JPH0533900B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an optical modeling method for forming a solid body of a desired shape using light and a photocurable fluid material.

Conventional technology and its problems Conventionally, models corresponding to the product shape required during mold production, models for tracing control in cutting machining, or models for die-sinking electric discharge machining electrodes have been produced by hand processing or by using an NC milling machine. This was done by NC cutting using tools such as. However, when using manual machining, there is a problem in that it requires a lot of time and skill, and when using NC machining, it is necessary to create a complicated machining program that takes into account replacement and wear to change the shape of the cutting edge. In addition, there is a problem in that additional finishing machining may be required to remove steps formed on the machined surface.

In order to deal with such problems, various methods have been proposed for selectively curing photocurable resins to obtain solids with desired shapes.

For example, as one method for forming a solid using the photocurable resin, a method has been proposed in which the photocurable resin is repeatedly selectively irradiated with light based on masking to obtain a desired three-dimensional shape. This involves first irradiating a very shallow photocurable resin with light from above or below, and then placing a masking film in front of the photocurable resin with a light-transmitting part corresponding to the cross-sectional shape of the three-dimensional object to be obtained. Then, by this irradiation, a thin layer cured part with the desired cross-sectional shape is obtained, and for the continuous cross-sectional shape, the depth of the photocurable resin is increased little by little, the masking film is sequentially replaced, and the light irradiation is repeated to obtain the desired shape. This is a method to obtain a solid.

Another method is to irradiate a photocurable fluid material layer with a thickness such that a continuous hardened part is formed by concentrated light energy in accordance with the cross-sectional shape of a solid having a desired shape to form a predetermined hardened part. Afterwards, a new layer of photocurable fluid material is added to the surface of the cured portion, and concentrated energy is irradiated again on the cross-sectional shape continuous to the cured portion to form a new cured portion.This operation is repeated to form a new cured portion. A method to obtain a solid object has been proposed.

In the various methods described above, the solid may be firmly attached to the base surface that holds the solid in the desired shape, for example, the bottom wall of a container or the base plate that supports the solid, and this causes the base surface to Separation from the solids took time and sometimes resulted in damage to the solids.

Furthermore, in the process of manufacturing a solid body shaped like a sphere that touches the base surface with an extremely small area,
There was a problem in that the hardened portion peeled off from the base surface or was tilted with respect to the base surface, making it impossible to continue modeling the solid.

An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems, to be able to reliably form a solid in a desired shape, and to prevent separation of the solid from the base surface after the solid has been formed.
The object of the present invention is to provide an optical modeling method that can be easily performed without causing damage to the solid.

Means for Solving the Problems The above-mentioned object of the present invention is to house a photocurable fluid material that hardens with light in a container, and while irradiating the fluid material with light, the irradiated area is directed against the container. When forming a solid body of a desired shape on a base surface by relative movement in the horizontal and vertical directions according to the shape of the object to be modeled, between the base surface and the solid body of the desired shape,
The solid state is formed by forming the support part based on the light irradiation so that the support part has a shape that can be removed after the formation of the solid body, and the support part is removed after the formation of the solid body. Achieved by a special modeling method.

The support portion has a shape that is removable after the solid formation,
having a small contact area with the desired shape solid;
It can be provided at one location or at multiple locations so as to be able to support the solid.

As the photocurable fluid substance, various substances that are cured by light irradiation can be used, such as modified polyurethane methacrylate, oligoester acrylate, urethane acrylate, epoxy acrylate, photosensitive polyimide, and amino alkyd.

The photocurable fluid substance may be mixed with a modifying material such as pigment, ceramic powder, metal powder, etc. in advance.

As the light, various types of light such as visible light and ultraviolet light can be used depending on the photocurable material used. Although the light may be ordinary light, using laser light has the advantages of increasing the energy level, shortening the modeling time, and improving the modeling accuracy by utilizing good light focusing. can.

Embodiments Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a step-by-step process of manufacturing a solid body of a desired shape using an apparatus for carrying out an optical modeling method according to an embodiment of the present invention. The device is
Container containing photocurable fluid material A (not shown)
, a base plate 2 supported by the lower end of the support rod 1 extending in the vertical direction, and a light concentrator 4 for converging the light emitted from the light source above the container into a point near the upper surface of the fluid substance A in the container. The light irradiation position is moved relative to the fluid material A. The light source and the light concentrator 4 are fixed outside the container and move mainly in the horizontal direction with respect to the container. The light converging device 4 may be, for example, a concave mirror instead of the convex lens. Further, the upper end of the support rod 1 that supports the base plate 2 is also fixed outside the container and moves in a direction perpendicular to the container.

