Compact 3D printers are becoming more and more accessible, and fortunately, most of them manage to bring something new to the table. World Advanced Saving Project’s Delta Top 1609 makes no exception.
WASP is better known for Big Delta, the world’s largest 3D printer, as well as a serious promoter of house 3D printing, especially in underdeveloped areas. However, the Italian manufacturer didn’t want to stop there, and released into the public domain a TOP DLP 3D printer called Delta Top 1609.
“The part’s adhesion to the silicon layer is also an issue. In spite of the silicon’s anti-adherence properties, the part tends to remain attached due to the suction effect. With use the vat become more opaque and consumed, thus attaching to the print and causing a higher percentage of print failures, as the print attaches to the projection plane and not to the print plate. Low quality 3D printers can have failure rates as high as 50%,” explained the company in a press release.
As its name suggests, this is a delta 3D printer, as well, which differs from Cartesian printers by the fact that it bases its positioning information on trigonometric functions. This allows delta 3D printers to output objects with larger volumes, and while that makes a lot of sense in the case of house 3D printers such as the Big Delta, it may look peculiar for the Delta Top 1609.
The main goal of WASP was to create a low-cost machine that could print at a resolution of .08mm. The development of the Delta Top 1609 started three years ago, and in the meantime, WASP encountered several problems, one of them being the use of an anti-adhesive silicone layer that decreased the success rate of the prints.
However, several months ago, WASP realized that a top-down DLP process could represent the ideal solution to that problem. They also equipped the resin vat with a watertight lid that made everything easier to clean. Another problem was the odor released in the photopolymerization process, but WASP added a filter to solve it.
I can see a lot of possible uses for the Delta Top 1609. First of all, it could be used for 3D printing souvenirs and miniature replicas of famous works of art. Secondly, it could be used in class for showing students the shape of various structures. Imagine how biology or chemistry classes would be! Of course, all of these would have to be printed well in advance, since the Delta Top 1609 has a maximum speed of 30mm/h at the .08mm resolution, or 8mm/h at a greater resolution.
WASP will showcase the Delta Top 1609 at the Rome Maker Faire, between October 16 and 18, and plans to release it in the coming months. According to the manufacturer, the quality/price ratio is the best it could be with such a machine, so this desktop printer really is something worth waiting for.
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