Low Cost, Multi-Material 3-D Inkjet Printer

Student: Ian C. Wahlquist

Major Professor: Dr. Wenchao Zhou

Research Area(s):

Conventional Materials & Processes

Inkjet printing is capable of printing at high speeds, with high resolutions, and with multiple materials.
Utilizing Inkjet printing methods for 3-D printing enables one-step, high-precision manufacturing of complex devices, such as printed circuit boards.

Design ways to use primarily the main systems (motors, print head, motherboard, etc.) from an Epson Workforce 30 (WF30) printer for the 3-D printer.
Include subsystem for sintering printed nanoparticle suspension inks.

Use WF30’s driving mechanisms and software to make the print carriage travel above the build plate, instead of feeding paper under the print carriage.
Use Open Bench Logic Sniffer to analyze the signal waveform for detection of the end of a page and the signal that starts feeding a new page.
Use these signals to activate the stepper motor that controls build plate height, as well as to activate the curing/sintering systems.
Convert the object slices into a representative image file format, such as JPEG, and send these files to the printer to print.

When the WF30 printer finishes printing a file, it pauses for about 12 seconds before returning the print head to it’s home position, which time is used in the 3-D printer to perform the curing processes.
Designed a clutch system to disengage the y-axis controls of the 3-D printer while it initializes.

Using primarily the systems found in the WF30 printer to build the 3-D printer will make it more reasonably priced, and thus more available to the average consumer and small business.
Designing systems to print with both nanoparticle suspension inks and photo-curing polymers will increase versatility and reduce production time for complex objects.