Four Million Tiny Mirrors: The Insane Engineering of DLP and the Future of 3D Printing
VloĆŸit
- Äas pĆidĂĄn 22. 05. 2024
- There's huge power in this 3D printer's tiny mirrors.
Get a Photon D2 DLP printer: bit.ly/3B7MIKx
In this episode, we bust open a rare DLP resin printer to show how microelectromechanical systems - nay, microOPTOelectromechanical systems, make impossible tasks trivial. This fusion of SRAM, electrostatic actuators, micromachined springs, and graphics circuitry enables us to build incredibly precise, powerful, and high-performance displays. There's a science fair model, tiny Warframes, a projector that's also a car headlight, half a snake, and penny-pinching regret. It's a fun time.
About the title: the Photon D2's resolution is 2560x1440, but on the DLP chip, those pixels are surrounded by a buffer zone of partially-broken micromirrors. It's a method of increasing production yield, and means that even though this 2k printer drives 3.68 micromirrors, the chip itself contains well over four million in total. Most of those could function, but the display driver leaves them in the neutral position to keep the resolution predictable.
Join our welcoming maker community: / discord
(I'm there all the time!)
Models:
đž Warframe Protea by Fanaatti and Digital Extremes: cults3d.com/en/3d-model/art/w...
đș Warframe Lotus by Sinsaberius and Digital Extremes: cults3d.com/en/3d-model/game/...
đ€ș Excalibur Noggle by Willow Creative and Digital Extremes: willow-creative.nl/download/e...
đ„Š bROCKoli by Plastic 3D: social.thangs.com/m/39237?utm...
đ cobra.stl by boonsawangpanida
social.thangs.com/m/264728?ut...
â± Vase thing by Anycubic, included with printer
Timetable:
00:00-01:50 DLP, Anycubic, and You
01:50-03:42 Tiny Silicon Machinery
03:42-05:58 My Model Micromirror
05:58-06:38 What DLP Can Do
06:38-08:10 LCDs Kinda Suck
08:10-10:05 Why DLP is in Every Projector
10:05-13:26 LCD Printers Kinda Suck
13:26-14:58 Why DLP is Great for Resin
14:58-18:00 Thankies
The following copyrighted material was used as permitted by fair use and/or license terms:
âą Ratcheting MEMS motor: NIST (US Government) www.nist.gov/video/tiny-gears...
âą Other scanning-electron microscopy courtesy Sandia National Laboratories, SUMMiTâą Technologies, www.sandia.gov/mstc
âą Chip fabrication + cleanroom footage: Intel Inc
âą Photon Ultra footage: Anycubic
âą DLP optical microscopy: SIC66SIC66 âą DLP projector chips (DMD)
âą DLP Cinema intro, DLP principle-of-operation, LightCrafter 2000 EVM footage, headlight demo: Texas Instruments
âą Where's Waldo chip art: Michael W Davidson and the Florida State University micro.magnet.fsu.edu/creature...
âą Interference SFX: Partners in Rhyme
Opinions presented in this video are NOT paid endorsements and represent my sincere thoughts. Anycubic provided nothing but the printer and a fact sheet. They exercised no editorial control and requested no edits. - VÄda a technologie
![Anycubic Photon D2 DLP 3d resin printer [HONEST REVIEW]](/img/n.gif)
"A matrix made of millions of miniature mirrors and motors that measure mere micrometers." is possibly the best alliteration the world has ever seen.
say that 5 times fast ! ha
Yep, I gaffed a bit when I heard that.
Idk, that seashell one fucks me up
Oh that's why Audi calls it matrix led light đ€
Oh, that's nothing. He's got plenty more of those!
The fact theyre using anti-aliasing on 3d prints is absolutely wild to me. This tech has come so far in such a short amount of time its amazing
IRL antialiasing, who'd a thunk it
I worked for a Traffic Management Center that used DLPs in their video wall because they didn't burn in as much as LCD or plasma showing the same intersection for hours and could be had with almost invisible bezel. They also avoided the cooling problems of plasma at that scale.
Zack is literally giving us us a college level lecture on break through technology for free! WHAT A TIME TO BE ALIVE! Can someone please give this man an honorary doctorate and Ensure he remains comfortable and motivated enough to continue! Wow!
- and like most collages nowadays, inserting current day politics into everything.
What a waste.
@@TheCopperGrasshopper shh
@@TheCopperGrasshopper When did he do that? Seems like I missed it
And just imagine how this'll look just a few papers later!
@@TheCopperGrasshopper Politics has always been everywhere. Noticing it now has a lot more to do with yourself than the world surrounding you.
