4 ms·

Voxel8 Demonstrates Its Electronics-Capable 3D Printer at CES 2015 [video]

45 points by doctoboggan 12y ago

klint 12y ago
Voxel8 is a spin-off from Harvard's Lewis Lab. More info on their work: http://www.technologyreview.com/featuredstory/526521/microscale-3-d-printing/ http://www.technologyreview.com/featuredstory/526521/microsc...
- doctoboggan 12y ago
  This is correct. We've licensed much of the IP from the lab and plan on commercializing it through Voxel8. We've designed the printer heads to be modular, and after the printer is released we plan on releasing new extruder heads designed to work with new materials. Some of the more interesting materials from the lab are the carbon fiber reinforced epoxy and the flexible electronics materials. Let me know if anyone has any questions!
  - lchengify 12y ago
    Any plan to offer this as a service? Wouldn't have a use for the printer itself, but the electronics-in-cavity printing technique alone could be useful for prototyping devices that would otherwise require a lot of manual assembly.
    - doctoboggan 12y ago
      No plans now, we want to focus on building and selling the machine itself. Maybe one of the current 3D printing services will buy one and offer prints however.
  - _random_ 12y ago
    Who are the target consumers?
    - doctoboggan 12y ago
      Prototyping shops, government or academic labs, makerspaces, and hardware startups.
- cottonseed 12y ago
  They also used to post on HN Who's Hiring. (They didn't response to my inquiry.)
  - doctoboggan 12y ago
    I apologize, I make an honest attempt to reply to everyone who responded to the Who's Hiring post. I must have lost your email somehow. We will be hiring again soon, please reach out to me at jack@voxel8.co
    - cottonseed 12y ago
      Thanks for following up. No worries, I'm sure the HN posts generate a lot of interest. I found something, but good luck. It seems like you guys are doing some great work.
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
31reasons 12y ago
At $9000 its out of my range.
- jacquesm 12y ago
  It's a tool, not a toy. Most tools get bought by parties that have economic reasons to buy them, they typically expect to make back the cost of the tool many times over. If you can't afford it find someone who could and then rent some time on one. The same goes for just about any other high cap-ex tool (lasercutters, milling machines, lathes and so on).
  - ZenoArrow 12y ago
    Yes, but it's not clear why it's priced at this level. Is solder paste considerally more complex to extrude compared to the plastics that are the bread and butter of this class of machine?
  - new299 12y ago
    A typical PCB milling machine would cost 30000USD at the lower end. But looking at boards produced by this machine, it doesn't come close to the quality of a milled board. I think you could probably develop a milling machine with a similar price point, and some people I believe have used cheap Proxxon (MF70) mills to cut PCBs (the MF70 costs about 400USD). So I'm not sure what the advantage of extruding here is. I guess it would be interesting if they can do multilayer boards, but from the results shown that doesn't look like a possibility.
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
jeffwass 12y ago
Are we at the point yet where a 3D printer can replicate itself? Or at least print another functional 3D printer?
- Matumio 12y ago
  We are either already there and improving (reprap, add vitamins and lots of human labour) or still far away (no printing of motors, microchips and hotend on a single machine).
  - rplnt 12y ago
    I'd go with still far away.
jdiez17 12y ago
This is pretty cool, and I'm glad circuit manufacturing technology is making its way to the home. It still has a long way to go - a pick-and-place attachment would be very neat - but it's a promising step in the right direction. However at $9000 it's very much out of reach for average consumers.
blemasle 12y ago
I'd rather go for the voltera v-one which is capable of printing on FR4 board : http://techcrunch.com/2015/01/06/the-voltera-v-one-makes-circuit-boards-in-minutes/ http://techcrunch.com/2015/01/06/the-voltera-v-one-makes-cir...
- blemasle 12y ago
  With a video : http://techcrunch.com/2015/01/06/the-voltera-v-one-makes-circuit-boards-in-minutes/ http://techcrunch.com/2015/01/06/the-voltera-v-one-makes-cir...
  - blemasle 12y ago
    Forgot to mention it can even dispend solder paste and do reflow
- kubindurion 12y ago
  Check out Cirqoid, I got two of those, they are very reliable, with paste dispensing and pick&place functions. It's generally a cnc, here is a link to an image of a board I created using it http://40.media.tumblr.com/b13263cd969cb266e1856c5bf7c27eda/tumblr_n3bcc1f11I1txp3eyo1_500.jpg http://40.media.tumblr.com/b13263cd969cb266e1856c5bf7c27eda/... And here is a site of Cirqoid http://cirqoid.com http://cirqoid.com
  - new299 12y ago
    wow, that machine is amazingly cheap. The CNCs I've worked with were about 30000USD. How are the results? Does the lack of an auto-tool changer get annoying?
hippich 12y ago
There was also related work going on in RepRap community - http://blog.reprap.org/2009/04/first-reprapped-circuit.html http://blog.reprap.org/2009/04/first-reprapped-circuit.html Not sure if it progressed anywhere since 2009 tho.
hippich 12y ago
Also, since solder can't handle large loads (it would simply melt at some point,) PCB milling looks like another approach and also somewhat worked on in RepRap community - http://reprap.org/wiki/PCB_Milling http://reprap.org/wiki/PCB_Milling

