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Magnet printer
Posted: Mon Mar 21, 2016 3:44 pm
by TheRealRocketBurns
So this printer can print magnets with opposing poles on the same side. Skip to around the 2:00 mark for the video.
Article:
http://hackaday.com/2016/03/21/just-whe ... echanisms/
Video:
https://youtu.be/IANBoybVApQ
This is insanely cool

Re: Magnet printer
Posted: Mon Mar 21, 2016 4:00 pm
by Jimustanguitar
Saw that earlier. Very cool!
[youtube]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IANBoybVApQ[/youtube]
Re: Magnet printer
Posted: Mon Mar 21, 2016 4:10 pm
by TheRealRocketBurns
I would love to see if someone designs a reprap one, maybe as an extruder you could put on to an existing printer.
Re: Magnet printer
Posted: Mon Mar 21, 2016 4:46 pm
by Glacian22
TheRealRocketBurns wrote:I would love to see if someone designs a reprap one, maybe as an extruder you could put on to an existing printer.
Seeing as it's a brand new technology, I'm sure it is super duper patented.
Re: Magnet printer
Posted: Mon Mar 21, 2016 7:34 pm
by Windshadow
totally amazing refinements of magnetic theory and practice... i recall seeing examples of some of the effects done with rod neoD magnets potted in an epoxy made with iron dust but they were very simplistic compared with these
Re: Magnet printer
Posted: Mon Mar 21, 2016 10:46 pm
by 626Pilot
Magnets are normally polarized by running huge amounts of current through them.
If I'm right, this is not a "magnetic 3D printer" so much as a Cartesian robot that places an anode and cathode on the top and bottom of the magnet, and then juices the hell out of a very small area at any one time. The direction of current flow would dictate the direction of the iron atoms. However, I would expect to see significant "bleeding" of current through the surrounding metal, blurring the "maxels."
It could be that instead of that, they're using powerful electromagnets that generate a tightly confined, very narrow and vertical EM field that passes through the magnet and orients the iron atoms as desired.
Re: Magnet printer
Posted: Tue Mar 22, 2016 8:13 am
by Jimustanguitar
Could it be a resin printer with suspended magnetic particles in it, and then they just use a coil to align the particles in a particular direction for each exposure? They could do multiple "mini exposures" per layer and come up with some really wild patterns that way.
Re: Magnet printer
Posted: Tue Mar 22, 2016 8:44 am
by techstorage
Very cool, thanks for sharing.
Re: Magnet printer
Posted: Tue Mar 22, 2016 10:04 am
by mhackney
That is very cool Rocket.
Re: Magnet printer
Posted: Tue Mar 22, 2016 11:27 am
by TheRealRocketBurns
626Pilot wrote:Magnets are normally polarized by running huge amounts of current through them.
If I'm right, this is not a "magnetic 3D printer" so much as a Cartesian robot that places an anode and cathode on the top and bottom of the magnet, and then juices the hell out of a very small area at any one time. The direction of current flow would dictate the direction of the iron atoms. However, I would expect to see significant "bleeding" of current through the surrounding metal, blurring the "maxels."
It could be that instead of that, they're using powerful electromagnets that generate a tightly confined, very narrow and vertical EM field that passes through the magnet and orients the iron atoms as desired.
The funny thing is, I intended to printer to be interpreted as a normal 2D printer, not a 3D printer.

I should have specified with this forum. The part that interests me is the speed at which it works, 5 minutes is pretty fast.
Re: Magnet printer
Posted: Tue Mar 22, 2016 11:33 am
by TheRealRocketBurns
Jimustanguitar wrote:Could it be a resin printer with suspended magnetic particles in it, and then they just use a coil to align the particles in a particular direction for each exposure? They could do multiple "mini exposures" per layer and come up with some really wild patterns that way.
Well, it appears to be affecting a piece of pre-existing metal, I do not believe it is actually depositing any material. It could be a special alloy, I'm not sure if they mention that in the video. Somewhere you can actually buy the latch demo they show, it's around 20 bucks, I may pick one up. I wonder if it has any applications for reprap?
Re: Magnet printer
Posted: Tue Mar 22, 2016 2:10 pm
by Windshadow
TheRealRocketBurns wrote:Jimustanguitar wrote:Could it be a resin printer with suspended magnetic particles in it, and then they just use a coil to align the particles in a particular direction for each exposure? They could do multiple "mini exposures" per layer and come up with some really wild patterns that way.
Well, it appears to be affecting a piece of pre-existing metal, I do not believe it is actually depositing any material. It could be a special alloy, I'm not sure if they mention that in the video. Somewhere you can actually buy the latch demo they show, it's around 20 bucks, I may pick one up. I wonder if it has any applications for reprap?
$12 direct from them
http://catalog.polymagnet.com/spring-latch-demo.html
a bit over $15 with US Mail shipping But though it says in stock it rejects an attempt to order one or two so they may have an unstated minimum order quantity.
Re: Magnet printer
Posted: Tue Mar 22, 2016 4:01 pm
by TheRealRocketBurns
Windshadow wrote:TheRealRocketBurns wrote:Jimustanguitar wrote:Could it be a resin printer with suspended magnetic particles in it, and then they just use a coil to align the particles in a particular direction for each exposure? They could do multiple "mini exposures" per layer and come up with some really wild patterns that way.
Well, it appears to be affecting a piece of pre-existing metal, I do not believe it is actually depositing any material. It could be a special alloy, I'm not sure if they mention that in the video. Somewhere you can actually buy the latch demo they show, it's around 20 bucks, I may pick one up. I wonder if it has any applications for reprap?
$12 direct from them
http://catalog.polymagnet.com/spring-latch-demo.html
a bit over $15 with US Mail shipping But though it says in stock it rejects an attempt to order one or two so they may have an unstated minimum order quantity.
Thanks for the link! I emailed them to ask about that, waiting for a response.
EDIT: They may also individually make them on a per-request basis