CN114043728A - 3D printer, method and device for same, 3D printing system and storage medium - Google Patents

3D printer, method and device for same, 3D printing system and storage medium Download PDF

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Publication number
CN114043728A
CN114043728A CN202111357830.6A CN202111357830A CN114043728A CN 114043728 A CN114043728 A CN 114043728A CN 202111357830 A CN202111357830 A CN 202111357830A CN 114043728 A CN114043728 A CN 114043728A
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print
printed
wire
sub
vertical direction
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CN114043728B (en
Inventor
吴一凡
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Shenzhen Tuozhu Technology Co Ltd
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Shenzhen Tuozhu Technology Co Ltd
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    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B29—WORKING OF PLASTICS; WORKING OF SUBSTANCES IN A PLASTIC STATE IN GENERAL
    • B29C—SHAPING OR JOINING OF PLASTICS; SHAPING OF MATERIAL IN A PLASTIC STATE, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; AFTER-TREATMENT OF THE SHAPED PRODUCTS, e.g. REPAIRING
    • B29C64/00—Additive manufacturing, i.e. manufacturing of three-dimensional [3D] objects by additive deposition, additive agglomeration or additive layering, e.g. by 3D printing, stereolithography or selective laser sintering
    • B29C64/30—Auxiliary operations or equipment
    • B29C64/386—Data acquisition or data processing for additive manufacturing
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B29—WORKING OF PLASTICS; WORKING OF SUBSTANCES IN A PLASTIC STATE IN GENERAL
    • B29C—SHAPING OR JOINING OF PLASTICS; SHAPING OF MATERIAL IN A PLASTIC STATE, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; AFTER-TREATMENT OF THE SHAPED PRODUCTS, e.g. REPAIRING
    • B29C64/00—Additive manufacturing, i.e. manufacturing of three-dimensional [3D] objects by additive deposition, additive agglomeration or additive layering, e.g. by 3D printing, stereolithography or selective laser sintering
    • B29C64/10—Processes of additive manufacturing
    • B29C64/106—Processes of additive manufacturing using only liquids or viscous materials, e.g. depositing a continuous bead of viscous material
    • B29C64/118—Processes of additive manufacturing using only liquids or viscous materials, e.g. depositing a continuous bead of viscous material using filamentary material being melted, e.g. fused deposition modelling [FDM]
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B29—WORKING OF PLASTICS; WORKING OF SUBSTANCES IN A PLASTIC STATE IN GENERAL
    • B29C—SHAPING OR JOINING OF PLASTICS; SHAPING OF MATERIAL IN A PLASTIC STATE, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; AFTER-TREATMENT OF THE SHAPED PRODUCTS, e.g. REPAIRING
    • B29C64/00—Additive manufacturing, i.e. manufacturing of three-dimensional [3D] objects by additive deposition, additive agglomeration or additive layering, e.g. by 3D printing, stereolithography or selective laser sintering
    • B29C64/20—Apparatus for additive manufacturing; Details thereof or accessories therefor
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B29—WORKING OF PLASTICS; WORKING OF SUBSTANCES IN A PLASTIC STATE IN GENERAL
    • B29C—SHAPING OR JOINING OF PLASTICS; SHAPING OF MATERIAL IN A PLASTIC STATE, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; AFTER-TREATMENT OF THE SHAPED PRODUCTS, e.g. REPAIRING
    • B29C64/00—Additive manufacturing, i.e. manufacturing of three-dimensional [3D] objects by additive deposition, additive agglomeration or additive layering, e.g. by 3D printing, stereolithography or selective laser sintering
    • B29C64/30—Auxiliary operations or equipment
    • B29C64/307—Handling of material to be used in additive manufacturing
    • B29C64/321—Feeding
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B33—ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY
    • B33Y—ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING, i.e. MANUFACTURING OF THREE-DIMENSIONAL [3-D] OBJECTS BY ADDITIVE DEPOSITION, ADDITIVE AGGLOMERATION OR ADDITIVE LAYERING, e.g. BY 3-D PRINTING, STEREOLITHOGRAPHY OR SELECTIVE LASER SINTERING
    • B33Y10/00—Processes of additive manufacturing
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B33—ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY
    • B33Y—ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING, i.e. MANUFACTURING OF THREE-DIMENSIONAL [3-D] OBJECTS BY ADDITIVE DEPOSITION, ADDITIVE AGGLOMERATION OR ADDITIVE LAYERING, e.g. BY 3-D PRINTING, STEREOLITHOGRAPHY OR SELECTIVE LASER SINTERING
    • B33Y30/00—Apparatus for additive manufacturing; Details thereof or accessories therefor
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B33—ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY
    • B33Y—ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING, i.e. MANUFACTURING OF THREE-DIMENSIONAL [3-D] OBJECTS BY ADDITIVE DEPOSITION, ADDITIVE AGGLOMERATION OR ADDITIVE LAYERING, e.g. BY 3-D PRINTING, STEREOLITHOGRAPHY OR SELECTIVE LASER SINTERING
    • B33Y40/00—Auxiliary operations or equipment, e.g. for material handling
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B33—ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY
    • B33Y—ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING, i.e. MANUFACTURING OF THREE-DIMENSIONAL [3-D] OBJECTS BY ADDITIVE DEPOSITION, ADDITIVE AGGLOMERATION OR ADDITIVE LAYERING, e.g. BY 3-D PRINTING, STEREOLITHOGRAPHY OR SELECTIVE LASER SINTERING
    • B33Y50/00—Data acquisition or data processing for additive manufacturing

Abstract

A method and apparatus for a 3D printer, a 3D printing system, a computer readable storage medium, and a computer program product. The 3D printer includes a printing platform and a printing head that are movable relative to each other in a horizontal direction parallel to an upper surface of the printing platform and a vertical direction perpendicular to the horizontal direction. The method comprises the following steps: acquiring a three-dimensional model file to be printed, wherein the three-dimensional model file defines a plurality of sub models to be printed by different wires; and generating control code executable by a processor of the 3D printer to perform a multi-layer switching printing strategy for a plurality of sub models based on the three-dimensional model file.

