JPH08258159A - Optically molding machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To remarkably reduce the oblique residue of resinous solution generated on a cured layer and a base plate by providing a slit of the degree for generating capillarity from the contact part upward at the isolated position of the part in contact with stable liquid surface at a squeegee. CONSTITUTION: A slight oblique (e) to a stable liquid surface 6 is generated at a squeegee 1 in an initial state, a rise is generated at the liquid surface by the control of a viscous rule on a base plate 8 and the cured layer 7a formed on the plate 8. In this case, balances 4, 5 are so regulated that liquid levels l2 , l3 coincide by the capillarity in a slit 2 to precisely parallelize the squeegee 1 with a stable liquid surface 6. Accordingly, the slits 2 are provided at two or more isolated positions of the squeegee 1, and hence the liquid levels in the slits can be amplified even by the slight oblique, the levels are brought into coincidence so that the squeegee 1 and the surface 6 are precisely parallelized, and hence the scraping residue 12 on the layer 7a can be eliminated.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an optical modeling apparatus for hierarchically curing a photocurable resin material (hereinafter referred to as a resin liquid) to form a three-dimensional molded article having a desired arbitrary shape, and more particularly, The present invention relates to an optical modeling apparatus that improves the shape accuracy of a three-dimensional molded object.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional technique of this kind is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 63-63.
The three-dimensional shape forming method disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 141724 is known.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of an apparatus used in a conventional forming method, in which 22 is a laser device, 23 is a laser beam, and 2 is a laser beam.
Reference numeral 4 is an optical modulator. The laser beam 23 is an optical modulator 24
The intensity is modulated by the lens, the polygon (rotary polygonal mirror) 27 is scanned through the lenses 25 and 26, and the resin liquid 9 is irradiated with the light through the scanning reflection mirror 29 by the fθ lens 28. The main scanning by the polygon 27 and the sub-scanning by the sub-scanning base 30 are performed, and after the exposure and curing of one layer is completed on the base plate 8,
The base plate support 10 is lowered to near the bottom of the container 31, and the upper surface of the cured product 7 formed on the base plate 8 is uniformly covered with the resin liquid 9. After that, the base plate 8 is lifted to a position where the upper surface of the cured product 7 is one layer deep from the surface of the resin liquid 9 and waits until the surface of the resin liquid 9 becomes flat. After the surface becomes flat, the movement of the sub-scanning table 30 and the modulation of the optical modulator 24 according to the shape data are started to expose the next layer. Hereinafter, the same procedure is repeated to form a three-dimensional object in the container 31 filled with the resin liquid 9.

Next, the principle of the three-dimensional shape forming method using the above apparatus will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 8 shows a process of supplying the resin liquid 9 for forming the second layer on the already cured and exposed first cured layer 7a.

FIG. 8A shows the time when the first hardened layer 7a is formed, and the surface of the first hardened layer 7a and the uncured resin liquid 9 are at the same height. By lowering the base plate 8 from this state, the second layer resin liquid 32 is supplied onto the first hardened layer 7a as the base plate 8 is lowered. However, resin liquid 3
In the case where the surface tension of No. 2 is large, as shown in FIG. 8B, the supply is insufficient even if the base plate 8 is lowered by one layer. Therefore, if the air bubbles are continuously lowered at such a speed as not to be drawn in, the resin liquid 32 of the second layer is supplied toward the central portion on the first cured layer 7a, as shown in FIG. 8C. . Eventually, the second layer resin liquid 32 supplied from the end of the first hardened layer 7a merges near the center of the first hardened layer 7a and covers the entire surface of the first hardened layer 7a, After the flow shown in FIG. 8 (d), it becomes flat.
After that, as shown in FIG. 8E, the base plate 8 is raised to a position corresponding to the layer thickness of the second layer, whereby the first
A thin layer of the resin liquid 32 can be formed on the entire surface of the hardened layer 7a.

However, the resin liquid such as modified polyurethane methacrylate or epoxy acrylate used in the three-dimensional shape forming method has a relatively high viscosity, and even if an attempt is made to form a thin resin liquid layer as described above, the state of the resin liquid layer is actually high. Is not flat as shown in FIG. 8 (e), and as shown in FIG.
On the first hardened layer 7a and the base plate 8, a ridge 33a thicker than the desired layer thickness when forming the second hardened layer is formed. This occurs not only in the first cured layer 7a but also in the resin liquid layer when the next layer is formed on the pre-cured layer. That is,
As shown in FIG. 10, the first curing layer 7a and the arrow B of the resin liquid 9 from above the base plate 8 caused by the raising operation shown by the arrow A of the base plate 8 reaching from FIG. 8D to FIG. 8E. The discharge motion shown by is governed by Newton's viscosity law, and the higher the viscosity of the resin liquid 9 or the wider the friction area in contact with the resin liquid 9, the slower it becomes compared to the rising speed of the base plate 8, As a result, as shown in FIG. 9, a thick bulge 33a is formed without being completely discharged.