The movement control of the light source and light converging device 4 or the movement control of the support rod 1 can be performed as appropriate, such as automatic control such as NC, manual control, or the like.

In order to model a solid object having a shape similar to a sphere using this device, first, the photocurable fluid material A is placed in a container, and the base plate 2 is irradiated with light from above so that the upper surface of the fluid material A is shaped. It is immersed in the fluid material A and positioned so that a continuous hardened portion extending from the base plate 2 to the upper surface of the base plate 2 is obtained. After that, a light source emits light with an energy level necessary for hardening the fluid substance, and the light is focused into a point by the light concentrator 4 while supporting the solid between the base plate 2 and the above-mentioned spherical solid. A hardened portion corresponding to the supporting portion 3 is obtained (see FIG. 1a).

After the hardened portion is obtained, the depth from the upper surface of the fluid substance A to the upper surface of the hardened portion is the depth that a continuous hardened portion extending between these two surfaces is obtained by light irradiation, that is, the hardened portion has been formed. By lowering the base plate 2 to the same depth and selectively irradiating the base plate 2 with concentrated light through the light converging device 4 similar to that described above, a new hardened portion continuous to the hardened portion is obtained on top of the hardened portion. The support portion 3 obtained by repeating this operation is constituted by a plurality of vertically extending columns with a narrow diameter. Further, the settling of the base plate 2 and the formation of a hardened portion by light irradiation are repeated (see FIG. 1b), and a spherical solid 5 is formed on the support portion 3 (see FIG. 1c). In this way, since the solid is formed so that the support part 3 is interposed between the solid 5 and the base plate 2, the hardened part with the rounded bottom surface may peel off from the base plate 2 or be inclined with respect to the base plate 2. Therefore, the spherical solid 5 can be formed smoothly and reliably.

After the solid body 5 is formed, the support part 3 is broken to separate the solid body 5 from the base plate 2 (see FIG. 1d). Since the support part 3 is constituted by the thin columnar body as described above, the contact area with the base plate 2 is small, and the support part 3 is easily attached to the base plate 2.
Can be broken at the top. Further, the support portion 3 may be peeled off from the contact surface with the base plate 2.
In any case, the solid 5 can be separated from the base plate 2 without any effort, and the solid 5 is not damaged. Next, as shown in FIG. 1e, the support part 3 separated from the base plate 2 is
Remove from solid 5 by suitable means. This results in
A desired spherical solid 5 without any damage or the like can be obtained.

The above support part is not limited to the above shape,
For example, it may be a single column supporting the center of the lower surface of a solid having a desired shape.

As mentioned above, the method of the present invention is characterized in that modeling is performed by interposing a support between the base surface and the desired shape solid, and as long as this feature is provided, light irradiation is not required. It is applied to various modeling methods based on For example, a method of forming a solid by light irradiation while raising the upper surface of a photocurable fluid material in a container, and a method of immersing a box body having a transparent plate in a photocurable fluid material in a container and raising the transparent plate while forming a solid. A method of forming a solid based on light irradiation through a transparent plate, based on light irradiation through the transparent plate while using a part of the side wall or bottom wall of the container as a transparent plate and keeping the base surface supporting the cured portion away from the transparent plate. It can be applied to methods of forming a solid on a base surface. In addition, light irradiation in these methods includes, for example, light irradiation using a light guide, light irradiation in which light emitted from multiple light sources intersect at one point, and light irradiation in which the cross section perpendicular to the optical axis has an annular light intensity distribution. etc. can be adopted.

Effects of the Invention As is clear from the above, according to the method of the present invention, the following effects can be obtained. That is, solid formation is performed by forming a supporting part based on light irradiation so that a supporting part with a shape that can be removed after the solid is formed is interposed between the base surface and the desired-shaped solid, and the supporting part is removed. Therefore, it is possible to reliably form the solid in the desired shape, and furthermore, after the solid has been formed, the solid can be easily separated from the base surface without damaging the solid.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIGS. 1a to 1e are explanatory diagrams showing step-by-step an optical modeling method according to an embodiment of the present invention. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1...Support rod, 2...Base plate (base surface), 3...Support part, 4...Light concentrator, 5...Solid in desired shape, A...Photocurable fluid material.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A photocurable fluid material that is hardened by light is placed in a container, and while irradiating light into the fluid material,
When the light irradiation point is moved horizontally and vertically relative to the container according to the shape of the object to be modeled to form a solid of the desired shape on the base surface, between the base surface and the solid of the desired shape, The solid state is formed by forming the support part based on the light irradiation so that the support part has a shape that can be removed after the formation of the solid body, and the support part is removed after the formation of the solid body. Modeling method.