DLP is still something between black magic and insane technology to me.
This tech seems like they pulled it straight out of a flying saucer. Never stops amazing me.
@@p4inmaker it wouldnt surprise me. It's from Texas Instruments so must likely a tech out of area 51
@@p4inmaker you gotta take a deep dive into mems technology, some of the cutting edge stuff of the past 10 years is wild.
âAny sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.â
- Arthur C. Clarke
It's really exciting that we are getting to the point that we are making magic instead of technology!
nice profile pic
Sam Zeloof even used a DLP project to expose photoresist to make homage silicon chips, so if itâs detailed enough for that, it makes sense that it could be used to make 3D printers more detailed
Aha! Someone saved me the trouble of mentioning him.
This was an awesome vid, thanks for explaining DLPâs benefits and workings so thoroughly and considering us listeners. Would love to see more videos like this one!
Interesting and poetic as ever. "Liquid crystal display display" made me chuckle.
I, too, remember the couple years we had of rainbow vision in movie theaters. It was especially noticeable in high contrast scenes with motion, where your eyes would have to move across the screen. You'd see rainbow trails on the edges of objects and it was horrible.
I purchased a cheap portable no-name projector off of Amazon last year and I can confirm the spinny RGB wheel method is still in use and the individual colors are really easy to see in high contrast scenes if you turn your head quickly.
is that what that was omg i just thought it was all the lsd
omg i remeber asking my parents why it had rainbow edges and they looked at me like i was insain..
@@priceisalr1ght comments like this remind me that while DLP projector resin printers will exist, LCD resin printers will never become fully obsolete, as long as there is a market for lowest-cost, lowest-price products like Amazon / AliExpress / Wish / etcetera
I mean, hell, we still have FDM printers despite MSLA and SLA/SLS printers existing, so....
@@StormBurnX that last little bit lmao. FDM serves its own purpose of functional parts that resin can not produce. Resin parts while tough are brittle in comparison and can not do all that FDM can. Both Resin and FDM will continue to exists unless a do all product comes along.
Not everyone prints minis and detailed items.
That voxel closeup was amazing. Great job on the intensive purposes.
Your technical detail here is the reason I subbed after watching like 15 videos over the last few days. Super appreciate the depth.
It's so pleasing. The setuping and mastering softs amazing.
this was a really cool demonstration and explanation of a technology that I could have never understood while reading about it! I love both of your styles of video, so in my opinion you should do more of whatever type of video you want to make
Yeah! One of my favorite presentations on tech.
Yes! DLP is such an underappreciated technology.
Holy crap. That SRAM observation is brilliant. I'd love to see someone actually implement it.
Was that a Pinecil? This might be my favorite episode and it's an ad!
@@pseudotasuki that was a TS80
@@MattBeaver Dang. Boo.
@@pseudotasuki Related radness: One of the earliest memory solutions (1940/) was a crt, the Williams Tube đł
One of the best explanations and demonstrations about DLP, seriously good work Zack!!
The writing on your channel is on point đ„ love it! Canât imagine how much time is spent on it but itâs appreciated and entertaining đ
Little Bobby tables had me dying. XKCD classic. Thank you for the awesome showmanship, sharing a technology most people don't even know they already love.
I honestly just started laughing when I realised the printer was so precise, it was showing the imperfections in the *model*, that's absolutely stunning. At the levels of detail that thing can capture, painting anything would almost be a waste, as I'm not sure you could find a paint thin enough to retain the small details đ
"it was showing the imperfections in the *model*"
Or more accurately, it was showing the fact that the model is rendered into a series of images which have pixels. The fact that it can essentially render lossless information out of those images down to the pixel is ridiculous. Literally pixel-perfect.
You thin your paints by mixing them with a small amount of water, on a wet palette. That or airbrushing.
You could probably print butterfly wings which are colourful without pigments.
@@wayland7150 Not quite, for that you need detail at a scale too small to see, even smaller than the mirrors. You might be able focus the light to that size, but then you couldn't print anything larger than the DLP chip.
recently got into 3d printing for some projects I'm working on and came across your channel. You are one of the most entertaining youtubers I have ever come across completely underrated. Keep it up man! much appreciated!
One of my favourite videos!!! Love how well you explained everything in such an entertaining way. More please!!
Zack, you are DEFINITELY not the only person old enough on CZcams to remember those rainbow nightmare projectors. đ€š
Thanks for the video!
Watching the DLP 'home version' come to market has been exciting to say the least. If you take away nothing else from this video but are into resin printing, DLP defeats having to change the LCD screen for several years; you'll likely be replacing other major components before the DLP module. Just wish the Anycubic version was a bit larger, but all good things come to those who wait. And wait, and wait...
This being their second iteration of the product, I'm really excited to see comparative tests now that they've doubled the resolution of the chip from 1280 * 720 to 2560 * 1440 while adding 62% more surface to the printing plate size. I expected Elegoo that was rumored to release one base on the same design principle in march to beat them to it. It's sure exciting times for resin printing.
Yeah, really wishing for a larger one. I'm currently looking at getting into resin 3D printers, and would like something in the ~20 cm range, like the Saturn 2, but a DLP would be massively preferable overall. Even if it cost like a 1000⏠or slightly over, that'd be basically 5 LCD swaps vs. the Saturn 2, and the DLP supposedly lasts 10x.
I think simply because of the size I'm gonna have to go with an LCD printer (it's not like they're BAD), but DLP as a technology makes immense amounts of sense.
Actually, I have seen that good things come to those who build them.
Great episode. The in depth on the tech was sick.
Every one of your videos is so much fun to watch!
Its also a lot to do with the fact that you are using a lens to focus the projected image. In LCD printers.. the image is sharp at the level of the LCD.. but the actual printing happens further away from it so the projection has already softened a bit. But this also requires a lot from the optics... as its really hard to design lenses that has zero distortion and equal resolution across the field. Though designing the lens for single wavelength really helps.
DLP truly is magical. I recently bought my first DLP projector and laser based autofocus and automatic keystoning is SO friggin' cool. I can't wait for DLP printers to become affordable! Also yes, I recall the rainbow years. Everyone said I was crazy until I finally figured it out.
Good lord⊠this video was glorious. Will be referencing this video whenever I or someone asks me to explain DLP⊠knocked this one out of the park
Awesome content as always. I love the bits of humour you throw in as you explain the complex yet fascinating tech.
This is how you do a sponsor video, well done.
This video was soooooo good. I know your a maker but Iâd love to see more videos of you explaining how the world around you works. Great video!!!
Absolutely brilliant. it brought back a memory from many years ago, a school physics project making an LCD display, stannous chloride was heated and blown over the glass to make it conductive, if I remember correctly it was published in a practical electronics mag.
Your sponsors alone show the magnificence of the work put forth. Truly Zack, your an incredible teacher. You should in your journeys, leave no stone unturned and explore all that their is to explore.
The protea model was very nice btw. The other Warframe content was a nice surprise too. Not sure where you managed to get the models for them but they look good. Outside of that the tech you described is absolutely mind blowing and Iâm very pleased with the quality and simplicity you delivered it with.
I know every time you upload Iâm going to have a good laugh and it makes me happy. Thanks for the great videos. I really appreciate all of your hard work!
This video was fantastic, so much information and told in a way that makes you smile in amazement. Definitely something to share to blow other minds.
I'd absolutely love more of these types of videos!
I've been using a couple open DLP printers at work for a few years now, so I've been able to get any resin and make a profile for it, so so much faster printing than the old form 2
Edit: I work in dental, all of my models are fingerprint surfaced looking voxels lol,
I've not tried DLP printers, but I've got a Mono screen resin printer at home, and it is so much faster and easier to use than the Form 3 I had the "pleasure" of working with during my internship at a company during my education. I legitimately don't think I fully understood how workflow is supposed to work with the Form printers, but it was a massive pain to do anything with it compared to my own printer at home.
@@marc7425 Form 3 machines use lasers to draw the pattern into the resin, this takes considerably longer than mSLA and DLP resin printing. However, models that come out of the Form 3, when printed using their own resin, is supposed to come out cured enough that it doesn't need to be cured further. That's what I heard at least.
Howdy fellow tooth tech!! :)
I just got 2x D2. and I want to use Asiga denta model resin and Keystone soft.
Which resins have you profiled so far? I never 'dialed in' a resin though. Do you like the D2? I also have an Asiga Max Uv and just bought the anycubic M3 plus but the d2 is my main focus. It is kinda noisy truth be told.
Do you have any parameters to share?
The printer instructions say not to use SLA resin only DLP resin
@@justaperson1144 so right now we're using an envisiontec envision one, two older open printers, Miicraft 125, though other companies sell it under other names, we started using the new keystone model material,used their regular model material for 4 years, in addition to their gingiva, night guard, surgical guide and try in material, on the envision one we're locked to only their materials, do you have any issues with implant models warping around the cutout for the gingival mask?
Correction: 6,999 more patrons to get that scanning electron microscope.
This was such a cool video! Thanks for explaining how DLP chips work. You made it easy to understand. â€ïž
please more like this. I loved the educational aspect as taught and alliterated by Mr. Freedman.
That print quality is amazing. But I don't expect to see much more innovation in the hobby DLP resin printers anytime soon, aside from dropping prices. Like the MSLA printers, Anycubic and the others are largely locked into off-the-shelf repurposed screens/DLP projectors left over from other industries.
Understandable. I have a bit of a feeling that Teaching Tech's opinion that innovation trickles from hobbyists to manufacturers in FDM 3D printers also applies to SLA printers targetted at hobbyists, and after over a month of researching for my L^3 (liquid laminate lithography) printer, it seems that there's only a fraction of hobbyists diy-ing resin printer designs compared to FDM.
why cant they just manafacture it for a acheaper price and then be able to sell it for a cheaper price making more sales
Microscopic gears a r e e p i c
Small episode, big info. Thank you again for this awesome content!
1st video I've seen of you and about these printers. Don't have any myself but boy are they and you infinitely entertaining!
NEW VIDEO LETS GO
Here is a comment to persuade to do more stuff like this, this video was really good.
It would be nice if it was accompagnied by a project that benefits from said technology
This was an awesome explanation. I understood at least the basics of dlp but I didn't know how that all interacted with resin printing. Looks like I'm going to have to look at upgrading out of my lcd printer.
That was an amazing explanation! Would love more stuff like this!
I remember the colour wheel DLP projectors. They annoyed the hell out of me since every time my eyes would move the slightest amount I would see the colour smear.
Screen flicker was a big issue for me back in the CRT days so I was really happy when I managed to get a cry capable of over 100hz refresh rate so I couldn't see the flicker any more.
You could see the flicker of a CRT? The ~15kHz noise they emit is what gets me. Almost headache inducing.
I'm glad that my eyes were happy with 85 Hz in the CRT days. Never could abide 75 Hz or lower though. It felt like tiny hammers beating my eyeballs.
Color wheel DLP projectors are still widely used, but they swap the colors faster nowadays. The schools I work for have loads of them. I actually have an old beast for my home theater, the venerable Infocus X10, now on its second lamp. I can see the rainbow if I really try, but it doesn't bother me in practice.
zack: has stroke
meanwhile zack: this is digital light processing 'a matrix made of milions of miniature mirrors and motors that measure mere micrometers'
also zack: ergebleds
zack but further into the video: im gonna trample on their trademark and use dlp and dmd interchangeably
insult: you know we are talking about the technology here not a specific brand and if you're dlp you can dmdeal with it
zack has stroke: 2:28 to 3:15
spitting fax : 5:38 to 5:44
exercise for viewer: 5:44 to 5:58
back in my day: 7:03 to 7:10
robot ninja treasure hunting hacker fairy who gets to choose between poaching endangered species from a hoverboard and using endangered species as a hoverboard: 7:52 to 8:10
zack doesnt know what hes promoting anymore: 8:10
but suppose instead of a piddily little led panel your light source is a 5 killowatt xenon arc lamp designed to fill a 15 meter schreen with lazy super hero tropes from across the theater thats enough power to make celloid film litteraly explode if the film reel jams for half a seccond 8:11 to 8:28
and its certanly enough to incinerate any lcd you put in front of it 8:29 to 8:32
hmmm with mallicious intent 8:42 to 8:43
zack insults your mancave 8:48 to 8:54
daylight scenes can pummel your retinas night time scenes are so inky black you cant tell where the screen ends and because every pixel shifts at the same time action shots have this snappy frame to frame clarity that evokes a physical cinematic crispness 8:54 to 9:10
what is that word 9:10 to 9:11 (dammn last nuber sus)
back before this was you know ''affordable'' projectors spun a color (ergobled) wheel in front of a lamp and just displayed and just displayed each frame one coulor at a time for most people persistance of vision would sort it out unless you where someone like yours truly who could see the individual flickering coulors and it was highly irritating 9:16 to 9:33
LEAVE A LIKE ON THIS VIDEO AND COMMENT if you too remember the obnoxious (ergobled) rainbow projector effect 9:33 to 9:37 (this is a pain in the ass to type but im a hardcore ergobled fan)
so i know im not the only old person on youtube (famous last words) 9:33 to 9:42
the picture would just be invisible if 95% of the light was gobbled up by lcds 9:56 to 10:06
rock hard what? (rock eyebrow raise) 10:29 to 10:35
lesson one in how to ruin a joke 101 10:35 to 10:40
zack strokeman (dont sexualize) 10:45 to 10:52
sponsorship ergobleds10:30 to 12:22
holy quingledingledingle im done
'a matrix made of millions of miniature mirrors and motors that measure mere micrometers' Say that three times fast.