Therefore, in order to eliminate the bulge 33a, most of the optical modeling apparatuses currently on the market are shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 1, liquid level sweeping means (hereinafter referred to as squeegee) 34 that operates in the direction of arrow C to flatten the raised liquid level is provided.

[0009]

However, the squeegee 34
The conventional device provided with has the following problems.

That is, the squeegee 3
When sweeping at 4, the resin surface 6 at the portion shown in FIG.
If the squeegee 34 has a slight inclination e with respect to (hereinafter referred to as a stable liquid surface), after the sweeping operation in the C direction, the squeegee 34 is inclined on the first hardened layer 7a (prehardened layer) depending on the amount. 12 scratches were left, which was not an effective countermeasure.
That is, there is a problem in that the scratches 12 are not eliminated only by the configuration shown in FIGS. 11 and 12 and this significantly deteriorates the accuracy of the cured product 7. It is technically difficult to precisely match the parallelism between the resin liquid surface which is a fluid and the squeegee 34.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide an optical modeling apparatus capable of remarkably reducing the scratches of the resin liquid on the pre-cured layer and the base plate. To do.

[0012]

In order to achieve the above object, the optical modeling apparatus of the present invention according to claim 1 is a liquid type ultraviolet laser beam based on cross-sectional shape data obtained by slicing a desired three-dimensional object. Means for irradiating the surface portion of the photocurable resin material to form a hardened layer on the base plate; means for moving the base plate up and down to introduce the photocurable resin material onto the hardened layer; A liquid surface sweeping means arranged so that a part of the resin material comes into contact with the surface of the resin material and capable of moving along the surface and moving away from the surface; In the optical modeling apparatus for sequentially laminating the cured product, the liquid surface sweeping device causes a capillary phenomenon at two or more spaced positions where a part of the liquid surface sweeping device comes into contact with the surface portion of the photocurable resin material. There is a slit It is characterized in that the.

The optical modeling apparatus of the present invention according to claim 2 irradiates the surface portion of the liquid photocurable resin material with an ultraviolet laser beam based on the sectional shape data obtained by slicing a desired three-dimensional model. Means for forming a hardened layer on the base plate, means for raising and lowering the base plate to introduce a photo-curable resin material onto the hardened layer, and a part of the surface contact portion of the photo-curable resin material And a liquid surface sweeping means capable of moving along the surface portion and moving in a direction away from the surface portion, and an optical modeling apparatus for sequentially laminating and forming the cured product on the base plate. In the above, the liquid surface sweeping means is characterized in that the liquid surface sweeping means is provided with holes at a position where a part of the liquid surface sweeping part comes into contact with the surface portion of the photocurable resin material, at a distance of 2 or more, which is capable of causing a capillary phenomenon. There is.

Further, the optical modeling apparatus of the present invention according to claim 3 irradiates the surface portion of the liquid photocurable resin material with an ultraviolet laser beam based on the sectional shape data obtained by slicing a desired three-dimensional model. Means for forming a hardened layer on the base plate, means for raising and lowering the base plate to introduce a photo-curable resin material onto the hardened layer, and a part of the surface contact portion of the photo-curable resin material And a level level integrally attached to the liquid level sweeping means, the leveling means being arranged so as to be movable along the surface part and capable of moving in a direction away from the surface part, The cured product is sequentially laminated on the plate.

[0015]

In the device according to the first aspect of the present invention, the squeegee has two or more spaced positions in contact with the stable liquid surface 6,
By providing a slit upward from the contact portion, a capillarity phenomenon occurs in the slit. As a result, the slight inclination e of the squeegee is amplified and becomes the resin liquid level in the slit, which is observed as a noticeable difference. Then, the balancer provided in the squeegee adjusts the resin liquid level in the slit to be the same. As a result, the stable liquid surface 6 and the squeegee become parallel to each other, and as a result, the amount of scratches 12 is significantly reduced.

In the apparatus according to the second aspect, suitable holes are provided at two or more spaced positions of the portion of the squeegee which comes into contact with the stable liquid surface 6 to cause the capillarity in the same manner as described above. As a result, the same effect as that of claim 1 can be obtained.

In the device according to the third aspect, the spirit level is attached to the squeegee. According to this, the device can be configured relatively easily, and the same operation as that of claim 1 can be obtained.

[0018]

Embodiments of the optical modeling apparatus according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

(Embodiment 1) FIGS. 1 to 3 show the essential parts of Embodiment 1 of the present invention. FIG. 1 shows a first hardened layer 7a on a base plate 8.
FIG. 11A shows a state in which a resin layer having a desired thickness is formed again on the first cured layer 7a by the method shown in FIGS. It is sectional drawing which shows the state seen from d direction.