Description

3D printer, method and device for same, 3D printing system and storage medium
Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to the field of 3D printing technologies, and in particular, to a method and apparatus for a 3D printer, a 3D printing system, a computer-readable storage medium, and a computer program product.
Background
The 3D printer, also known as a three-dimensional printer or a stereo printer, is a process equipment for rapid prototyping, and is usually realized by printing a wire by using a digital technology. 3D printers are often used to manufacture models or parts in the fields of mold manufacturing, industrial design, and the like. In recent years, 3D printing technology has had a promising application in jewelry, footwear, industrial design, construction, engineering and construction (AEC), automotive, aerospace, dental and medical industries, education, geographic information systems, civil engineering, firearms, and other fields.
Three-dimensional printing methods known in the art first build a model through computer modeling software and import the model into slicing software. The slicing software is layered (sliced) according to a certain thickness according to different process requirements, namely, the model is decomposed into a series of two-dimensional planes and plane information corresponding to the two-dimensional planes. And combining the plane information of the model decomposition and the processing parameters of the 3D printer to generate a CODE (G-CODE) which can be recognized by the 3D printer. And finally, driving a 3D printer to plan a printing path through codes, sequentially processing each layer, and stacking a plurality of layers until a solid model is formed.
Disclosure of Invention
The present disclosure provides a method and apparatus for a 3D printer, a 3D printing system, a computer readable storage medium, and a computer program product.
According to some aspects of the present disclosure, a method for a 3D printer is provided. The 3D printer includes a printing platform and a printing head that are movable relative to each other in a horizontal direction parallel to an upper surface of the printing platform and a vertical direction perpendicular to the horizontal direction. The method comprises the following steps: acquiring a three-dimensional model file to be printed, wherein the three-dimensional model file defines a plurality of sub models to be printed by different wires; and generating control code executable by a processor of the 3D printer to perform a multi-layer switching printing strategy for a plurality of sub-models based on the three-dimensional model file, the multi-layer switching printing strategy comprising: causing a print head to print a first multi-layer slice of a first subset of the plurality of sub-models using a first wire in a first area on a print deck, wherein the first multi-layer slice is such that after the first multi-layer slice is printed, an absolute value of a difference between a dimension in a vertical direction of a printed portion of each sub-model in the first area and a dimension in the vertical direction of the printed portion of each sub-model in other areas on the print deck is no greater than a threshold height; performing a material changing operation to replace the first wire with a second wire different from the first wire; and causing the print head to print a second multi-layer slice of a second subset of the plurality of sub-models using a second wire in a second region on the print deck different from the first region, wherein the second multi-layer slice is such that after the second multi-layer slice is printed, an absolute value of a difference between a dimension in a vertical direction of a printed portion of each sub-model in the second region and a dimension in the vertical direction of the printed portion of each sub-model in other regions on the print deck is no greater than a threshold height.
According to yet another aspect of the present disclosure, there is also provided an apparatus for a 3D printer. The 3D printer includes a printing platform and a printing head that are movable relative to each other in a horizontal direction parallel to an upper surface of the printing platform and a vertical direction perpendicular to the horizontal direction. The device includes: a first unit configured to acquire a three-dimensional model file to be printed, the three-dimensional model file defining a plurality of sub models to be printed by different wires; and a second unit configured to generate control code executable by a processor of the 3D printer to execute a multi-layer switching printing policy for the plurality of sub models based on the three-dimensional model file. The multi-layer switching printing strategy comprises: causing a print head to print a first multi-layer slice of a first subset of the plurality of sub-models using a first wire in a first area on a print deck, wherein the first multi-layer slice is such that after the first multi-layer slice is printed, an absolute value of a difference between a dimension in a vertical direction of a printed portion of each sub-model in the first area and a dimension in the vertical direction of the printed portion of each sub-model in other areas on the print deck is no greater than a threshold height; performing a material changing operation to replace the first wire with a second wire different from the first wire; and causing the print head to print a second multi-layer slice of a second subset of the plurality of sub-models using a second wire in a second region on the print deck different from the first region, wherein the second multi-layer slice is such that after the second multi-layer slice is printed, an absolute value of a difference between a dimension in a vertical direction of a printed portion of each sub-model in the second region and a dimension in the vertical direction of the printed portion of each sub-model in other regions on the print deck is no greater than a threshold height.
