Title: Development of a portable stereolithography device for computer numerical control machining centres

Authors: Vasileios Sergis; George-Christopher Vosniakos

Addresses: School of Mechanical Engineering, Manufacturing Technology Section, National Technical University of Athens, Heroon Polytehneiou 9, 15780 Athens, Greece ' School of Mechanical Engineering, Manufacturing Technology Section, National Technical University of Athens, Heroon Polytehneiou 9, 15780 Athens, Greece

Abstract: A low-cost portable stereolithography (SLA) device is designed to cure polymer resin at suitable laser light wavelength. Required motions are imparted by any three-axis CNC machining centre exploiting serial communication interface, macro programming and machine data manipulation facilities. The device consists of three subsystems: laser beam, resin handling and micro-controller, making use of several sensors and actuators. For an approximately circular beam spot the G-code is generated by commercially available slicing software and is automatically modified to comply with the CNC machine controller's own automation functions. Alternatively, for line-shaped laser beams G-code can be directly generated from STL files by making use of profiling and hatching library routines. The device has been tested with two different power diode lasers for manufacturing a variety of parts. Curing rate was tested by micro-hardness measurement. Dimensional accuracy with respect to nominal was recorded using a white-light scanner, proving that acceptable accuracy is reachable.

Keywords: additive manufacturing; stereolithography; photopolymers; CNC; machining centre; micro-controller; G-code macros.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMMS.2019.103478

International Journal of Mechatronics and Manufacturing Systems, 2019 Vol.12 No.3/4, pp.211 - 226

Received: 08 Mar 2019
Accepted: 14 Jun 2019
Published online: 06 Nov 2019 *

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