Salutations! Welcome to the blog for the upcoming rebirth of the Innovation Lab, where information about the tech and projects in the space will be shared (and I will likely gush enthusiastically).
My inner tinkerer has been alight with joy and excitement the last few weeks, as more and more of the equipment for our future makerspace arrives. The area around my desk is a veritable mountain of boxes. Some items are boring--who hasn't seen a computer monitor? But others require a bit of assembly, and I do love a quiet afternoon of fumbling with tiny bolts and precision alignments!
Perhaps the most involved assembly I performed of late was the multi-material add-on (MMUS2) for our pair of Prusa i3 MK3S+ 3D printers. Quintin Owens, one of our fabulous art faculty who utilizes modern 3D fabrication tools like 3D printers and CNC routers, introduced these quality printers to our art program when he arrived, and they are still some of the best you can find for FDM 3D printing. So we acquired some more! But the multi-material add-on with these new printers open greater possibilities.
Most 3D printers, like the Dremel that we currently have, accept a single strand of filament into the extruder:
The extruder on the Prusa printers still only accept a singular feed of filament. But the MMU unit integrates with the printer hardware and software to automate changing that feed between one of five optional filaments.
 |
 |
| Five different filaments are fed into the back. | The selector head moves to position itself in front of the appropriate filament feed based on the print settings. |
This feature can be used in a few ways. Different colors can be used seamlessly within a single print without the need for a person to be physically present--pausing the print, cutting filament, feeding new. Additionally, multiple different materials can be used. 3D prints with overhanging edges or parts need to have temporary supports built up underneath of them. These supports are often on the outside of a model, and are simply broken off when the print is done. However, complex shapes sometimes require supports in locations that are hard to reach, or perhaps a smoother final product is desired. In these cases, two different materials, with different chemical compositions, can be used: one for the main body, and one for the supports. In these instances, the materials used for the supports are soluble in a solvent that does not affect the material used for the main print. I would liken this method to dissolvable sutures. They hold everything in place for a time, and dissolve once their job is complete.
Hopefully next week I will have some videos of these printers in action, and I'll introduce another piece of equipment!
0 Comments.