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Multi-Head Bio Printer

A low-cost multi-material bioprinter built around a tool changer and syringe extruders.

Bioengineering 3D Printing Hardware Design Research
Multi-Head Bio Printer

Bioprinters that can print more than one material are expensive. I added a tool changer and syringe-pump extruders to a standard 3D printer frame, so it can swap between bio-inks within one print.

What I Did

  1. 01 Designed a magnetic tool-changer that picks up and parks syringe print heads.
  2. 02 Designed motor-driven syringe pump extruders for viscous bio-inks.
  3. 03 Modified Marlin firmware for tool-change scripts and per-extruder offsets.
  4. 04 Calibrated layer alignment between heads and test-printed alginate and gelatin.

Technical Highlights

01

Magnetic tool changer

Magnetic couplings let the printer pick up one syringe head, print with it, park it and pick up the next — so multiple bio-inks can go into a single print.

02

Syringe pump extruders

Bio-inks are too viscous and delicate for a normal filament extruder. Motor-driven syringe pumps give precise control over flow rate.

03

Firmware and offsets

Marlin was modified to run tool-change scripts and to store an XYZ offset for each head, so layers from different materials line up.