Open-Source Stereolithography (SLA)

Stumbling around later-than-should-be-up on the internet, I found this slideshow presentation. Looking past a lot of grammatical errors, there appears to be very valuable information for 3d printing makers in the open source movement, specifically for FDM (fused deposition modeling) and (SLA) Stereolithography apparatus 3D printer specifications:

Sla recoating issues & fdm from Abdul Kalam

I have noted a few companies that sell consumer-level SLA 3d printer.

SLA 3D Printers: 

Formlabs Form1:

 Formlabs has created the Form1, this is the first SLA 3d printer I saw in person when I visited Autodesk's campus @ Pier 9 in San Francisco. I was given a personal tour by my girlfriend's friend. You gotta love making connections with new people. The print is created upside down on a tray.

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The print is created upside down again on a plate coated with polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) which undergoes a sequential dipping and curing process using a z-axis screw and modified high-definition video projector. (the modification is likely the bulbs

3D Systems: Projet 1200 SLA

3D Systems (3DS) has been in the additive manufacturing business for quite a long time compared to most other 3d-printing companies. Most 3DS machines are workhorses with large build volumes, meant for industrial prototyping. 3DS offers SLA printers which cure acryllic monomeric resin to make a variety of hardnesses, anywhere from flimsy rubber (Shore 40ish) to hard plastic (Shore 95+). These printers  use a nozzle to deposit support and resin mixtures simulateneously, typically these prints are not colored. This model features 585 dpi and 30 micron layer resolution. At $4,900 it is considerably cheaper than any 3DS printer I have asked about. Unfortunately, it uses a proprietary plastic.

3DS offers full-color powder-fusing inkjet machines that fuse nylon powder together and color it for you in one step using a printhead.