SLA is Stereolithography 3D printing. This type of printing uses a photochemical resin which hardens when in contact with either daylight or UV light. The resin is held in a vat which is usually above an LCD or laser arrangement. The light cures the resin and it hardens to the build plate or the layer hardened before it.
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| SLA laser printer diagram |
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| LCD SLA Diagram |
SLA Printers have many advantages and disadvantages to FDM 3d Printers.
Some of the advantages are:
- Faster Print times
- Extremely accurate parts
- Resin Versatility
- No loss in print time with multiple parts
- Watertight parts
Some of the Cons to SLA is
- Expensive compared to FDM printing
- Lots of post-printing work
- Can get messy
- Parts need to be washed and cured after printing
- Consumables can get expensive
- Relatively small build volume compared to FDM
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SLA Print being pulled out of the vat of resin
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FDM 3D Printing compared to SLA
This technology is being used widespread, especially with companies like Adidas using them in their shoes. They're outsourcing the midsole manufacturing to a company called Carbon which is using SLA resin printers to make porous midsoles for performance Adidas running shoes. These midsoles are porous in a way that they cannot be made with any other technology other than 3D printing.
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| Midsole being printed |
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| Example of this midsole on a shoe |
nice info and graphics. like how you broke up and organized this blog. very cool to see how Adidas is printing the midsoles of shoes.
ReplyDeleteI appreciate your research and sharing what you have learned about additive manufacturing. It is exciting to think about the value a person with your knowledge and experience in additive manufacturing will bring to a business one day. Or, actually .... cool that you already do in your own business.
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