Open Source Plastic SLS 3D Printer

Basics

• Part of the Open Source Digital Fabrication Construction Set
• A Selective Laser Sintering or SLS 3D Printer
• Essentially uses a laser to melt powder into the desired object

Used For

• Very Complex Plastic Parts
• Very Precise Plastic Parts
• Ultrafast Print Speeds
• Better Structual Properties than Unannealed FDM Prints
• Multiple small parts in large batches (possibly utilizing a batch box)
• Printing without needing a filament maker; only a plastic powderizer is needed

Industry Standards

• This larger Industrial Design
• This Desktop Design
• Formlabs Fuse S1

Minimum Viable Product

• Modular
• Precise
• Fast
• Ultra Low Layer Height

Basic Design

• A cube/rectangular prism is gradually filled with powder (precise layer by precise layer)
• In between each layer being filled, a laser (moved either on a gantry or woved with optics) traces a 2D sliced image on each layer
• This gradually buils up the object
• The powder not used for the part allows for a built in support structure (unlike sla or fdm machienes)
• Once done the part (and possible a printed part box") are lifted out and powder is brushed+blown+vacuumed away in a device similar to a sandblasting cabinet or laminar flow hood

Useful Links

• This video has a good basic overview
• This video has a good video of a workflow using these printers
• This video showed an intresting method of stacking parts
• A short video showing how unsealed SLS Nylon Parts Age
• This is an in depth interview ~20min long on Formlab's Fuse 1 SLS