A £180 ADD-ON MAKES A NORMAL 3D PRINTER CURE RESIN DEEP INSIDE THE TANK
A £180 laser swap lets an ordinary 3D printer cure resin at any depth inside the vat, not layer by layer.
by Adilet Zhakeyev, Rohith Devanathan, Jose Marques-Hueso
WorkshopOpen-hardware
Built with3D printing
- difficulty
- ●●●●●
- time
- a weekend-plus
- license
- CC-BY-4.0
- repo
- repo FINISHED0 stars
●●●●● · a weekend-plus · CC-BY-4.0 · 0 stars · repo FINISHED
WHAT YOU’LL NEED
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COMPAREE VERDICT
This is a published research modification that turns a desktop FFF 3D printer into one that cures resin at any depth inside the vat, using a 980 nm near-infrared laser and upconversion phosphors. Normal resin printers work layer by layer because UV light is absorbed near the surface; infrared penetrates deep (the paper reports up to 5.8 cm), and the upconversion material turns it into curing light only where the laser is focused. The printer's motion system moves that focus in three dimensions. The modification parts cost £180, and the authors name SLA printers such as the Formlabs Form 3 as the closest commercial analogue; true two-photon printers cost over 120,000 dollars. The build is aimed at research labs and advanced makers who already have a compatible printer (they used a CTC Bizer Replicator clone), can align optics safely and can source specialist phosphors. The paper demonstrates printing inside and through existing parts, a rigid/flexible combination and features in different colours, and is open that cure depth, speed and resolution still need work. The most likely failure is focus alignment or undercuring, because phosphor concentration, laser power and speed are interdependent and the paper gives one working example.
IN THE REPO
GOOD TO KNOW
- —The HardwareX paper has the full bill of materials and build steps; the Mendeley dataset (DOI 10.17632/tdh45sybsn.1) holds the laser-control circuit schematic and an operation video. The laser mount is an existing open-source clip-on design.
- —Licence is CC BY 4.0, which permits commercial use with attribution.
- —No new firmware: the laser is switched from the printer's extra fan output, and toolpaths are generated from STL files with ReplicatorG and a modified printer profile.
- —Upconversion nanoparticles and phosphors are not off-the-shelf consumer items — the paper names suppliers but does not include synthesis protocols.
- —No custom software is provided; the workflow uses the existing open-source ReplicatorG slicer with settings described in the paper. This is a research demonstration, not a product.
- —The demonstrator prints shown are proof-of-concept; print quality, resolution limits and cure depth vs. laser power trade-offs are documented in the paper but not yet optimised for production use.
Parts to buy
9 itemsFrom our check of the build. Exact quantities and part numbers are in the creator’s BOM.
Can I build this?
Build at your own risk. Projects involve tools, electronics and sometimes mains voltage — follow the creator’s safety notes.
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Start here
Navigation into the creator’s own docs — we don’t rewrite the guide, we route you to the source.
- 1.Read the HardwareX paper (The paper is the build guide — it includes the bill of materials, optical layout, resin formulation notes, and the demonstrator print parameters.)
- 2.Download design files from Mendeley Data(DOI 10.17632/tdh45sybsn.1 — the laser-control circuit schematic and a video of the printer in operation.)
- 3.Source upconversion materials(The paper's resin uses NaYF4:Yb,Tm upconversion phosphor. It is a specialist material — lead time and cost vary, and some suppliers sell only to institutions.)
- 4.Assemble optics and align the laser(Follow the optical path diagram in the paper. Alignment is critical — the focal point must coincide with the motion system's coordinates.)
KNOWN ISSUES
- Upconversion nanoparticles are not consumer-shelf items — you are buying from research suppliers, and some require institutional accounts or minimum order quantities.
- The paper gives one working resin formulation and one set of laser parameters; changing the printer, the resin base, or the nanoparticle concentration means re-optimising cure depth and dwell time from scratch.
- Toolpaths come from the old open-source ReplicatorG slicer with a modified printer profile, as the paper walks through. Expect to tune speeds and laser on/off by hand; the authors say purpose-built software is still future work.
- Laser safety is non-negotiable: 980 nm infrared is invisible and will damage your retina before you notice. If your workspace is not set up for laser work, stop and set it up first.
- The paper describes a research demonstration, not a daily-driver printer — expect to iterate on alignment, cure parameters and material handling before you get repeatable prints.
- Print resolution and speed are not comparable to commercial SLA or two-photon systems; the demonstrators in the paper are small and took hours. Manage expectations.
Can I use this to print the same parts I print on a Form 3?
No. This is a proof-of-concept that volumetric printing is possible on a budget, not a replacement for a commercial SLA printer. Print quality, speed and material compatibility are all research-stage.
Do I need to synthesise the upconversion nanoparticles myself?
Not necessarily. The paper used commercial micron-sized upconversion phosphors (NaYF4 doped with ytterbium and thulium) as well as core/shell/shell nanoparticles from the literature; synthesis protocols are not included, and some specialist suppliers only sell to institutions.
What FFF printer should I start with?
The authors used a CTC Bizer, a clone of the open-source Makerbot Replicator, and the clip-on laser mount fits that and other Replicator clones. Other FFF printers can work, but you will need a different mount and your own way to switch the laser and generate toolpaths.
Is the £180 cost realistic?
It covers the modification parts in the paper's BOM: the 980 nm laser and housing, Thorlabs lenses and holders, and the laser control circuit. It does not include the base printer, the upconversion phosphor or the resin.
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Discussion1
FROM THE COMPAREE TEAM
The paper reports penetration depths up to 5.8 cm, enough to print inside or through existing printed parts. What would you try first — repairing a broken part from the inside, or embedding something in a printed object?
Adilet Zhakeyev, Rohith Devanathan, Jose Marques-Hueso
Adilet Zhakeyev, Rohith Devanathan and Jose Marques-Hueso work at the Institute of Sensors, Signals and Systems at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, with collaboration from the University of Valencia. They published this modification in HardwareX to demonstrate that volumetric 3D printing — curing resin at depth rather than layer-by-layer — does not require six-figure commercial equipment.
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DISCLAIMER
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- Information is provided without warranty and may become outdated as projects evolve. Prices are indicative bands only — always check the creator’s parts list for current costs.
- Building and operating any project is at your own responsibility. Protective equipment, safe workshop practice and compliance with local regulations are the builder’s responsibility.
CompareeTEAM26d agoedited
Practical notes from our verification: the paper modifies a desktop FFF printer by adding a 980 nm laser and a laser control circuit, and the £180 figure covers those modification parts only — not the base printer or the upconversion material. The resin uses an upconverting NaYF4 phosphor doped with 20 percent ytterbium and 3 percent thulium. The design files, including the laser control schematic and a video of the printer running, are on Mendeley Data under CC BY 4.0, and the laser mount is an existing open-source clip-on design printed in ABS. You do not write G-code by hand: the authors convert STL files with ReplicatorG and Skeinforge using a modified printer profile, with the laser switched in place of the fan. Laser safety is non-negotiable: the paper says to always wear NIR laser protective glasses when the laser is on. It is written for a lab audience, so expect to re-read sections if this is your first optics build. Correction (4 October 2026): we re-checked this page line by line against the project's own repository, documentation and videos, and fixed errors in earlier versions.