Optimizing Temperatures for Quick Benchy 3D Printing
In a groundbreaking development, the Minuteman printer, developed by inventor Jan, has successfully printed a 3DBenchy in just over two minutes, setting a new standard for speed and quality in 3D printing.
At the heart of this achievement lies a circular duct designed by Jan, which directs a plane of compressed air horizontally towards the nozzle, acting as an air knife. This innovative design improves cooling efficiency, allowing for faster printing speeds without compromising on quality.
Jan's Minuteman printer also uses an air bearing as its print bed and feeds four streams of filament into one printhead for faster extrusion. To further enhance cooling, Jan precooled his compressed air with dry ice, making it both colder and denser for better cooling.
The postprocessing script used by Jan in the Minuteman printer to vary nozzle temperature throughout the print is Salim BELAYEL's script. This script adjusts the hotend temperature dynamically based on the volumetric flow rate during printing. Specifically, the script increases the hotend temperature when the volumetric flow rate is high and decreases it when the flow rate is low. This approach optimises printing speed and quality by better matching the nozzle temperature to the extrusion demands in real-time.
Despite the potential warping caused by the thermal gradient produced by the cooling method, the use of the circular duct and precooled air has significantly improved build quality. In Jan's latest video, the Minuteman printer printed a Benchy in just over two minutes at a higher quality than previous two-minute Benchies.
Jan is confident that he has made the best two-minute Benchy yet with these optimisations. With this postprocessing script, Jan could print quite good sub-four and sub-three minute Benchies, with almost no print degradation from the five-minute version.
Jan did not mention adding more extruders as a method to speed up prints in this paragraph. However, the Minuteman printer's impressive speed suggests that it may be capable of handling multiple extruders in the future.
Jan predicts that this postprocessing method will become a standard feature of slicers. This could potentially help even less speed-obsessed 3D printers by optimising printing speed and quality without sacrificing print quality.
[1] Salim BELAYEL. (2021). Dynamic Temperature Control for Fused Deposition Modelling. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/349124250_Dynamic_Temperature_Control_for_Fused_Deposition_Modelling
[2] Jan. (2021). Minuteman Printer - Two Minute 3DBenchy. [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1q_b0mQJTsU
The Minuteman printer, a data-and-cloud-computing innovation by Jan, leverages technology to optimize printing speed and quality, thanks to Salim BELAYEL's postprocessing script that dynamically adjusts nozzle temperature. This advancement, anticipated to become a standard feature in slicers, could potentially revolutionize 3D printing efficiency for various printers.
