[HN Gopher] PolyDye: Full color printer mod for Marlin 3D printers
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       PolyDye: Full color printer mod for Marlin 3D printers
        
       Author : utopcell
       Score  : 120 points
       Date   : 2024-12-27 18:18 UTC (3 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (github.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (github.com)
        
       | simgt wrote:
       | The images and video you're looking for are here:
       | https://hackaday.com/2024/12/28/full-color-3d-printing-with-...
        
         | slau wrote:
         | In this case, the real work originated in Michael's
         | TeachingTech video: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=J1wz8S9rTI8
        
           | Suppafly wrote:
           | The real work originated with the PolyDye project.
           | TeachingTech isn't a bad channel, but he mostly demonstrates
           | tech invented by other people. I'm not sure I understand the
           | point of commenting a link to his video that is already
           | linked within the first paragraph of the linked article.
        
             | slau wrote:
             | You're absolutely right; the real credit goes to the
             | PolyDye project. However, it's TeachingTech's video that
             | made PolyDye explode in the last week. Hackaday is just
             | regurgitating what is explained in TT's video. I guess I'm
             | just a bit tired of that page, and what amounts to
             | basically blog spam.
        
       | tiku wrote:
       | Very interesting step. I wonder what will become the standard for
       | color 3d printing. Mixing 3 base colors in a mixing chamber
       | probably will waste a lot of purge filament.
        
         | gunalx wrote:
         | Mixing filaments has been tested and wastes an enormous amount
         | of filament, and has accuracy issues with color and deposition
         | (like almost all regular multicolor getting clean seperstions
         | or transitions is hard)
        
       | simonjgreen wrote:
       | I recall seeing a similar idea to this on a 3D printer that used
       | sheets of paper for the layers. It would (workflow from memory)
       | print with high saturation on to a stack of paper then drag them
       | in to an aligned stack while cutting the layers out using a drag
       | knife and gluing them. I wish I could recall who made the thing,
       | but it was quite impressive. Main target use case was
       | architectural work.
        
         | iancmceachern wrote:
         | I remember this, the coolest part was that the feedstock was
         | just glue, inkjet cartridges and A4 printer paper
        
         | simonjgreen wrote:
         | This was the one:
         | https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mcor_Technologies_Ltd Seems
         | they went out of business.
         | 
         | Video here https://youtu.be/2DRJ2oUK4-E
        
         | mk_stjames wrote:
         | 3D printing via paper sheet stacks was one of the first 'rapid
         | prototype' technologies. It was around in the automative
         | industry at least in the mid 1980's, and was called LOM -
         | Laminated Object Manufacturing. The machine I saw would unroll
         | glue-backed paper onto a plate, laser-cut the layer into it
         | along with laser cutting a consistent grid pattern everywhere
         | outside the part. Then repeat for all the layers.
         | 
         | This took forever (literally days for a big part) but when it
         | was done you would get this giant block that felt like
         | essentially a glue-up wood countertop. You would then bust away
         | all the cube pieces on the outside, revealing the 3D part
         | inside. The part would have this grid line pattern on it from
         | where the waste cube cuts intersected the final part. You could
         | then varnish the part and you'd have a pretty much rock solid,
         | heavy reproduction straight from a computer model.
         | 
         | I know that these were used for vac-forming parts straight off
         | them, and also as patterns for sand castings. It was
         | interesting as this tech has been pretty much erased, it's even
         | hard to find pictures of it these days.
         | 
         | Anyway. I don't ever recall ever seeing one that printed color
         | onto the paper however, but I'm sure this was something that
         | was experimented with.
         | 
         | Here is a 1991 paper describing the tech, which had already
         | been around for a few years by then I think:
         | 
         | https://repositories.lib.utexas.edu/server/api/core/bitstrea...
        
         | ricardobeat wrote:
         | Impossible Objects has refined this idea by using stacks of
         | printed powder onto fiber sheets. They get stacked and sintered
         | into the final object, and the fiber itself acts as
         | reinforcement.
         | 
         | It makes 3D printing at massive scale possible:
         | https://impossible-objects.com/3d-printers/
        
           | 0_____0 wrote:
           | That's slick! I wonder what sorts of jobs end up being cost
           | effective on it. Like, how much does the media used to print
           | the example job in the video cost? There's no clue on the
           | website as to the cost of the media, so I'm guessing you have
           | to have a pretty good reason to need this particular
           | technology (simply speed?)
        
       | iancmceachern wrote:
       | This is similar to the RizeOne, I have one. Tjmhe company went
       | under but they're still supported by some suppliers.
       | 
       | https://www.dynamism.com/rize/rize-one.html?srsltid=AfmBOooo...
        