45 points by doctoboggan 12y ago

klint 12y ago

Voxel8 is a spin-off from Harvard's Lewis Lab. More info on their work: http://www.technologyreview.com/featuredstory/526521/microscale-3-d-printing/ http://www.technologyreview.com/featuredstory/526521/microsc...

doctoboggan 12y ago
This is correct. We've licensed much of the IP from the lab and plan on commercializing it through Voxel8. We've designed the printer heads to be modular, and after the printer is released we plan on releasing new extruder heads designed to work with new materials. Some of the more interesting materials from the lab are the carbon fiber reinforced epoxy and the flexible electronics materials. Let me know if anyone has any questions!
- lchengify 12y ago
  Any plan to offer this as a service? Wouldn't have a use for the printer itself, but the electronics-in-cavity printing technique alone could be useful for prototyping devices that would otherwise require a lot of manual assembly.
  - doctoboggan 12y ago
    No plans now, we want to focus on building and selling the machine itself. Maybe one of the current 3D printing services will buy one and offer prints however.
- _random_ 12y ago
  Who are the target consumers?
  - doctoboggan 12y ago
    Prototyping shops, government or academic labs, makerspaces, and hardware startups.
cottonseed 12y ago
They also used to post on HN Who's Hiring. (They didn't response to my inquiry.)
- doctoboggan 12y ago
  I apologize, I make an honest attempt to reply to everyone who responded to the Who's Hiring post. I must have lost your email somehow. We will be hiring again soon, please reach out to me at jack@voxel8.co
  - cottonseed 12y ago
    Thanks for following up. No worries, I'm sure the HN posts generate a lot of interest. I found something, but good luck. It seems like you guys are doing some great work.

deleted 12y ago

[deleted]

31reasons 12y ago

At $9000 its out of my range.

jacquesm 12y ago
It's a tool, not a toy. Most tools get bought by parties that have economic reasons to buy them, they typically expect to make back the cost of the tool many times over. If you can't afford it find someone who could and then rent some time on one. The same goes for just about any other high cap-ex tool (lasercutters, milling machines, lathes and so on).
- ZenoArrow 12y ago
  Yes, but it's not clear why it's priced at this level. Is solder paste considerally more complex to extrude compared to the plastics that are the bread and butter of this class of machine?
- new299 12y ago
  A typical PCB milling machine would cost 30000USD at the lower end. But looking at boards produced by this machine, it doesn't come close to the quality of a milled board. I think you could probably develop a milling machine with a similar price point, and some people I believe have used cheap Proxxon (MF70) mills to cut PCBs (the MF70 costs about 400USD). So I'm not sure what the advantage of extruding here is. I guess it would be interesting if they can do multilayer boards, but from the results shown that doesn't look like a possibility.

deleted 12y ago

[deleted]

jeffwass 12y ago

Are we at the point yet where a 3D printer can replicate itself? Or at least print another functional 3D printer?

Matumio 12y ago
We are either already there and improving (reprap, add vitamins and lots of human labour) or still far away (no printing of motors, microchips and hotend on a single machine).
- rplnt 12y ago
  I'd go with still far away.

jdiez17 12y ago

This is pretty cool, and I'm glad circuit manufacturing technology is making its way to the home. It still has a long way to go - a pick-and-place attachment would be very neat - but it's a promising step in the right direction. However at $9000 it's very much out of reach for average consumers.

blemasle 12y ago

I'd rather go for the voltera v-one which is capable of printing on FR4 board : http://techcrunch.com/2015/01/06/the-voltera-v-one-makes-circuit-boards-in-minutes/ http://techcrunch.com/2015/01/06/the-voltera-v-one-makes-cir...

blemasle 12y ago
With a video : http://techcrunch.com/2015/01/06/the-voltera-v-one-makes-circuit-boards-in-minutes/ http://techcrunch.com/2015/01/06/the-voltera-v-one-makes-cir...
- blemasle 12y ago
  Forgot to mention it can even dispend solder paste and do reflow
kubindurion 12y ago
Check out Cirqoid, I got two of those, they are very reliable, with paste dispensing and pick&place functions. It's generally a cnc, here is a link to an image of a board I created using it http://40.media.tumblr.com/b13263cd969cb266e1856c5bf7c27eda/tumblr_n3bcc1f11I1txp3eyo1_500.jpg http://40.media.tumblr.com/b13263cd969cb266e1856c5bf7c27eda/... And here is a site of Cirqoid http://cirqoid.com http://cirqoid.com
- new299 12y ago
  wow, that machine is amazingly cheap. The CNCs I've worked with were about 30000USD. How are the results? Does the lack of an auto-tool changer get annoying?

hippich 12y ago

There was also related work going on in RepRap community - http://blog.reprap.org/2009/04/first-reprapped-circuit.html http://blog.reprap.org/2009/04/first-reprapped-circuit.html Not sure if it progressed anywhere since 2009 tho.

hippich 12y ago

Also, since solder can't handle large loads (it would simply melt at some point,) PCB milling looks like another approach and also somewhat worked on in RepRap community - http://reprap.org/wiki/PCB_Milling http://reprap.org/wiki/PCB_Milling