CD/DVD – ROMs, and a glass or plastic reservoir for the Makerjuice Photopolymer. Everything will cost you $250 / €250 as we said before, €197 if you believe in exchange rates.

The RAR Print 3D printer (4 Images)

RAR Print 3D printer
RAR Print 3D printer renderRAR Print 3D printer in the flesh
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