USC Berkeley scientists develop light powered 3D printer

3D printing is one of the most exciting technologies currently being pursued. Many of the top investors, as well as venture capitalists, have poured millions of dollars into companies developing better and smarter 3D printing techniques. It stands to revolutionize the manufacturing sector and change the way companies approach hardware design. However, 3D printing carries out the printing process by building objects layer by layer. Scientists from the University of California, Berkeley have developed a new type of printing technique that builds the object almost all at once, using light.

Although the idea seems like something from a sci-fi thriller, it is based on CT scans that are used for medical imaging. In this process, the object to be printed is scanned section by section, producing a number of 2D images of the object from different angles. The 2D image sections are joined to render a complete 3D image which is then projected as a whole into a transparent cylinder containing a light-sensitive resin that hardens when certain types of light are shown through it. The portions of the resin that are lit up by the 3D image being projected solidify to give the object.

What’s amazing about this technique is that all the unused resin can be reused later. Furthermore, objects can be printed around other objects inserted in the resin. This was demonstrated by printing out a screwdriver handle around a screwdriver.

Nicknamed the Replicator, it can be used to print custom equipment for a wide range of applications.