JP2001301045A - Rapid prototyping apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enhance the roundness or cylindricalness of a product having an axisymmetric shape or the like by enhancing the molding accuracy of an arcuate part. SOLUTION: A rapid prototyping apparatus forms a product having a predetermined shape by controlling the position of a laser irradiator 4. The laser irradiation is arranged in a state movable so as to relatively approach and separate from a table 7 supporting a shaped article in an z-axis direction, on the basis of three-dimensional coordinates data obtained by the coordinates transformation of the STL data of the shaped article formed on the basis of three-dimensional data, as a mean for the coordinates transformation of the STL data. A cylindrical coordinates transformation means for transforming the STL data to cylindrical coordinates data is provided.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a rapid prototyping apparatus used for an optical molding method, a melt lamination method, a powder sintering method, and the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A rapid prototyping apparatus used in stereolithography is a method in which a visible light laser or the like is scanned and irradiated on the surface of a photocurable resin liquid from a modeling head by a scanning mirror or an XY plotter to form a flat plate. Is formed, and the bonding with the front layer is performed by making the curing depth by laser larger than the lamination pitch, and the molded product is fixed on the support table surface that descends sequentially in the photocurable resin liquid Have been.

A rapid prototyping apparatus used for a fused deposition method extrudes a resin in a heated and molten state from a shaping head (fine nozzle) driven by xyz to form a three-dimensional structure on a support table. The powder sintering method (Laser Sinteri
The rapid prototyping device used for ng) melts and sinters the resin powder by scanning with a carbon dioxide laser irradiated from the modeling head to form a flat plate, and joins the next layer with the powder container in the same way as in the stereolithography method. Lower the support table by the stacking pitch and place the next powder layer on the molded product,
This is performed by melting simultaneously with the joining in the horizontal direction. In the powder sintering method, as a raw material powder, polycarbonate, nylon, and the like can be exchanged relatively easily according to the characteristics required for a molded article, so that one apparatus can use a variety of materials, and casting sand can be used. By coating resin or metal powder with a resin and fusing and sintering this layer, it is possible to create an inorganic material or a metal model.

In these rapid prototyping apparatuses, in the optical shaping method and the powder sintering method, the shaping head (laser irradiating part) is driven xy by an XY moving table or a mirror swing, and the support table is moved up and down z (during shaping). In the melt lamination method, the shaping head (fine nozzle) is XY-driven by the XY moving table, z is moved up and down, and the support table is fixed at z. In each case, three-dimensional CAD data etc. The cross-sectional contour data (for example, STL data) of the modeled object created based on the input data is used as input data, and the relative x, y, and z positions of the modeling head and the support table are obtained by performing coordinate conversion on the input data. By controlling based on the orthogonal coordinate data, a product having a predetermined shape is created.

[0005]

In the above-mentioned conventional rapid prototyping apparatus, the relative x, y, and z positions of the modeling head and the support table can be obtained by performing coordinate conversion on input data such as STL data. For example, in the case of creating a rectangular parallelepiped shape or a shape combining a rectangular parallelepiped, the moving direction of the shaping head portion during molding matches the contour shape of the product. There is no adverse effect on the molding accuracy. However, in the case of forming an axially symmetric shape such as a cylinder or a cone, shaping of an arc portion may adversely affect the forming accuracy.

That is, since the position control of the modeling head portion follows the coordinates of xy, the shape becomes jagged when drawing an arc, and the movement in the xy direction has a large variation in x depending on the angle of the arc. , Y change amount, etc., the shape of a certain pattern is distorted with respect to a reference circle, so not only the accuracy of the roundness of the product is degraded, but also the actual product is formed by lamination, However, there is an inconvenience that the accuracy is deteriorated.

The present invention has been made in order to solve such inconveniences, and it is possible to improve the accuracy of forming a circular arc portion and improve the accuracy of roundness and cylindricity of a product having an axisymmetric shape or the like. It is an object to provide a rapid prototyping device.

