Open-Source MEWron Device Unleashes New Possibilities in 3D Printing

Researchers at EPFL’s School of Engineering, the Basque Center on Materials (BCMaterials) and the University of Oregon (UO) have successfully developed a cost-effective solution to overcome barriers in the field of additive manufacturing. By converting a commercially available Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF) 3D printer into a highly capable Melt Electrowriting (MEW) device, they have paved the way for unprecedented accessibility to this advanced manufacturing technology. There are currently four converted printers available on the EPFL, two at BC Materials in Spain and seven at the UO campus in the USA.

MEW, a unique class of additive manufacturing, enables the creation of high-resolution fibrous and porous structures using electrically charged molten polymers. These structures have found applications in tissue engineering, cancer research, bio-fabrication, and biomaterials development. However, the high cost of commercial MEW devices and the lack of standardized options have hindered further research progress in the field.

To address these limitations, the research team converted an open-source FFF Voron 0.1 printer into a versatile MEW device, aptly named MEWron. The open-source MEWron project was initiated by Paul Dalton in Oregon as a way to encourage further development and testing of additional functionalities, facilitate integration with other Voron printer models and enable the exploration of hybrid FFF-MEW printheads. The increased accessibility of MEWron devices should foster collaboration among researchers, enhance repeatability of experiments, and enable the sharing of scaffold designs and parameters.

One major achievement of the project is to create a much less expensive MEW printer, and fabrication was led by Jürgen Brugger and Christoph Moser, head of EPFL’s Microsystems Laboratory and Laboratory of Applied Photonic Devices, respectively. By prioritizing affordable and commercially available components, the researchers were able to keep the final budget below $3000—well below the $20,000 market cost of the cheapest research-grade MEW printer and just a fraction of the $80,000+ higher-end systems. According to the EPFL researchers, “the conversion of a commercial 3D printer into a MEWron device represents a significant step towards democratizing advanced manufacturing technologies. By making MEW accessible and affordable, we aim to foster collaboration, accelerate research, and unlock new possibilities in tissue engineering and biomaterial development."

The conversion process involved two approaches: one using the existing filament-based feeding system, and the other employing a conventional MEW pneumatic feeding system with a syringe reservoir. The converted filament MEWron configuration allows for precise control over flow rates, enabling the use of commercially available FFF filament in high-resolution scaffolds. Whereas the syringe MEWron provides an affordable and easily modifiable platform for researchers interested in high-resolution structures.

The universities’ researchers aim to create a multidisciplinary community dedicated to MEW technology, driving modifications, upgrades, and further scientific breakthroughs. By adopting an open-source approach inspired by the FFF printer community, they envision a future where the sharing of free data fosters collaborative work and brings about transformative advancements in the field of additive manufacturing.

The open accessarticlegives detailed instructions on how to build a MEWron. The project is is the result of a collaboration with the Dalton Lab at the Knight Campus in University of Oregon initiated by Jürgen Brugger, head of Microsystems Laboratory (LMIS1), and Professor Christophe Moser, head of Laboratory of Applied Photonics Devices (LAPD), as a part of EPFL robotics student Taavet Kangurmaster’s thesis carried out in Oregon.