According to another aspect of the present disclosure, there is also provided a 3D printer including: a printing platform and a printing head movable relative to each other in a horizontal direction parallel to an upper surface of the printing platform and a vertical direction perpendicular to the horizontal direction; a processor; and a memory storing control code executable by the processor to perform a multi-layer switching printing strategy for a plurality of sub-models to be printed by different wires. The multi-layer switching printing strategy comprises: causing a print head to print a first multi-layer slice of a first subset of the plurality of sub-models using a first wire in a first area on a print deck, wherein the first multi-layer slice is such that after the first multi-layer slice is printed, an absolute value of a difference between a dimension in a vertical direction of a printed portion of each sub-model in the first area and a dimension in the vertical direction of the printed portion of each sub-model in other areas on the print deck is no greater than a threshold height; performing a material changing operation to replace the first wire with a second wire different from the first wire; and causing the print head to print a second multi-layer slice of a second subset of the plurality of sub-models using a second wire in a second region on the print deck different from the first region, wherein the second multi-layer slice is such that after the second multi-layer slice is printed, an absolute value of a difference between a dimension in a vertical direction of a printed portion of each sub-model in the second region and a dimension in the vertical direction of the printed portion of each sub-model in other regions on the print deck is no greater than a threshold height.
According to yet another aspect of the present disclosure, there is also provided a 3D printing system including: a 3D printer; and 3D print slicing software configured to perform the method as described above.
According to yet another aspect of the present disclosure, there is also provided a non-transitory computer readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon, wherein the instructions, when executed by a processor of a 3D printer as above, implement the method as described above.
According to yet another aspect of the present disclosure, there is also provided a computer program product comprising instructions, wherein the instructions, when executed by a processor of a 3D printer as above, implement the method as described above.
According to the embodiment of the disclosure, when the slicing software plans the printing path, the three-dimensional model file to be printed is firstly obtained, and then the control code is generated based on the three-dimensional model file. The control code drives the 3D printer to place the submodels made of the same wire in the same area of the printing platform for printing in the printing process, after printing the multi-layer slices of all the submodels made of the same wire in one area, the submodels move to the next area to print the multi-layer slices of all the submodels made of another wire, and after printing the multi-layer slices in one area, the absolute value of the difference between the sizes of each submodel in the area and the submodels in other areas in the vertical direction is not larger than the preset threshold height.
It should be understood that the statements in this section do not necessarily identify key or critical features of the embodiments of the present disclosure, nor do they limit the scope of the present disclosure. Other features of the present disclosure will become apparent from the following description.
Drawings
In the drawings, like reference numerals refer to the same or similar parts or elements throughout the several views unless otherwise specified. The figures are not necessarily to scale. It is appreciated that these drawings depict only some embodiments in accordance with the disclosure and are not to be considered limiting of its scope.
Fig. 1 shows a schematic structural diagram of a 3D printer according to some exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure;
fig. 2 illustrates a flow chart of a method for a 3D printer, according to some exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure;
fig. 3 shows a schematic diagram of an example arrangement of different regions on a printing platform of a 3D printer, according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure;
fig. 4A illustrates a schematic diagram of determining a threshold height for a multi-layer switching printing strategy according to some exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure;
fig. 4B illustrates a schematic diagram of determining a threshold height for a multi-layer switching printing strategy according to some exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure; and
fig. 5 illustrates a block diagram of a structure of an apparatus for a 3D printer according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.
Detailed Description
Exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure are described below with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which various details of the embodiments of the disclosure are included to assist understanding, and which are to be considered as merely exemplary. Accordingly, those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that various changes and modifications of the embodiments described herein can be made without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. Also, descriptions of well-known functions and constructions are omitted in the following description for clarity and conciseness.
In the present disclosure, unless otherwise specified, the use of the terms "first", "second", etc. to describe various elements is not intended to limit the positional relationship, the timing relationship, or the importance relationship of the elements, and such terms are used only to distinguish one element from another. In some examples, a first element and a second element may refer to the same example of the element, and in some cases, based on the context, they may also refer to different examples.
The terminology used in the description of the various described examples in this disclosure is for the purpose of describing particular examples only and is not intended to be limiting. Unless the context clearly indicates otherwise, if the number of elements is not specifically limited, the elements may be one or more. Furthermore, the term "and/or" as used in this disclosure is intended to encompass any and all possible combinations of the listed items.
In practice, the printing strategies of 3D printers are largely classified into the following two types.
1. And (3) printing layer by layer, namely printing models layer by layer in a printing platform, and if printing objects with different colors exist in the same layer, the printer is required to execute a material changing operation and then print with different colors.
2. And printing piece by piece, namely, after finishing a part with the same color formed by multiple layers of slices, changing the materials, and printing the part with the other color.
The inventors have found that when executing a layer-by-layer printing strategy, time and wire (a portion of the wire is lost per refuelling operation) is very wasted due to the presence of the refuelling operation. In the case of the piece-by-piece printing strategy, although the operation of changing the material many times when executing the layer-by-layer printing strategy is avoided, the piece-by-piece printing strategy is affected by the size of the printer and the structure of the equipment, for example, the maximum height of a part (the number of layers of a multilayer slice) is strictly limited, and the interval between adjacent parts must be larger than the size of the printing head, which results in low utilization rate of the printing space, and the number of submodels that can be printed on one printing platform is far smaller than the number of submodels when using the layer-by-layer printing strategy.
