UpNano
UpNano has announced the release of a new software upgrade for its NanoOne platform of high resolution 3D printers. The company says that with this upgrade, it has pushed the limits of the ‘fastest’ two-photon polymerisation (2PP) on the market.
With this upgrade, UpNano says that smart stitching can improve the quality of the final product, and the ‘already high’ printing speed can be increased further. It adds that using the same objective and material, several different print jobs can be combined into one, saving costs and time.
UpNano says that the new features are simplified by an ‘intuitive’ user interface that is an integral part of all the company’s software. The upgrade is compatible with all NanoOne printers according to the company.
The upgrade provides the ability for users to define multiple printing parameters individually and set complex changes of those parameters during the printing process in advance. The company claims the potential offers for the quality of the print product and the speed and efficiency of the printing process can be ‘dramatic’.
“Now, products with exactly defined seams can be printed,” said Denise Hirner, COO and Co-Founder of UpNano. “The unique features of our latest upgrade help to reduce this. By addressing more parameters individually and dynamically, it is now possible to define the exact positions of stitching lines. Depending on the final structure, this allows for a smart integration of the seams into the design.”
The resolution of the printing process can also be altered as it runs according to UpNano. Parts that require less resolution can be printed at the lowest one necessary, together in the same printing run with elements that require higher resolution.
Hirner added: “One can print less defined parts quickly and step-by-step increase the resolution of the process as one comes to the finer defined structural elements. In this way very neat printing of complex structures with different requirements for resolution becomes possible and this can save up to 50% time.”
UpNano says that combining the production of different parts in one print job is a feature that allows for ‘significant’ reduction of printing time as well as substrate use, which is a step towards an automated 2PP 3D printing process, given that the material and chosen objective remain the same.
Areas where UpNano’s 2PP 3D printers are being used include electronics and micro-optics, as well as biocompatible applications in cell and medical research, and are being used in both industry and academia.