[0008]

To achieve the above object, a rapid prototyping apparatus according to claim 1 is provided.
The position of the modeling head portion arranged to be relatively close to and movable in the z-axis direction with respect to the table supporting the modeling object,
In a rapid prototyping apparatus for producing a product having a predetermined shape by controlling based on three-dimensional coordinate data obtained by performing coordinate conversion on cross-sectional contour data of a modeled object created based on three-dimensional data, As means for performing coordinate conversion on the contour data, there is provided a cylindrical coordinate conversion means for converting the cross-sectional contour data into cylindrical coordinate data.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a rapid prototyping apparatus which determines a position of a modeling head portion which is relatively close to and movable in a z-axis direction with respect to a table for supporting a modeling object based on three-dimensional data. In the rapid prototyping apparatus for producing a product having a predetermined shape by controlling based on three-dimensional coordinate data obtained by performing coordinate conversion on the cross-sectional contour data of the molded object created in the above, the molded object on the support table Is provided with a rotation driving means for rotating around the z-axis.

[0010]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating the configuration of a rapid prototyping apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a detailed perspective view of a laser irradiation unit, and FIG. 3 is a second embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a schematic device configuration diagram for explaining a rapid prototyping device which is an embodiment of the aspect, FIG. 4 is a detailed perspective view of a laser irradiation unit, FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram for explaining a support for supporting a product being formed, FIG.
FIG. 4 is a schematic device configuration diagram for describing a rapid prototyping device according to another embodiment of the present invention. In each of the embodiments, a rapid prototyping apparatus used in the optical shaping method is taken as an example.

First, a description will be given of a rapid prototyping apparatus according to an embodiment of the first aspect of the present invention with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. In FIGS. A shutter 3, an optical fiber 4, a laser irradiating unit 4 as a modeling head unit, an x-axis galvanometer mirror 41 for polarizing a laser beam in the x-axis direction according to a rotation angle, and a control unit 42 for controlling the rotation of the x-axis galvanometer mirror 41 An x-axis polarization controller 43 is a y-axis galvanometer mirror that polarizes the laser beam in the y-axis direction according to the rotation angle, and 44 is y
A y-axis polarization control device that controls the rotation of the axis galvanometer mirror 43, 45 is a focusing lens, 5 is an XY moving table that controls the position of the laser irradiation unit 4 in the xy-axis direction, and 6 is disposed below the laser irradiation unit 4. Is a liquid storage tank for the photocurable resin liquid, 7 is a support table for supporting the molded product in the photocurable resin liquid in the liquid storage tank 6 so as to be able to move up and down in the z-axis direction, and 8 is the z-axis direction of the support table 7 Position control device for controlling the position of
The controller controls the driving of the axis polarization controller 42, the y-axis polarization controller 44, the XY movement table 5, and the z-axis position controller 8.

In this embodiment, the controller 10 uses, as input data, cross-sectional contour data of a modeled object created based on three-dimensional CAD data (for example, STL data which is surface data of a modeled object). Slice data creating means 11 for creating slice data for each stacking pitch in the z-axis direction of the product (modeling object) based on the input data, and slice data for each stacking pitch created by the slice data creating means 11 A cylindrical coordinate conversion means 12 for converting into cylindrical coordinate data (rcosθ, rsinθ, z) to generate a cylindrical coordinate NC program, and an x-axis based on the cylindrical coordinate NC program obtained by the cylindrical coordinate conversion means 12 Drive control means for controlling the driving of the polarization controller 42, the y-axis polarization controller 44, the XY movement table 5, and the z-axis position controller 8. Equipped with a 3 and.

The conversion from slice data to cylindrical coordinate data by the cylindrical coordinate conversion means 12 is performed by executing a predetermined processing program. As this processing program, a program developed independently may be used, or general-purpose commercial software may be used. The drive control means 13 includes cylindrical coordinate data (rcosθ, rsinθ) for each drive device in the xy-axis direction of the XY movement table 5, and the x-axis polarization control device 42 and y
Cylindrical coordinate data (rcosθ,
rsinθ) to control the position of the laser irradiation unit 4 in the xy-axis direction and the position of the laser beam in the xy-axis direction, and to provide the z-axis position controller 8 with cylindrical coordinate data for each lamination pitch (for each descent pitch). (Z) is output to control the descent position of the support table 7 in the z-axis direction. This allows
The surface of the photocurable resin liquid in the liquid storage tank 6 is scanned and irradiated with a laser beam from the laser irradiation unit 4 to generate one flat plate, and then the support table 7 is lowered in accordance with the lamination pitch to thereby lower the laser beam. To increase the hardening depth and bond with the front layer.