In view of this, the disclosed embodiments provide a method and apparatus for a 3D printer, a 3D printing system, a computer readable storage medium and a computer program product, which may alleviate, alleviate or even eliminate the above-mentioned problems.
Fig. 1 shows a schematic structural diagram of a 3D printer 100 according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. The 3D printer 100 will be described in detail with reference to fig. 1.
As shown in fig. 1, the 3D printer 100 includes a processor 101, a memory 102, a printhead 103, and a printing platform 104.
The processor 101 drives the print head 103 and the print platform 104 to execute the printing strategy specified by the slicing software by calling and executing the control Code (e.g., G-Code) stored in the memory 102. In an embodiment, the processor 101 is configured to control the print head 103 and the printing platform to execute the multi-layer switching printing strategy proposed by the present disclosure, driven by the control code. The so-called "multi-layer switching print policy" will be described in detail later in conjunction with fig. 2, 3, and 4A and 4B.
The memory 102 may have control code generated by the slicing software stored therein for recall by the processor 101.
The print head 103 may be provided with or cooperate with an extrusion train. The extrusion train may be driven by a motor controlled by processor 101 to perform feeding and discharging operations to coordinate with print head 103 to perform a print job.
The printing platform 104 is used for carrying an object to be printed, and the upper surface of the printing platform is a generally flat surface for placing various parts printed in the printing process. In this embodiment, the upper surface of the printing platform 104 may be divided into different areas, wherein the parts in each area are printed by different wires (e.g., wires of different colors or wires of different materials). In this sense, these regions may also be referred to as "material regions". Additionally, the upper surface of the printing platform 104 may also include a refill area for replacing the wire, where a small portion of the remaining old wire and replaced new wire in the printhead is squeezed out to complete the refill. It will be appreciated that a refueling zone is not necessary.
Fig. 2 illustrates a flow diagram of a method 200 for a 3D printer, according to some exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure. For descriptive purposes, the method 200 will be described with reference to fig. 1, and the method 200 may be used with the 3D printer 100 shown in fig. 1. Method 200 may be performed by slicing software and may include the following steps.
In step 201, a three-dimensional model file of an object to be printed is acquired.
According to one embodiment, a plurality of sub-models that need to be printed by different wires (e.g., wires of different colors or wires of different materials) are included in the three-dimensional model file. In one example, the combination of these sub-models may constitute a complete three-dimensional model or a part of a complete three-dimensional model. In another example, the sub-models may also be parts from different three-dimensional models. The three-dimensional model file may be, for example, a file in STL format, but the present disclosure is not limited thereto.
In step 202, control code is generated based on the three-dimensional model file.
As is known, after the slicing software acquires the three-dimensional model file, the three-dimensional model defined by the three-dimensional model file is decomposed into a plurality of two-dimensional layers, and the two-dimensional plane information is combined with the processing parameters of the 3D printer to generate a control code for driving the 3D printer to execute a corresponding printing policy.
According to some embodiments, the control code is executable by the processor 101 of the 3D printer 100 to perform a multi-layer switching printing strategy for a plurality of sub-models. The processor 101 invokes control codes generated by the slicing software and stored in the memory 102 to control the print head 103 and the print platform 104 to print a plurality of sub-models in accordance with a multi-layer switching print strategy defined by the control codes.
In step 202-1, the multi-layer switching printing strategy includes causing the printhead to print a first multi-layer slice of a first subset of the plurality of sub-models using a first wire within a first region on the printing platform. The first multi-layer cut sheet is such that, after the first multi-layer cut sheet is printed, an absolute value of a difference between a dimension in the vertical direction of a printed portion of each sub-model in the first area and a dimension in the vertical direction of a printed portion of each sub-model in other areas on the printing platform is not greater than a threshold height.
According to some embodiments, the processor 101 controls the print head 103 to print the submodels (i.e., the first subset of the plurality of submodels) placed in the first region layer by layer using the first wire in the first region of the printing platform 104 until printing completes the number of layers of the first multi-layer slice. It will be appreciated that the number of layers of the first multi-layered slice of a submodel is typically no greater than the total number of layers that the submodel is decomposed by the slicing software.
Referring to the example of fig. 3, fig. 3 shows a top view of an exemplary arrangement of printing platform 104 and its coordinate system. In this example, the printing platform includes a first region 301, a second region 302, a third region 303, and a refueling region 304. Each part 1, 2, 3 …, 9 as shown in fig. 3 represents a different sub-model laid out on printing platform 104.
In one example, the slicing software predefines a threshold height of 10 slices (assuming the height of each slice is the same) and no slices of any part are present on the printing platform 104 at this time. The print head 103 prints one layer of the cut piece of the part 1, one layer of the cut piece of the part 2, one layer of the cut piece of the part 5, and one layer of the cut piece of the part 6 with the first wire over the first area 301 of the print table 104, and repeats the steps until 10 layers of the print pieces of the part 1, the part 2, the part 5, and the part 6 in the first area 301 are completed.
