Methods of Roll-to-Roll Additive Manufacturing

A long sheet may travel lengthwise through a fabrication system. The sheet may be much longer than it is wide or high. One or more objects that are being fabricated may be attached to the sheet. The sheet may move, step by step, through a vat of liquid photopolymer while a digital micromirror device projects a sequence of images unto a surface of the liquid. At each step, a projected light image may cure liquid photopolymer, thereby producing solid, cured polymer that becomes part of an object being fabricated. The sheet may be included in the final fabricated object, or may be a sacrificial material that is removed from the final fabricated object. Alternatively, the sheet may be in the shape of a loop. Or, the sheet may be detached from the final fabricated object and then fed through the system again.