JPH09117963A - Method and apparatus for forming three-dimensional image - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a three-dimensional image forming capable of being used in office environment without requiring laser or exhaust accessories equipment or labor and skill. SOLUTION: A large number of sheet materials 12 thermally modified to be solidified are sucked one at a time on the moving stand 17 of a sheet material supply mechanism to be transferred to a table 11 to be laminated thereon. Each sheet material positioned on the uppermost part is heated on the basis of a large number of cross-sectional data formed by thinly slicing the three- dimensional data of a three-dimensional image by the thermal head 26 positioned on the table. Unheated parts are removed to form a three-dimensional image composed of a continuous layer of the sheet material.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a three-dimensional image forming method and apparatus for forming a three-dimensional three-dimensional image. In particular, the present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for forming a three-dimensional stereoscopic image by continuously laminating sheet materials by utilizing a thermal alteration method.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art The conventional three-dimensional image forming technique for forming a three-dimensional image is mainly a manual process or a cutting process using a numerical control type (hereinafter referred to as NC) milling machine.
Since the three-dimensional figure creating device disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 4478 was published, energy rays such as ultraviolet rays were applied to the molten liquid surface of the photocurable resin in the container to cure the resin, and irradiation of one cross section was completed. After that, the elevating table placed in the container or in the container itself is lowered by the thickness of the cured resin, and this operation is sequentially repeated for the next cross-sectional data to form a solid image of a continuous layer of cured resin. Various methods have been developed.

Further, a laser or the like is used to cut the contour of the cross-section data on the paper to create a cross-sectional figure by one sheet of paper, and then the next cross-sectional figure is stuck on this and laminated one after another. A method of forming a three-dimensional image by going is also developed.

[0004]

The conventional three-dimensional image forming technique by hand machining has a problem that it takes a lot of time and labor and requires skill of an operator. Even in NC milling, the exchange of blades and wear It was necessary to create a complicated program in consideration of the above.

Furthermore, in the three-dimensional image forming technique using a photo-curing resin, it is indispensable to install an auxiliary equipment for exhausting the resin odor, and since a laser is used, it is necessary to use it in an office environment. There was a problem that was not suitable for use.

[0006] Further, even in a device of stacking paper, a laser is used in the same manner, so that it is necessary to handle it with care, and smoke is generated when the paper is cut by the laser, so that an auxiliary equipment for exhaust is required. There was a problem that became.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and does not require a laser or incidental equipment for exhaust, and does not require labor or skill, and a stereoscopic image forming method and an apparatus therefor can be used even in an office environment. It is intended to provide.

[0008]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a three-dimensional image forming method for forming a three-dimensional image from a large number of sectional data obtained by slicing three-dimensional data of a three-dimensional image.
Each time a large number of sheet materials that can be thermally altered are stacked, the corresponding cross-sectional data is transferred to the thermal head, and this thermal head heats each sheet material so that it draws a figure according to the respective cross-sectional data, resulting in thermal degradation. This is a three-dimensional image forming method for forming a three-dimensional image composed of continuous layers of the sheet material by repeating the above operation and finally removing one of the non-heated portion and the heated portion of the sheet material.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the three-dimensional image forming method according to the first aspect, the sheet materials are stacked on a table that can be moved up and down, and each time one sheet material is stacked, the table is turned on. This is a three-dimensional image forming method of descending by the thickness of one sheet material.

Since the table is lowered by the thickness of the sheet material each time the sheet materials are stacked, the heating surface of the thermal head can be maintained at a constant height level.

According to a third aspect of the invention, in a three-dimensional image forming apparatus for forming a three-dimensional image from a large number of cross-sectional data obtained by slicing three-dimensional data of a three-dimensional image, one sheet material that can be thermally altered is provided. A sheet material supply mechanism that supplies the sheet material, a table that stacks the sheet materials supplied by the sheet material supply mechanism, and a thermal head that is located above the table and heats the uppermost sheet material based on the corresponding cross-sectional data. And a three-dimensional image forming apparatus including.

Then, the sheet material supply mechanism supplies sheet-by-sheet sheets, which can be thermally deteriorated, one by one, and each time the sheet materials are stacked, the thermal head is based on cross-sectional data obtained by thinly slicing three-dimensional data. Is heated to heat the uppermost sheet material to change only the heated portion and remove one of the non-heated portion and the heated portion of the sheet material to form a three-dimensional image of a continuous layer of the sheet material.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the three-dimensional image forming apparatus according to the third aspect, the sheet material feeding mechanism sucks the uppermost sheet material from a large number of sheet materials stacked at the sheet material source position. