LumiFold team is now a Startup supported by H-FARM!

We are proud to announce that LumiFold Labs is now offically one of the new Startups that are funded this year by H-FARM, a Venture Incubator that invests in innovative small businesses that can handle the transformation of Italian companies in a digital perspective.
This means that now we will be able to get more people into the team, and have the necessary resources needed to further develop the LumiFold!
Our first task will be finishing the first batch of LumiFold 3d printers that have been sold on IndieGoGo. The final release date will be announced in the next days.

We would like to remember you that tomorrow will be the last day for ordering the resin at SpotAmaterials using the coupon. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask!

Additional info about the light-curing Spot-A-Materials resin

Some additional info on how to choose the correct resin for the LumiFold:

SpotAmaterials does produce different kinds of SpotGP.

I reccomend using the standard multi purpose version.

This a clear, transparent resin, and you should add 0.5% in weight of one of their pigments (yellow, amber and black work better).

You can also use their SpotGP for B9 creator.

This resin is pre-mixed with a yellow dye and is almost opaque. This resin has a curing time that is twice the curing time of the SpotGP and is reccomended only with projectors >2500 lumen.

Remember that the coupon expires on 28th February 2014.

During the next week the final release date of the LumiFold will be announced.
We had to CNC machine the parts ourself in order to keep costs down and this has slowed down a little the production.












We thank you for your patience and understanding during the LumiFold development!

Remember: the SpotAmaterials coupon expires on 28th February!

While the CNC machining of the LumiFold parts is proceeding,
here there are a few more details about the resin you should choose to achieve the best results on your LumiFold:

We reccomend SpotGP, with 0.5% Red or Yellow pigment. If you want to try other types of resin, please remind that:

-The curing time of spot HT and spotGP are quite similar.
 Maybe HT is a little bit more slow, anyway he final resolution is the same, high resolution.
 Spot-GP has more low viscosity than Spot-HT.
 Maybe Spot-LV and Spot-GP covers faster the surface to restart the cure.

-For investment casting, SpotAMaterials is going to launch soon also a new resin called Spot-IC.

-Miicraft and aureus are not reccomended and maybe you achieve worst results with them.

-A 2500 - 2700 projector DLP unmodified is reccomended for fast resin curing.

Current production status

While we are still CNC machining the plastic parts of the LumiFold by ourself (a slower but cheaper alternative to injection moulds) we show here some pictures of what steps it involves.

Cnc parts are cut from a sheet of Plexiglass, they have to be cleaned and sanded

Then they are individually assembled

LumiFold Setup - Early guide

LumiFold Setup - Early guide

Projector

The amount of lumens emitted is critical and determines the exposure time for each layer.
It should not be less than 2000 lumens, and the recommended values ​​are between 2600 and 3000 lumens.

The Pico projectors must NOT be used because they do not emit enough light, generally they do not exceed 100 lumens.

Make sure your projector does support vertical mount and the minimum throw distance is suitable for your configuration. The ideal is a minimal projection distance in the order of 30 – 50 cm.

Another feature that is not essential but very useful is a tripod attach on the bottom of the projector unit. It allows you to mount the projector on a tripod.

The LumiFold has been tested with unmodified DLP projectors. LED projectors have not been tested.

PC requirements

The Slicing software requires a dual or quad core Cpu to perform slicing quickly. An accelerated OpenGL card is required for STL preview. If not available, you can run the text-only version of the slicer.

The projection software that synchronizes the LumiFold is lightweight and can run on netbooks too.

Resin

We reccomend SpotMaterials SpotGP resin.

http://spotamaterials.com/product/spot-gp-1kg/

With 0.5% of SpotMaterials pigments:

http://spotamaterials.com/product-category/pigments/

Current production status

We are starting to post updates of the current production status.
It will be updated frequently, to provide a feedback about your order.

Current status: we are CNC machining all the parts for the first batch of LumiFold sold on IndieGoGo.

January update

A few shots of the Mark I with the 10 x10 x 10 cm vat, and a few 0.025 sample models