[João Carimo]

Building a 3d printer from a common laser printer.

I'm still in the conceptual phase of the project.
I've done nothing yet.
Actually, i´ve bought a laser printer from ebay.

I´m planning to disassemble it and use the laser assembly to print over an epox resin\photopolymer, layer by layer (that´s how it shoud work).

Instead of the tonner, i intend to use a resin\photopolymer and convert the tonner sensors to signal the resin\photopolymer level detection.

I will use the roller stepper motor and it's drive to move the laser carriage trough the y axis in order to trace the layer and reuse the line feed signal to activate the table/platform elevator (that will be the printing area).

After the layer is completely traced and for the most part hardened by the laser beam, the table/platform will be lowered into the vat a distance equal to the thickness of a layer.
Upon completion of the printing process, the object will be elevated from the vat and allowed to drain.

Excess resin\photopolymer will be swabbed manually from the surfaces.

The same can be done with a jet printer.
In this case, instead of a table/platform elevator, the carriage must be elevated to a distance equal to the thickness of the layer, and you wont need a closed environment.

So, Let´s do it.

João Carimo