In addition, this embodiment and Examples 2 to 4 described later
Other than the configuration of the squeegee in FIG.
Since the basic configuration is the same as that of 2), the illustration is omitted except for the main part of the present embodiment, the same numbers are given to the same parts, and the description thereof is omitted.

(Structure) In the figure, 1 is a squeegee,
Slits 2 having the same shape are provided at two spaced positions within a range where the resin liquid 9 can be contacted, and scales 3 for confirming the resin liquid level are provided in the vicinity of the slits 2. Furthermore, the balancers 4, 5 that can independently adjust the height in the a and b directions are located at both ends.
Is integrally formed with the squeegee 1. Balancer 4,5
As, you can use screws and bolts. The use of multi-thread screws enables faster positioning, which is even more effective. The squeegee 1 moves along with the balancers 4 and 5 from the back of the drawing toward the front side on the guide plate 11 by a driving means (not shown) to perform a sweep operation.

Since the gap between the slits 2 is larger than the width of the base plate 8, the squeegee 1 can be used without changing the squeegee 1 even if the type or shape of the modeled object is different. If the height of the object formed on the base plate is always the same and the liquid level is also the same at the positions of the two slits separated from each other, it may be provided above the object.

The slit 2 can be of various widths, such as one having a uniform width upward from the portion where the squeegee 1 first comes into contact with the resin liquid 9 or one having a width that gradually widens depending on the purpose of use. The optimum shape can be selected.

In the above description, the slits 2 are provided at two places, but the present invention is not limited to this, and the slits 2 are provided at positions not affected by the object.
It may be provided at one or more places, or may be provided at two or more places that are simultaneously affected by an object by the same amount.

(Operation) In the initial state, the squeegee 1 has a slight inclination e with respect to the stable liquid surface 6 as shown in FIG. 1, and the squeegee 1 has the base plate 8 and the first hardened layer 7a formed thereon. The liquid surface of No. 1 is raised due to the above-mentioned reason. Conventionally, since the squeegee 1 performs the sweeping operation in this state, there is a residual resin liquid 12 which cannot be scraped off on the first hardening layer 7a forever, but as shown in FIG. By adjusting the balancers 4 and 5 so that the surface levels 12 and 13 coincide with each other, as shown in FIG.
As described above, the squeegee 1 and the stable liquid surface 6 can be precisely parallelized.

(Effect) According to the present embodiment, by providing slits at two or more spaced positions of the squeegee 1, even a slight inclination can be amplified and detected as the liquid level in the slit. it can. Further, the squeegee 1 and the stable liquid surface 6 are precisely parallelized by making the liquid surface levels coincide with each other, so that the scratch residue 12 on the first hardened layer 7a can be eliminated.

(Embodiment 2) FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing an essential part of a second embodiment of the present invention. The structure of both ends of the squeegee is the same as that of the first embodiment.
Is the same as

(Structure) The squeegee 15 of this embodiment is provided with holes 16 of the same shape and the same size and resin liquid level confirmation graduations 17 which are opened at two or more spaced apart positions. ing. The other configurations are the same as those in the first embodiment, and therefore omitted.

The above holes can also be constituted by polygonal cylindrical holes, cylindrical holes, elliptic cylindrical holes, polygonal conical holes, conical holes, elliptical conical holes and the like.

(Operation) In the present embodiment, the squeegee 1
The holes 16 are provided in the holes 5, and the liquid level generated by the capillarity inside the holes 16 is made to coincide with each other by the balancers 4 and 5 described above.

(Effect) Although the squeegee 1 of the first embodiment is provided with the slit 2, the range in which the slit 2 is formed may be restricted. According to the present embodiment, since the holes are provided in the area other than the outer peripheral portion where the resin liquid 9 and the squeegee 15 are in direct contact with each other, the restriction of the forming range can be eliminated.
The same effect as in the first embodiment can be obtained.

(Embodiment 3) FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing the essential parts of Embodiment 3 of the present invention.

(Structure) In the squeegee 18 of this embodiment, a transparent tubular body 19 is arranged at a position corresponding to the hole of the second embodiment.

(Operation) In this embodiment, the transparent tubular body 19 is arranged and the liquid level generated by the capillarity inside the transparent tubular body 19 is made equal by the balancers 4 and 5 described above. Is obtained.

(Effect) In this embodiment, since the transparent tubular body 19 is arranged, in addition to the effect of the second embodiment, a good visual result in visual confirmation can be obtained.

(Embodiment 4) FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing the essential parts of Embodiment 4 of the present invention.

(Structure) The squeegee 20 of the present embodiment has a level 21 mounted on a part thereof. There is no restriction on the mounting position of the spirit level 21, but it is more preferable to dispose the level 21 at the upper end of the central portion of the squeegee 20.