[0014] By repeating the scanning irradiation of the surface of the photocurable resin liquid with the laser beam and the lowering of the support table 7 according to the lamination pitch in accordance with the number of laminations, a product having a predetermined shape is produced. As is clear from the above description, in this embodiment, the relative x, y, and z positions of the laser irradiation unit 4 and the support table 7 are converted into cylinders obtained by performing coordinate conversion on input data such as STL data. Since the control is performed based on the coordinate data, the arc portion can be formed smoothly, and as a result, the forming accuracy of the arc portion is increased, and the accuracy of the roundness and the cylindricity of the product such as the axisymmetric shape is increased. Improvement can be achieved.

Next, a rapid prototyping apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. In addition, the same reference numerals are given to the respective portions in the same portions as those in the embodiment of the first aspect, and the description is omitted. The rapid prototyping device of this embodiment includes an x-axis polarization controller 42, a y-axis polarization controller 4
4. The point that the coordinate conversion means of the controller 100 that controls the driving of the XY movement table 5 and the z-axis position control device 8 is the orthogonal coordinate conversion means 101, and the liquid storage tank 6 is rotated by the rotation driving device (rotation driving device) 102. The third embodiment is different from the first embodiment in that it is driven to rotate around the z-axis (around the center axis).

The orthogonal coordinate conversion means 101 converts the slice data for each lamination pitch created by the slice data creation means 11 into orthogonal coordinate data (x, y, z) to generate an NC program of an orthogonal coordinate system. Rotary drive 1
Numeral 02 is disposed at the center of the bottom of the liquid storage tank 6, and the rotary driving device 102 drives the liquid storage tank 6 to rotate around the z-axis (around the central axis), thereby forming a model ( (Resin) rotates around the z-axis.

The drive control means 13 includes a rotary drive 102
ON / OFF timing, rotation speed, etc. of the X-axis polarization controller 4 based on the NC program of the orthogonal coordinate system obtained by the orthogonal coordinate converter 101.
2, y-axis polarization controller 44, XY moving table 5 and z
The drive of the shaft position control device 8 is controlled,
While rotating the liquid storage tank 6 around the z-axis (around the center axis) by the rotation drive device 102, the xy movement table 5
Cartesian coordinate data (x, y) for each driving device in the axial direction
And an x-axis polarization controller 42 and a y-axis polarization controller 44
To output the orthogonal coordinate data (x, y) to the laser irradiation unit 4 and the laser beam along the x-axis or y-axis direction, and to the z-axis position controller 8 for each lamination pitch (for each descent pitch). The rectangular coordinate data (z) is output to control the lowering position of the support table 7 in the z-axis direction.

As a result, the laser irradiation unit 4 moves the liquid storage tank 6
The surface of the photocurable resin liquid in the inside is irradiated with a laser beam by scanning to generate a flat plate for one layer, and then the support table 7 is lowered according to the lamination pitch to increase the curing depth by the laser beam. Bond with the layer. And
By repeating the scanning irradiation of the surface of the photocurable resin liquid by the laser beam and the descent of the support table 7 according to the lamination pitch according to the number of laminations, a product having a predetermined shape is produced.

As described above, in this embodiment, the object (resin) on the support table 7 is rotated about the z-axis while
Since the laser irradiation unit 4 and the laser beam are moved along the x-axis or y-axis direction, an axially symmetric product can be easily produced, and the arc portion can be smoothly formed. Since the molding accuracy of the arc portion is increased, the accuracy of the roundness and the cylindricity of a product having an axisymmetric shape or the like can be improved.