In another example, the pre-defined threshold height of the slicing software is the height of a 10-layer slice (assuming the height of each layer of slices is the same), and there are already 5 layers of printed slices in the first region 301 and 10 layers of printed slices in the second region 302. Then, up to 15 layers of slices of part 1, part 2, part 5 and part 6 can be printed in the first area 301 using the first wire.
It will be appreciated that the purpose of setting the threshold height is to avoid interference of the printed sub-model with structural components of the 3D printer during printing. For example, since the vertical dimension of the preceding model is higher than the vertical dimension of the subsequent model, in order to print the subsequent model, it is necessary to move the print head above the subsequent model and raise the height of the printing platform so that the print head can print on the upper surface of the subsequent model. During the process of lifting the printing platform, the top of the preamble model may collide with the top of the frame of the 3D printer due to the larger vertical dimension of the preamble model. To avoid this interference problem between the model and the 3D printer, a threshold height needs to be set when performing a multi-layer switching printing strategy. The determination of the threshold height will be described in detail later in connection with fig. 4A and 4B.
In step 202-2, the multi-layer switching printing strategy includes performing a refuel operation to replace the first wire with a second wire different from the first wire.
With continued reference to fig. 3, after printing of the first multi-layered slice of part 1, part 2, part 5, and part 6 in the first area 301 is completed, the print head 103 and the print platform 104 are controlled to displace relative to each other such that the print head 103 moves over the refill area 304 and the first wire in the print head 103 is replaced with a second wire.
In step 202-3, the multi-layer switching printing strategy includes causing the printhead to print a second multi-layer slice of a second subset of the plurality of sub-models using a second wire in a second region on the printing platform different from the first region. The second multi-layer cut sheet is such that, after the second multi-layer cut sheet is printed, an absolute value of a difference between a dimension in the vertical direction of the printed portion of each sub-model in the second area and a dimension in the vertical direction of the printed portion of each sub-model in the other area on the printing stage is not greater than a threshold height.
According to some embodiments, the processor 101 controls the print head 103 to print the plurality of submodels arranged in the second area layer by layer in the second area of the printing platform 104 by using the second wire until the number of layers of the second multi-layer slice is printed. It will be appreciated that the number of layers of the second multi-layered slice of the submodel is typically no greater than the total number of layers that the submodel is decomposed by the slicing software.
With continued reference to the schematic diagram of fig. 3, the printhead 103 and the printing platform 104 are controlled to displace relative to each other such that the printhead 103 moves from the refueling zone 304 to the second zone 302. The print head 103 prints one layer of the cut sheet of the part 3 and one layer of the cut sheet of the part 4 using the second wire in the second area 302 of the print platform 104, and such steps are repeated until 10 layers of the part 3 and the part 4 in the second area are printed.
In one example, assuming that the number of layers of the second multi-layer slice is 10, part 3 located in the second region 302 is decomposed into 15-layer slices by the slicing software, and part 4 is decomposed into 20-layer slices by the slicing software. The processor 101 controls the print head 103 to print the first layer of the part 3 and then the first layer of the part 4 using the same second wire in the second area 302 of the printing platform 104, and such layer-by-layer printing operations are repeated until 10 slices of the part 3 and 10 slices of the part 4 are printed.
In another example, assume that the pre-defined threshold height of the slicing software is a slice height of 10 layers, and that prior to printing parts 3 and 4 in the second area 302, the first area 301 already has 20 layers of slices of printed parts 1, 2, 5, and 6, while the second area 302 already has 10 layers of slices of printed parts 3 and 4. Then, the controller 101 controls the print head 103 to print, on the printing platform 104, at most 20-layer slices of the part 3 and the part 4 in the second area 302 using the second wire by a layer-by-layer printing method.
In the above description, the threshold height (10-layer slice), the number of layers of the first multi-layer slice, and the number of layers of the second multi-layer slice are exemplary, and the present disclosure is not limited thereto.
In yet another example (only one yellow part and one green part need be printed), the post-slicing printing order may be as follows:
printing 15-layer yellow part ═ switching to green wire ═ >
Print 30 layers of green part ═ switch to yellow wire ═ >
Print 30 layers of yellow parts ═ switch to green wire ═ >
Print 30 layers of green part ═ switch to yellow wire ═ >
Print 30 layers of yellow parts ═ switch to green wire ═ >
……
In this way, printing of the yellow part and the green part is completed.
It will be understood that, although the multi-layer switching printing strategy proposed by the present disclosure is explained in the above description by taking as an example the printing process for the first area and the second area, the multi-layer switching printing strategy can be used for more areas on the printing platform. For example, after the second multi-layer cut printing of the second area is completed, a reloading operation may be performed to replace the second wire with a third wire different from both the first wire and the second wire, and then print the sub-model in the third area with the third wire.
According to some embodiments, after replacing the second wire with a third wire, the print head is caused to print a third multi-layer slice of a third subset of the plurality of submodels using the third wire within a third area on the print platform different from the first area and the second area. The third multi-layered cut sheet is such that, after the third multi-layered cut sheet is printed, an absolute value of a difference between a dimension in the vertical direction of the printed portion of each sub-model in the third area and a dimension in the vertical direction of the printed portion of each sub-model in the other area on the printing stage is not greater than a threshold height.
