Aug 4, 2015 | By Alec

The 3D printing world is full of rumors, but some are just so tantalizing that you start to doubt that they’re real. A month ago, we reported on a rather mysterious preview of the Morpheus Resin 3D printer by Korean developers OWL WORKS. Promising to run on a completely new 3D printing technology (LIPS), it was presented as a fast and affordable alternative to our own boring desktop FDM 3D printers. However, with little info and a few (pretty hazy) photos available, we just had to wait and see. Fortunately the Korean team has just taken their machine to Kickstarter, and the Morpheus seems to have everything we’ve been promised: it’s a low cost, high quality, very fast resin 3D printer that features a larger build space than just about every desktop alternative on the market.

The Morpheus 3D printer was first revealed at the Inside 3D Printing Seoul Conference and Expo a few weeks ago. It has been developed by Korean engineer SeongJin Park and his team at OWL WORKS. ‘We have been running a SOHO business in 3D printing service area in Seoul, Korea. We’re doing; 3D printing, consulting on 3D printing adoption for current business, education on 3D printing, supporting Makers and so on,’ they explain. ‘We are equipped with over 10 FDM & 3 SLA/DLP 3D printers as well as some necessary equipment, and we’re registered on 3DHubs. Simply, we know affordable 3D printers well.’

Through their experience, they noticed a demand for low volume, high speed, high quality and commercially viable 3D printing – not something most machines are capable of. ‘We are not able to handle such orders smoothly with current 3D printers. So..we need something new over FDM, SLA and DLP 3D printer to satisfy our customers as well as other SOHO players like us. This project was started at for this simple but essential reason a year and half ago,’ they add. Thus, work began on the Morpheus 3D printer, which is presented as an alternative to the Form1+ and other models, but more affordable thanks to its LIPS 3D printing technology – short for Light Induced Planar Solidification.

So how does this technology work exactly? This employs a commercial grade LCD to create photo masks on resin surfaces, followed by UV light curing. The big difference with CLIP here is that it doesn’t rely on chemical reactions, but on a mechanical operation. ‘It has unique features over other resin 3D printers; up & down scalable, no-dependency between scale & resolution, very uniform light intensity over the exposure area. In addition, we will be able to get very high resolution (higher than any other 3D printing technology at present), if we design LCD and LED appropriately. Simply, LIPS is a key to the new world of 3D printing,’ its designers argue.

The machine has also been equipped with a very large resin tank. ‘Most resin 3D printers have a consumable resin tank that needs changing after every 1-2L of resin printed. We designed the Morpheus’s resin tank to last, so there’s no more replacing your printer’s resin tank or changing the PDMS layer. We've eliminated the frustrating PDMS process, so you can focus on making great prints without worrying about costly maintenance of the resin tank,’ they add. Concerning material options, the Morpheus 3D printer supports UV (photo polymer) resin, while they have also had great success with MakerJuice G+ and B9R-1-Cherry. More resin tests will follow, while a custom MorpheusResin is also on the agenda. Plenty, in short, to work with.

However, in the case of the Morpheus it isn’t an issue of ‘different, therefore better’. The machine itself also features a couple of other characteristics that will doubtlessly appeal to users. Most importantly, there’s the huge build volume: 330 x 180 x 300mm. Compared to other build sizes above, this is really a huge plus. ‘Also we can proudly mention that the build-volume of the Morpheus 3D printer is a real number where the user can utilize the entire volume to create one's imagination. The Morpheus uses LIPS (Light Induced Planar Solidification) technology that ensures an uniform irradiation of light to the entire growing surface of the volume,’ they add about their build volume.

But its tremendous speed is also nothing to ignore. Speaking in terms of solidifying material, the designers explain that the Morpheus can solidify up to 100um-thick-layer of resin material in anywhere between 10 to 30 seconds, depending on the material itself. This goes to somewhere between 0.4 to 1.4 inches per hours. Now that’s a fast 3D printer. ‘We've also calculated to know how long it would take to get 100 cubes of 1-cubic-inches from different 3D printers,’ they say, while using typical settings for each machine. ‘We’ve ignored the calculation of the process time per batch such as detaching the printed objects & reloading, any post process and so on. The results show that the throughput of the Morpheus is overwhelmingly higher than FDM (29X) & DLP (16X). Note that this calculation is not applied for a few numbers of objects, but it’s valid for small volume production or the production of large-sized objects,’ they add.

Finally, the Morpheus also boasts pretty impressive accuracy rates (with an in-plane resolution of 170 um, high though not as high as a Form1+) and is quite an accessible machine. ‘A 3D printer is means for a creative work, not an end. That's why we have been trying to make the Morpheus as simple & easy as we can. It does not need any pre-calibration of image area. It does not need to set many values in slicer program. Just load an STL file and do slicing, then print it. It's simple and intuitive,’ the South Korean developers boast.

In short, this machine is quite an interesting option that will doubtlessly catch the eye of those makers looking for an upgrade. The price tag of $3,799 (Super Early Owl) is also not that unappealing.  What’s more – in contrast to some Kickstarter 3D printers – the Morpheus 3D printer is also already ready for production, which is the only thing that needs to be financed at this point. Shipping, therefore, is already set to begin in December 2015. Find more info or back the project here.


Posted in 3D Printers

 

 

Maybe you also like:


   


JoeF wrote at 11/3/2015 11:29:49 PM:

It is difficult to compare laser galvo resolution versus DLP array resolution, so I'd take that comparison with a grain of salt. Since the projector is fixed, you only get one XY resolution. If you scale the model, you will have to deal with the pixel artifacts that occur with those types of operations.

JC wrote at 8/4/2015 8:03:07 PM:

There seems to be an error in the article. The XY axis resolution of 170 um for the Morpheous is claimed to be "...not as high" as the Form1 +. Actually the Form1 + is 300 um. The XY of the Morpheous is not as high as the others on the list but higher than the For1 +. I was also wondering if the XY gets tighter the as the build is smaller. This is true with DLP machines such as the B9C.



Leave a comment:

Your Name:

 


Subscribe us to

3ders.org Feeds 3ders.org twitter 3ders.org facebook   

About 3Ders.org

3Ders.org provides the latest news about 3D printing technology and 3D printers. We are now seven years old and have around 1.5 million unique visitors per month.

News Archive