CHANST3D SLA Laser-Curing 3D Printer

Summary

CHANST3D is a laser-curing (SLA) 3D printer project developed by a student team at Shanghai Jian Qiao University, led by student Chen Wenqi with advisors Zhang Xiaowei, Wang Chencen, Bi Zhuo, and Zhan Zhaomin. According to the university's project report, the machine is fully self-developed, achieves high precision, high speed, and high automation, and — its headline claim — enables 100% unmanned operation. The project won a gold award in the higher-education track of the 2024 China International College Students' Innovation Competition Shanghai municipal finals and advanced to the national finals. The university report states the printer received seed-round funding in April 2024, entered public beta testing, and that its "100% open-source" nature attracted over 2,000 developers worldwide to participate in version iteration, paired with an innovative raw-materials business model. Important caveat: as of verification (2026-09-12), no public code or hardware repository (GitHub, Gitee) for CHANST3D could be located, so the open-source claim and contributor count come solely from the university's own publication and should be treated as unverified until a repository surfaces.

Guiding Principles

Open Source — The project is described as 100% open source with a global developer community iterating on it, though a public repository could not be verified at last check.
Youth Empowerment — A fully student-led engineering project that progressed from coursework to seed funding and national competition finals — a model of student-driven hardware innovation.
STEM Integration — Building an SLA printer spans optics (UV laser curing), mechanics, firmware, and materials chemistry, integrating multiple STEM disciplines in one capstone-scale build.
Rural Revitalization — Via China's innovation-competition ecosystem, university hardware projects like this are an official channel for diffusing advanced-manufacturing skills beyond elite institutions.

Learning Outcomes & Transferable Skills

A project of this scope develops 3D Printing expertise at the machine level (SLA photopolymerization, Z-axis motion, exposure control), Electronics (motor drivers, control boards, sensors for unmanned operation), CAD (full machine design), Project Management (iterating prototypes through competition milestones), and Entrepreneurship (seed funding, beta testing, business-model design). For the vault's purposes it demonstrates that students can build — not just buy — additive-manufacturing infrastructure.

How to Replicate or Build On It

Read the Shanghai Jian Qiao University project page (Chinese) for the team's account of the build and competition journey.
Because no public repository has been verified, replication currently requires either contacting the team via the university's innovation & entrepreneurship office, or substituting a documented open SLA design (e.g. Prusa Education-adjacent open-hardware ecosystems) until CHANST3D's files become publicly accessible.
The project is a case study for student teams: study its competition pathway (municipal gold → national finals → seed funding) as a template for open-hardware student ventures.

Considerations & Constraints

Cost: unknown — no public bill of materials found; the project received seed funding in April 2024 per the university report.
Skill Level: Advanced — designing an unmanned SLA system requires substantial optics, electronics, and firmware skill.
Space/Climate: Indoor benchtop machine presumed; resin printing requires ventilation and PPE regardless of design.
Tools Required: unknown — repository with CAD/firmware not located.
Ongoing Maintenance: unknown — SLA printers generally require resin handling, FEP film replacement, and optical maintenance.
Access Barriers: All known documentation is in Chinese; the claimed open-source repository could not be found on GitHub or Gitee as of 2026-09-12, so the primary verifiable artifact is the university's project page rather than design files; "2,000+ developers" is an unverified self-report.

Prerequisites

None identified

Primary Source

https://www.gench.edu.cn/2024/0926/c3150a147586/page.htm (Shanghai Jian Qiao University project page; no public repository verified)