According to some embodiments, the processor 101 controls the print head 103 to print the plurality of submodels laid out in the third area layer by layer using the third wire in the third area of the printing platform 104 until the number of slices of all submodels of the third area is equal to the number of third multi-layer slices defined in the control code. It will be appreciated that the number of layers of the third multi-layered slice of the submodel is typically no greater than the total number of layers that the submodel is decomposed by the slicing software.
With continued reference to the example of fig. 3, the print head 103 is controlled to print a slice of a layer of the part 7, a slice of a layer of the part 8, and a slice of a layer of the part 9 in the third area 303 of the print platform 104 using the third wire, and such steps are repeated until 10 layers of printing of the part 7, the part 8, and the part 9 are completed.
With continued reference to the above example, after printing of 10-layer slices of all parts of the first, second, and third areas is completed, the wires are switched again so that the third wire is replaced with the first wire, returning to the first area to complete printing of 10-layer slices of parts 1, 2, 5, and 6. And so on until printing of all parts on the printing platform 104 is completed.
It will be understood that the number of distinct material regions on the printing platform 104 and the corresponding number of printing wires is exemplary and the disclosure is not limited thereto.
The determination of the threshold height is described below.
In order to enable the printing platform 104 to put as many submodels as possible, it is necessary to reduce the interval between submodels as much as possible. Meanwhile, in order to avoid collision of parts of the 3D printer with the printing sub-model when printing, the sub-model spacing (minimum allowed pitch) between different regions may limit the size of the threshold height.
According to some embodiments, the slicing software determines the threshold height based on the minimum allowed spacing in the horizontal direction between the different sub-models to be printed by the different wires and the physical dimensions of the print head before generating the control code.
Referring to the example of fig. 4A, the print head 103 includes a print head body 402 and nozzles 403 provided at an end of the print head body in a vertical direction (Z-axis direction in the drawing), and an outer dimension of the print head body 402 in a horizontal direction (Y-axis direction in the drawing) is larger than an outer dimension of the nozzles 403 in the horizontal direction. The 3D printer further includes a sliding rod 401, and the print head 103 is sleeved on the sliding rod 401 to move in a horizontal direction.
According to some embodiments, if the minimum allowable pitch in the horizontal direction between different submodels to be printed by different wires is not less than half of the maximum outer dimension of the nozzle 403 in the horizontal direction and not more than half of the maximum outer dimension of the printhead body 402 in the horizontal direction, the outer dimension of the nozzle 403 in the vertical direction is determined as the threshold height.
Fig. 4A shows a critical case of such a threshold height. As shown in fig. 4A, the print head 103 is ready to start to perform the operation 41 moving in the negative direction of the Y axis to print a slice of the part 2, and the bottom of the print head body 402 just comes into contact with the part 3 located in the second area 302 that has been previously printed. In order to avoid collision of the print head 103 with the printed part 3, the horizontal minimum allowable pitch is half 404 of the maximum outer dimension of the nozzle 403 in the Y-axis direction shown in fig. 4A, and the outer dimension 405 of the nozzle 403 in the Z-axis direction is a threshold height.
With continued reference to fig. 4A, in order to avoid the print head 103 colliding with the printed part 3, the minimum allowable pitch may also be half 406 of the maximum outer dimension of the print head body 402 in the Y-axis direction, and likewise, the height 405 of the nozzle 403 in the Z-axis direction is the threshold height.
In summary, when the minimum allowable pitch in the horizontal direction is not less than half 404 of the maximum outer dimension of the nozzle 403 in the horizontal direction and not more than half 406 of the maximum outer dimension of the print head body 402 in the horizontal direction, the threshold height at this time is the outer dimension 405 of the nozzle 403 in the vertical direction.
According to some embodiments, if the minimum allowed pitch in the horizontal direction between different submodels to be printed by different wires is greater than half the maximum outer dimension of the print head body in the horizontal direction, the distance of the tip of the nozzle from the slide bar in the vertical direction is determined as the threshold height.
Fig. 4B shows a critical case of such a threshold height. As shown in fig. 4B, the print head 103 is ready to start to perform the operation 42 moving in the negative direction of the Y axis to print a cut sheet of the part 2, and the slide bar 401 just comes into contact with the part 3 located in the second area 302 that has been previously printed. Thus, when the horizontal minimum allowable pitch is larger than half 406 of the maximum length outer dimension of the print head body 402 in the Y-axis direction shown in fig. 4B, the threshold height at this time is the outer dimension 407 of the print head 103 in the Z-axis direction.
Fig. 5 illustrates a block diagram of a device 500 for a 3D printer according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure. The 3D printer includes a printing platform and a printing head that are movable relative to each other in a horizontal direction parallel to an upper surface of the printing platform and a vertical direction perpendicular to the horizontal direction. As shown in fig. 5, the apparatus 500 includes: a first unit configured to acquire a three-dimensional model file to be printed, the three-dimensional model file defining a plurality of sub models to be printed by different wires; and a second unit configured to generate control code executable by a processor of the 3D printer to execute a multi-layer switching printing policy for the plurality of sub models based on the three-dimensional model file.
