Modification and further development of a drop on demand printhead for wax enabling future 3D-printing and rapid prototyping

Dosing liquids in small quantities is present in a lot of different applications as inkjet printing, heating devices, and 3D-printing methods. This paper deals with a drop on demand (DOD) printhead based on a piezo-element bender actuator which can generate drops out of wax. The aim is to provide a testing system where changes of significant design parameters can be done easily in order to proof the working principle in early stages of development. In this work a given drop on demand printhead is modified making the manufacturing process more reliable. Putting single drops on each other can be regarded as both proof of functionality and an outlook on future applications for direct 3D-printing and rapid prototyping.