[rp-ml] Powder Bed Information

First of all, I would like to thank you for your quick and helpful
responses. It was my first mail on the group and I was a bit reluctant to
bother you with more details.

We are trying to build a custom SLS machine for mostly polymeric powders.
The build volume will be around 200x200x200mm (maybe a little more). These
days we are working on the powder bed subsystem, the system which involves
the fabrication piston, the powder delivery system (another piston i guess)
and what seems to most likely will be a roller (don't really know if there
is another solution) for the application of a new layer of powder.

As far as the specific subsystem is concerned, a colleague mentioned that
we should check the availability of a ready to implement solution on the
market. However, the scenario of a design and construction of one is also
possible.

So, I was hoping for information on any of these two directions:

- Is there any ready solution on the market? Not machine, just the powder
bed subsystem. There is still "enough" freedom on the design of the machine
that we could make changes for this to work.
- Is there any information on the design of such a subsystem? Even basic
information would help to give as a start. Some answers on this direction
with similar open projects were already very helpful.

Thank you all again for your help.

Regards,

Nikolaos G. Kontolatis
Researcher, PhD candidate
Manufacturing Technology Section
School of Mechanical Engineering
National Technical University of Athens
Iroon Politehniou 9
15780 Athens, Greece
Phone: (+30) 210 772 4298
e-mail: nkontol@central.ntua.gr
Received on Thu Oct 04 11:26:43 2012