The multi-layer switching printing policy may include: causing a print head to print a first multi-layer slice of a first subset of the plurality of sub-models using a first wire in a first area on a print deck, wherein the first multi-layer slice is such that after the first multi-layer slice is printed, an absolute value of a difference between a dimension in a vertical direction of a printed portion of each sub-model in the first area and a dimension in the vertical direction of the printed portion of each sub-model in other areas on the print deck is no greater than a threshold height.
The multi-layer switching printing policy may further include: and performing a material changing operation to replace the first wire with a second wire different from the first wire.
The multi-layer switching printing policy may further include: causing the print head to print a second multi-layer slice of a second subset of the plurality of sub-models using a second wire in a second region on the print platform different from the first region, wherein the second multi-layer slice is such that after the second multi-layer slice is printed, an absolute value of a difference between a dimension in a vertical direction of a printed portion of each sub-model in the second region and a dimension in the vertical direction of the printed portion of each sub-model in other regions on the print platform is no greater than a threshold height.
There is also provided, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, a 3D printing system, including a 3D printer and a 3D printing software slice, wherein the 3D printing slice software is configured to implement the steps of the method 200 described in any of the above embodiments. For the sake of brevity, details of the method 200 are not repeated.
There is also provided, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure, a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon, wherein the instructions, when executed by a processor, implement the steps of the method 200 described in any of the above embodiments. For the sake of brevity, details of the method 200 are not repeated.
There is also provided, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure, a computer program product including instructions, wherein the instructions, when executed by a processor, implement the steps of the method described in any of the above embodiments. For the sake of brevity, details of the method 200 are not repeated.
It should be understood that various forms of the flows shown above may be used, with steps reordered, added, or deleted. For example, the steps described in the present disclosure may be performed in parallel, sequentially or in different orders, and are not limited herein as long as the desired results of the technical solutions disclosed in the present disclosure can be achieved.
It will be understood that in this specification, the terms "center," "longitudinal," "lateral," "length," "width," "thickness," "upper," "lower," "front," "rear," "left," "right," "vertical," "horizontal," "top," "bottom," "inner," "outer," "clockwise," "counterclockwise," "axial," "radial," "circumferential," and the like, indicate an orientation or positional relationship or dimension based on that shown in the drawings, which terms are used for convenience of description only and do not indicate or imply that the device or element being referred to must have a particular orientation, be constructed and operated in a particular orientation, and therefore should not be considered limiting to the scope of the disclosure.
Furthermore, the terms "first," "second," "third," and the like are used for descriptive purposes only and are not to be construed as indicating or implying relative importance or implicit to a number of indicated technical features. Thus, features defined as "first", "second", "third" may explicitly or implicitly include one or more of the features. In the description of the present disclosure, "a plurality" means two or more unless specifically limited otherwise.
In the present disclosure, unless otherwise expressly stated or limited, the terms "mounted," "connected," "secured," and the like are to be construed broadly and can, for example, be fixedly connected, detachably connected, or integral; the connection can be mechanical connection, electrical connection or communication; either directly or indirectly through intervening media, either internally or in any other relationship. The specific meaning of the above terms in the present disclosure can be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art as appropriate.
In the present disclosure, unless expressly stated or limited otherwise, the first feature "on" or "under" the second feature may comprise the first and second features being in direct contact, or may comprise the first and second features being in contact, not directly, but via another feature in between. Also, the first feature being "on," "above" and "over" the second feature includes the first feature being directly on and obliquely above the second feature, or merely indicating that the first feature is at a higher level than the second feature. A first feature being "under," "below," and "beneath" a second feature includes the first feature being directly under and obliquely below the second feature, or simply meaning that the first feature is at a lesser elevation than the second feature.
This description provides many different embodiments or examples that can be used to implement the present disclosure. It should be understood that these various embodiments or examples are purely exemplary and are not intended to limit the scope of the disclosure in any way. Those skilled in the art can conceive of various changes or substitutions based on the disclosure of the specification of the present disclosure, which are intended to be included within the scope of the present disclosure. Therefore, the protection scope of the present disclosure should be subject to the protection scope defined by the appended claims.

Claims (10)

1. A method for a 3D printer, the 3D printer comprising a printing platform and a print head, the printing platform and the print head being movable relative to each other in a horizontal direction parallel to an upper surface of the printing platform and a vertical direction perpendicular to the horizontal direction, the method comprising:
acquiring a three-dimensional model file of an object to be printed, wherein the three-dimensional model file defines a plurality of sub models to be printed by different wires; and
based on the three-dimensional model file, generating control code executable by a processor of the 3D printer to perform a multi-layer switching printing strategy for the plurality of sub-models, the multi-layer switching printing strategy comprising:
causing the print head to print a first multi-layer slice of a first subset of the plurality of sub-models using a first wire in a first region on the print deck, wherein the first multi-layer slice is such that after the first multi-layer slice is printed, an absolute value of a difference between a dimension in the vertical direction of a printed portion of each sub-model in the first region and a dimension in the vertical direction of a printed portion of each sub-model in other regions on the print deck is no greater than a threshold height;
performing a material change operation to replace the first wire with a second wire different from the first wire; and
causing the print head to print a second multi-layer slice of a second subset of the plurality of submodels using the second wire in a second area on the print deck different from the first area, wherein the second multi-layer slice is such that after the second multi-layer slice is printed, an absolute value of a difference between a dimension in the vertical direction of a printed portion of each submodel in the second area and a dimension in the vertical direction of a printed portion of each submodel in other areas on the print deck is no greater than the threshold height.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein the multi-layer switching printing strategy further comprises, after the second multi-layer slice is printed:
performing a material change operation to replace the second wire with a third wire different from the first wire and the second wire; and
causing the print head 103 to print a third multi-layer slice of a third subset of the plurality of sub-models using the third wire in a third region on the print deck 104 that is different from the first region and the second region, wherein the third multi-layer slice is such that, after the third multi-layer slice is printed, an absolute value of a difference between a dimension of the printed portion of each sub-model in the vertical direction in the third region and a dimension of the printed portion of each sub-model in the vertical direction in other regions on the print deck is no greater than the threshold height.