       | tommiegannert wrote:
       | That's cool, and certainly more accurate than blending filament.
       | 
       | Anyone have data on layer adhesion?
       | 
       | (I have a spool of Royal Blue Prusament that has the worst layer
       | adhesion ever, for some reason. Fresh in my mind. :)
        
         | slau wrote:
         | If I remember correctly, Royal Blue is a PLA blend. Are you
         | using that profile or just Prusament PLA? The temperatures are
         | significantly different (25degC difference), and so are the
         | speeds (20-30% difference).
        
       | wtcactus wrote:
       | This seems the actual future of color 3D printing. Filament
       | manufacturers will develop increasingly better translucent
       | filaments and 3D printer manufacturers will seamlessly integrate
       | the method on the printers.
       | 
       | I have a Bambu P1S with the multi filament upgrade, and while
       | great for several motives (keeping 4 spools at hand dried and
       | ready), I never use it for actual multi material printing due to
       | it's slowness and wasteness.
        
         | wkat4242 wrote:
         | Yeah the AMS is a nice extra but not at all practical for most
         | usecases.
         | 
         | I use it sometimes for badges with text, you only need a few
         | layer changes then which makes it ok. But big multicolour
         | objects nope.
        
         | CodeWriter23 wrote:
         | Doesn't Bambu have "Purge to infill" in its Orca fork?
        
           | wtcactus wrote:
           | I never did try that. But I'm figuring out it needs a fairly
           | big model (or several copies) to work properly and for the
           | filament change time to be acceptable.
           | 
           | All in all, other than completely changing filament after a
           | specific layer, I don't see the shortcome outweighing the
           | benefits.
           | 
           | But in this case I've mentioned it becomes very handy. For
           | instance, to print a PLA 1st layer for bead adhesion and then
           | print ABS on top of it.
        
       | nullc wrote:
       | Anyone taking bets on how long until the cease and desist from
       | stratasys rolls in?
        
       | wkat4242 wrote:
       | I really want this on my bambu <3
        
         | luma wrote:
         | One of the downsides to a mostly-closed system like Bambu, it
         | makes adding solutions like this difficult.
        
           | wkat4242 wrote:
           | True but I mean I wish Bambu would bring something like this
           | as an option :)
           | 
           | I'm very happy with bambu. I love 3D printing but I hate
           | messing with 3D printers, constantly tuning and fixing
           | everything. I really despise that stuff. So bambu is perfect
           | for me. I would never install such a kit anyway. I just want
           | to buy a printer with it and for it to just work.
           | 
           | I know many other people at the makerspace who love tinkering
           | with their printers but it's not for me. Until I got my bambu
           | printers my prints were pretty bad because I didn't put any
           | effort into my printers. Always having misaligned beds etc. I
           | just can't be bothered with that shit. I just used really
           | thick rafts to make things slightly more manageable. They
           | mostly have creality and prusa ones.
        
             | luma wrote:
             | > I wish Bambu would bring something like this as an option
             | 
             | And that's what you're left with, wishing a company would
             | meet your needs. With a Prusa, you just go ahead and add
             | the thing and tinker as you wish. Modern Mk4 printers have
             | all the reliability features you are familiar with from
             | Bambu, with the notable exception that they aren't
             | uploading your GCODE to a chinese cloud provider.
        
               | zanderwohl wrote:
               | And the notable exception that they cost 1.5x as much for
               | the same capabilities.
        
               | Agree2468 wrote:
               | I would consider extendibility a capability, whether you
               | consider that worth the price difference is up to you.
        
               | nullc wrote:
               | > Prusa
               | 
               | abandoned open source for their most recent products...
               | that plus the fact that bambu added lan-only-mode makes
               | the purchase decision easy.
        
           | gunalx wrote:
           | The main reason not to buy bambu.
        
       | SillyUsername wrote:
       | Very steep price, for not much more you could get a Bambu A1 Mini
       | and AMS
        
         | utopcell wrote:
         | $200 seems quite cheap for full-color capability. The two
         | technologies are not really comparable.
        
       | utopcell wrote:
       | Great project. This seems to be bringing the technology of the
       | DaVinci Color [mini] printers from XYZprinting to the OSS world.
       | Those 3D printers were quite expensive.
        
       | seltzered_ wrote:
       | Is it possible to use this as an alternative 2D paper printer as
       | well? Or is the position granularity too large?
       | 
       | Asking as there's been many discussions over the years desiring
       | an open source paper printer and while this would be a rather
       | slow and cumbersome approach it could be useful for those who do
       | 3d printing a fair amount and print to paper on rare occasions.
        
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       (page generated 2024-12-30 23:01 UTC)