(Operation) In the present embodiment, the level 21
Visually check the displacement of the bubbles inside, and adjust the balancers 4 and 5 based on it to position the bubbles in the center,
The same effect as that of the first embodiment can be obtained.

(Effects) In this embodiment, by using the level 21, it is possible to obtain the same effects as in Embodiment 1 with a relatively simple device configuration.

As will be understood from the description of the above embodiment, the present invention described in each claim can be embodied as follows.

The slit shape according to claim 1 may be formed as a groove shape having the same width, but the present invention is not limited to this, and the width of the portion in contact with the photocurable resin material is the narrowest, and the slit shape is separated from the photocurable resin material. The width may be gradually increased toward the desired position.

The hole described in claim 2 may be a polygonal cylindrical hole, a cylindrical hole, an elliptical cone hole, a polygonal cone hole, a conical hole, an elliptical cone hole or the like, but the hollow portion of the transparent tube is used here. It can also be used as a so-called hole.

[0043]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention, the squeegee is provided with the slit to cause a capillarity inside thereof, whereby the inclination of the squeegee with respect to the stable liquid surface is amplified in the slit. The stable liquid level and the squeegee are made parallel by confirming that the liquid level has reached the predetermined level, and scratches on the cured product can be eliminated to obtain the desired laminated thickness.

According to the second aspect of the invention, the same effect as that of the first aspect can be obtained by providing the squeegee with a hole.

Furthermore, in the invention of claim 3, the level of the squeegee is mounted on the squeegee to simplify the structure of the device and to obtain the same effect as that of claim 1.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view showing an optical modeling apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating the operation of the optical modeling apparatus of FIG.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged view showing a main part of the optical modeling apparatus of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a main part of an optical modeling apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing a main part of an optical modeling apparatus according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing a main part of an optical modeling apparatus according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing an optical modeling apparatus according to the related art.

FIG. 8 is a diagram for explaining in principle a conventional technique.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a problem of the conventional technique.

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a problem of the conventional technique.

FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating a problem of the conventional technique.

FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating a problem of the conventional technique.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Squeegee 2 Slit 3 Scale 4 Balancer 5 Balancer 6 Stable Liquid Level 7 Cured Material 7a First Hardened Layer 8 Base Plate 9 Resin Liquid 10 Base Plate Support 11 Guide Plate 12 Scratch Remaining 15 Squeegee 16 Hole 17 Resin Liquid Level Level Scale 18 Squeegee 19 Transparent tubular body 20 Squeegee 21 Level 22 Laser device 23 Laser beam 24 Optical modulator 25 Lens 26 Lens 27 Polygon 28 fθ lens 29 Scanning reflector 30 Sub-scanning table 31 Storage container 32 Resin liquid 33a Rise 34 Squeegee

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A means for irradiating a surface portion of a liquid photocurable resin material with an ultraviolet laser beam on the basis of sectional shape data obtained by slicing a desired three-dimensional object to form a hardened layer on a base plate, Means for moving the base plate up and down to introduce the photo-curable resin material onto the cured layer, and a means arranged so that a part thereof comes into contact with the surface portion of the photo-curable resin material and moving along the surface portion and An optical modeling apparatus comprising: a liquid surface sweeping means capable of moving in a separating direction from a surface portion, and sequentially forming the cured product on the base plate.
An optical system characterized in that the liquid surface sweeping means is provided with slits that cause a capillary phenomenon at two or more spaced apart positions where a part of the liquid surface sweeping part comes into contact with the surface portion of the photocurable resin material. Modeling device. 2. A means for irradiating a surface portion of a liquid photocurable resin material with an ultraviolet laser beam based on sectional shape data obtained by slicing a desired three-dimensional object to form a cured layer on a base plate, and Means for moving the base plate up and down to introduce the photo-curable resin material onto the cured layer, and a means arranged so that a part thereof comes into contact with the surface portion of the photo-curable resin material and moving along the surface portion and An optical modeling apparatus comprising: a liquid surface sweeping means capable of moving in a separating direction from a surface portion, and sequentially forming the cured product on the base plate.
An optical system characterized in that the liquid surface sweeping means is provided with a hole having a degree of causing a capillarity at two or more spaced positions of a portion of which the surface portion contacts the photocurable resin material. Modeling device. 3. A means for irradiating a surface portion of a liquid photocurable resin material with an ultraviolet laser beam on the basis of sectional shape data obtained by slicing a desired three-dimensional object to form a cured layer on a base plate, Means for moving the base plate up and down to introduce the photo-curable resin material onto the cured layer, and a means arranged so that a part thereof comes into contact with the surface portion of the photo-curable resin material and moving along the surface portion and An optical system that includes a liquid level sweeping unit that can move in a direction away from the surface and a level that is integrally attached to the liquid level sweeping unit, and sequentially forms the cured product on the base plate. Modeling equipment.