Boston Micro Fabrication (BMF) announced they’ve received an important patent.
The company produces ultra-high resolution 3D printers capable of printing very small objects. Their equipment is typically used by manufacturers to produce parts for medical devices, electronics, photonics, microfluidics and similar applications where extremely small structures are required.
This is where it gets interesting. Last year they announced a new machine, the microArch D1025 3D printer. It was capable of printing structures as small as 0.010mm. But it could also 3D print structures at 0.025mm resolution!
This is quite a unique feature, as other resin 3D printers (BMF’s Projection Micro Stereolithography, ”PµSL”, is a resin process) always offer a single resolution. That’s because their optical systems are fixed in design: the pixels form at the same dimensions because the light flows through the lenses and mirrors in only one way.
However, the D1025 has a more advanced optical system that can handle two resolutions. This allows D1025 operators to select which resolution is best for any particular print job.
Now we learn that the company has patented this process, and has just received US patent 12420486B2, entitled “Multi-Scale System for Projection Micro Stereolithography”.
BMF explains how it works:
“The patented system enables fast, high-resolution 3D printing across larger build areas by integrating multiple projection lenses with distinct imaging ratios—for example, 10-micron and 25-micron resolutions—within a single optical path. This dual-lens design allows the printer to dynamically switch between resolutions on demand, optimizing for both detail and throughput without compromising precision.”
This patent suggests that the only dual resolution resin 3D printers you will see in the near future will almost certain come from BMF.
Via BMF
