CandyFab Source Material
November 15th, 2009This is an amazing low cost 3d fabrication device. I am trying to compiling all of the information together so others can make this:
CandyFab:
http://www.candyfab.org/
http://www.evilmadscientist.com/article.php/candyfab
http://www.evilmadscientist.com/article.php/3printerpreview
The process:
http://www.evilmadscientist.com/forum/viewtopic.php?showtopic=44
Hot Air Gun Information:
http://www.evilmadscientist.com/article.php/hotairmount
Make Controller Information:
http://www.makezine.com/controller/
http://www.evilmadscientist.com/article.php/labviewosc
http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-create-simple-animatronics-using-the-MAKE-c/
Pololu micro serial servo controller:
http://www.pololu.com/catalog/product/207
Aoyue 850A++ hot-air rework station(The air torch used):
https://store.sra-solder.com/product.php?xProd=6263
2 V, one ton automotive jack has been converted in to a (very strong) hobby servo motor
Related Websites:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/oskay/sets/
http://www.evilmadscientist.com/article.php/cnctoast
http://www.evilmadscientist.com/article.php/SewingMachine
http://www.evilmadscientist.com/article.php/toast
http://www.evilmadscientist.com/article.php/legostand
http://www.makingthings.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LabVIEW
http://www.dickblick.com/products/marvy-uchida-embossing-heat-tool/
http://www.evilmadscientist.com/article.php/avrdac
http://brendanjamison.tripod.com/
http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/exhibitions/whiteread/
http://www.bathsheba.com/
http://makerfaire.com/pub/e/141
http://www.dakeng.com/
http://www.instructables.com/id/3D-chocolate-printer-made-from-LEGO/
Lego mindstorms could be an option
This article is actually intended as a loose how-to guide; there is a CAD drawing to download, a software dowload that shows you how to generating 2D slices of 3D models, and a number of hints on where to get some useful components on the cheap. We will continue to document this project as time goes on, addding (for example) new nozzle designs and the code for the servo motor drivers. Will there be a complete “set of plans?” No, because the design needs to be flexible enough to allow for using different types of recycled printer parts. It’s possible that we could standardize the design by putting a standard set of parts in a partial kit for this project, but thus far we haven’t decided to do that
When the first layer is started, there is a bed of granulated sugar. The heat gun locally melts the top surface of the bed in one point, melting the sugar at that point. The heat gun then moves to the next point, melting the sugar there. If this is done in a number of points in a row, it begins to fill in a line of melted sugar, see the photo above (”Here is the first step…”). The sugar only stays molten for about 15-30 seconds after the heat gun is removed from a point. If a second line of melted sugar is added next to the first, you can begin to fill in an area with a thin layer of fused sugar. Let’s suppose that you were making a cylinder– then the first layer would just be a circle. The depth of the melt layer is controlled by the temperature, air flow rate, and hold time at each pixel location.
After the first layer is finished, the bed is lowered slightly– by an amount equal to the melt depth– and a fresh layer of sugar is added to the top, such that the new top surface is at the same place where the original surface was. To make the next step in the cylinder, a new circle is drawn in the sugar on this layer. For each point in the circle, as the sugar in the top layer melts, it fuses to the corresponding point in the hardened sugar circle below. If we were to let the model cool and take it out of the machine at this point, you would have a solid thin disk, twice the thickness of the melt layer.