This was such a welcome departure! I would love for you to explore / explain more "underlying tech".
This was a great find man, good talk & smart dialogue
Ergebleds
I would never understand this without this video thanks so much zach. post more shtuff like this please. nothing but love dude.
am new here, watched like 5-10 of your videos. you combine nearly every aspect of things I love, the fact that warframe is somehow one of those things is incredible to me and I would have never guessed.
Great video and demo of how the mirrors move, I'd love to see more like this!
Great video as always đ
Thanks for sharing your expirence with all of us đ đ
Thanks for a deep dive into what I refer to as MEMS (MicroElectroMechanical Systems)! Will add more after I watch :)
Hey, this was my first visit to the channel! I have to tell you, this was truly captivating and fascinating as well as thorough enough to satisfy my curiosity. Subscribed and can't wait to explore the channel and more like these in the future!
Amazing content. I forgot how long ago I enjoyed something on this platform so much.
Absolutely love your run down of the tech brother.
you are really good with the words and the explaining at the same time :D
Really cool, thanks for sharing this!
This is a great channel. Glad to come across it.
Great video ^^ very fun to watch and informative
this is a REALLY awesome video! thank you so much for such a perfect explanation.
Thank you so much for this in depth video into a such interesting topic
Excellent video mate! Keep it up
Amazingly explained video!
I love your channel. Thanks for everything you make !
Great video, it was very informative. Thanks Zack!
I will ALWAYS get excited by technology. This is AMAZING! Thank you for the great video
9:30 absolutely, it was most apparent when darting your eyes around. in my elementary school they used overhead projectors a lot, and replaced them with color wheel multimedia projectors which every teacher had for the rest of my school career.
Great video and explanation of the technology Zack! DLP is truly an amazing technology. Hopefully this will be the new standard that replaces LCD-based printers.
Great video Zack,I have learned a lot,keep up the great work.
Absolutely love your style... Definite subb!
Beautiful video explaining the difference in technologies, and introducing me to this beautiful innovation for resign printing. And like that Iâve found the point where I want to finally, finally jump into resin printing. Over 2 years of just straight printing before the sensor is expected to fail? Perfection. Plus with details being that crisp, thereâs truly nothing of equivalence to me.
That alliteration at the top. Nice!
I like this mans enthusiasm, gives me a strangely warmly and happy feeling about science and stuff.
Wow, good stuff right here. This is one of the best summations of this technology we will ever see. I agree with what others have said, a bit of black magic is involved as well. Very well done on the video. I just learned several things and I appreciate that!
4:04 This guy's attention to detail to troll at any opportunity is astounding đ€Łđ€Łđ€Ł
My very first HD TV had this technology way back in the day and it had an awesome picture. Had no idea they were still using this technology today.
This was awesome. Keep up the good work!!! would love to hear about more weird and wonderful technology.
Very interesting! Thanks for sharing!
Your video on DLP and this release from Anycubic is probably going to get me to take the plunge on resin printing - awesome tech!
These videos are so well written.
I loved this type of content, so nicely presented! Would love to see more videos about technology like this one in your chanel. Cheers!
Love your little comedic comments peppered in your content, man! Funny stuff! Informational, entertaining⊠Kinda like infotainment! Keep it up!
Because of you Zack, I have subbed, and now own a 3d printer. LOVE YOUR CHANNEL BROSKI!
this has been my second favorite research dive you reminded me of, right after teensy teensy teensy teensy
I'm not sure what was more amazing, current DLP technology or your presentation...
I enjoyed this video. Learnt quite a lot
Incredible!! This video was a huge help for me. Also, big thanks to Anycubic for making a DLP at this price!
Honestly I liked this video for not only showing the technology but also explaining it and the opposing technologies too! I always wondered why LCD screens get hot, VR headsets I'm looking at you!
I love detailed videos like this one! good job :3
Just wanted to say that I appreciate all the work you do writing these episodes , I love all the nerdy Easter eggs sprinkled throughout , they remind me of the old Dennis Miller monologues except Iâm actually interested in what you are saying .
Awesome work.
Seems like a dream printer. Out of my budget at this point, but man would I love one. Great video, really enjoyed the explanation of how DLP works.
this guyâs sense of humor and deadpan delivery is delightful
Very interesting video here. I loved seeing the guts of the DLP printer with its series of mirrors, laser, and array of aluminum mirrors đȘ. I would definitely watch another episode like thise.