3. The method of claim 1, further comprising, prior to said generating control code:
the threshold height is determined based on a minimum allowed spacing in the horizontal direction between different submodels to be printed by different wires and the physical dimensions of the print head.
4. The method of claim 3, wherein the printhead includes a printhead body and nozzles disposed at an end of the printhead body along the vertical direction, an outer dimension of the printhead body in the horizontal direction being greater than an outer dimension of the nozzles in the horizontal direction, and wherein the determining the threshold height comprises:
determining the physical dimension of the nozzle in the vertical direction as the threshold height in response to determining that the minimum allowed spacing in the horizontal direction between different submodels to be printed by different wires is not less than half of a maximum physical dimension of the nozzle in the horizontal direction and not greater than half of a maximum physical dimension of the printhead body in the horizontal direction.
5. The method of claim 3, wherein the 3D printer further comprises a sliding bar, the printhead being mounted on the sliding bar for movement in the horizontal direction, wherein the printhead comprises a printhead body and nozzles disposed at a distal end of the printhead body in the vertical direction, an outer dimension of the printhead body in the horizontal direction being greater than an outer dimension of the nozzles in the horizontal direction, and wherein the determining the threshold height comprises:
determining a distance of a tip of the nozzle from the slide bar in the vertical direction as the threshold height in response to determining that the minimum allowable spacing in the horizontal direction between different submodels to be printed by different wires is greater than half of a maximum outer dimension of the printhead body in the horizontal direction.
6. An apparatus for a 3D printer, the 3D printer comprising a printing platform and a printing head, the printing platform and the printing head being movable relative to each other in a horizontal direction parallel to an upper surface of the printing platform and a vertical direction perpendicular to the horizontal direction, the apparatus comprising:
a first unit configured to acquire a three-dimensional model file to be printed, the three-dimensional model file defining a plurality of sub models to be printed by different wires; and
a second unit configured to generate, based on the three-dimensional model file, control code executable by a processor of the 3D printer to perform a multi-layer switching printing strategy for the plurality of sub-models, the multi-layer switching printing strategy including:
causing the print head to print a first multi-layer slice of a first subset of the plurality of sub-models using a first wire in a first region on the print deck, wherein the first multi-layer slice is such that after the first multi-layer slice is printed, an absolute value of a difference between a dimension in the vertical direction of a printed portion of each sub-model in the first region and a dimension in the vertical direction of a printed portion of each sub-model in other regions on the print deck is no greater than a threshold height;
performing a material change operation to replace the first wire with a second wire different from the first wire; and
causing the print head to print a second multi-layer slice of a second subset of the plurality of submodels using the second wire in a second area on the print deck different from the first area, wherein the second multi-layer slice is such that after the second multi-layer slice is printed, an absolute value of a difference between a dimension in the vertical direction of a printed portion of each submodel in the second area and a dimension in the vertical direction of a printed portion of each submodel in other areas on the print deck is no greater than the threshold height.
7. A 3D printer, comprising:
a printing platform and a printhead movable relative to each other in a horizontal direction parallel to an upper surface of the printing platform and a vertical direction perpendicular to the horizontal direction;
a processor; and
a memory storing control code executable by the processor to perform a multi-layer switching printing strategy for a plurality of sub-models to be printed by different wires, the multi-layer switching printing strategy comprising:
causing the print head to print a first multi-layer slice of a first subset of the plurality of sub-models using a first wire in a first region on the print deck, wherein the first multi-layer slice is such that after the first multi-layer slice is printed, an absolute value of a difference between a dimension in the vertical direction of a printed portion of each sub-model in the first region and a dimension in the vertical direction of a printed portion of each sub-model in other regions on the print deck is no greater than a threshold height;
performing a material change operation to replace the first wire with a second wire different from the first wire; and
causing the print head to print a second multi-layer slice of a second subset of the plurality of submodels using the second wire in a second area on the print deck different from the first area, wherein the second multi-layer slice is such that after the second multi-layer slice is printed, an absolute value of a difference between a dimension in the vertical direction of a printed portion of each submodel in the second area and a dimension in the vertical direction of a printed portion of each submodel in other areas on the print deck is no greater than the threshold height.
8. A 3D printing system, comprising:
a 3D printer; and
3D print slicing software configured to perform the method of any one of claims 1-5.
9. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium having stored thereon computer instructions for causing the computer to perform the method of any one of claims 1-5.
10. A computer program product comprising a computer program, wherein the computer program realizes the method of any one of claims 1-5 when executed by a processor.
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