The embodiment of the present invention is not limited to the above example, and various modifications are possible. For example, in the embodiment of the second aspect, the rectangular coordinate conversion means 101 of the controller 100 may be changed to the cylindrical coordinate conversion means 12 employed in the embodiment of the first aspect. By adopting such a configuration, FIG.
As shown in (1), since the shape of the support 201 that maintains (supports) the product shape during molding when the bottom shape of the product 200 is unstable can be easily made based on a concentric cylinder, it is axisymmetric. It is possible to support the shaped product in a well-balanced manner, and furthermore, it is possible to reduce the imbalance and the deformation due to the residual stress of the product 200 after the support 201 is removed, so that the roundness and the cylindricity are reduced. Thus, the accuracy of the final product can be improved.

Further, in the embodiment of the first or second aspect, a controller having both cylindrical coordinate converting means 12 and rectangular coordinate converting means 101 is employed instead of the controller 10 or 100. You may make it. FIG. 6 shows an example in which the controller 100 employed in the embodiment of the second aspect is changed to a controller 300 having both cylindrical coordinate conversion means 12 and rectangular coordinate conversion means 101. In this case, depending on the shape of the product, use cylindrical coordinate data,
Alternatively, the switching means 301 selects whether to use orthogonal coordinate data, and creates a product based on the selected desired coordinate data. The switching unit 301 outputs slice data for each lamination pitch created by the slice data creating unit 11 to the cylindrical coordinate transforming unit 12 or the orthogonal coordinate transforming unit 101 by operating a keyboard, a mouse, or the like.

Further, in each of the above embodiments, the three-dimensional CA
The STL data of the modeled object created based on the D data is used as the input data. For example, in the case of a graphic workstation or the like that does not have an STL data output function,
DXF, I using 3D rendering data as intermediate format
The data may be converted into GES or STEP data, and the converted data may be converted into STL data by a dedicated computer and output to a rapid prototyping device, or may be converted into STL data in a rapid prototyping device.

Further, in each of the above-described embodiments, the rapid prototyping apparatus used in the stereolithography method is taken as an example.
The present invention is not limited to this, and it goes without saying that the present invention may be applied to a rapid prototyping apparatus used for a melt lamination method, a powder sintering method, or a cutting process.

[0024]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, it is possible to improve the precision of the circularity and cylindricity of products having an axisymmetric shape or the like by increasing the molding accuracy of the arc portion. The effect is obtained.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic device configuration diagram illustrating a rapid prototyping device according to an embodiment of a first aspect of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a detailed perspective view of a laser irradiation unit.

FIG. 3 is a schematic configuration diagram illustrating a rapid prototyping apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a detailed perspective view of a laser irradiation unit.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram for explaining a support for supporting a product being formed,

FIG. 6 is a schematic device configuration diagram for explaining a rapid prototyping device according to another embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... UV laser 2 ... Shutter 3 ... Optical fiber 4 ... Laser irradiation part (modeling head part) 5 ... XY moving table 6 ... Reservoir for photocurable resin liquid 7 ... Support table 8 ... Z-axis position control device 10,100 , 300 ... Controller 11 ... Slice data creation means 12 ... Cylindrical coordinate conversion means 13 ... Drive control means 101 ... Cartesian coordinate conversion means 102 ... Rotation driving device (rotation driving means) 200 ... Product 201 ... Support

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A position of a modeling head portion which is relatively movable in a z-axis direction with respect to a table for supporting a modeling object, and a cross-sectional profile of the modeling object created based on three-dimensional data. In a rapid prototyping apparatus that creates a product having a predetermined shape by controlling based on three-dimensional coordinate data obtained by performing coordinate conversion on data, as a means for performing coordinate conversion on the cross-sectional contour data, A rapid prototyping device comprising a cylindrical coordinate conversion means for converting into cylindrical coordinate data. 2. The position of a shaping head portion that is relatively movable in the z-axis direction with respect to a table that supports the shaping object, and the position of the shaping head section is based on three-dimensional data. In a rapid prototyping apparatus for creating a product having a predetermined shape by controlling based on three-dimensional coordinate data obtained by performing coordinate conversion on data, a rotary drive for rotating a modeled object on the support table around the z-axis. A rapid prototyping device, characterized by comprising means.