Comments on: Solar-Powered 3D Printer Turns Desert Sand Into Glass

By: Larry Sylvester

Larry Sylvester — Sat, 30 Mar 2013 21:09:24 +0000

OK, I’m really impressed. I only wish we could see the final polished and cleaned piece.

By: printing123

printing123 — Tue, 01 May 2012 12:12:22 +0000

This information is really so useful for my teaching line. I can use this new technique. Thanks a it

By: Swami

Swami — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 15:17:58 +0000

Rocdad: there is no resin involved. The sun’s concentrated rays are used to fuse the sand grains together. It’s basically the same principle as used in ‘traditional’ glass factories (where glass is made from particular types of sand (and some extra stuff like lime, soda, etcetera)).
But in this case, the heating is done by concentrated solar instead of gas or electrically heated furnaces. So, no fumes.

By: rocdad

rocdad — Sun, 03 Jul 2011 18:33:26 +0000

Is this an Onion?: Seems there would be a lot of smoke and heat produced supposedly in a printer designed to use warm resins?

By: JonAnders

JonAnders — Sun, 03 Jul 2011 17:24:50 +0000

Video at his homepage http://www.markuskayser.com/

By: anothervoice

anothervoice — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 13:01:38 +0000

Very cool. I’m imagining solar-sintered building blocks, maybe even whole buildings if the armature can be scaled up. I wonder if the outgassing from the sintered glass amounts to much – probably no more than what comes out of a volcano, and probably less…

It would be nice to see a video of the process.

By: bcarl

bcarl — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 15:41:35 +0000

I think solar power and renewable energy is amazing; it has forever changed our world. 3D printers are also changing how we view virtual ideas and objects. I love how these two things are coming together and creating models. 2BOT is using reusable materials in their 3D printer, the ModelMaker. The blue wax can be melted, after the model is made, and reused for other objects.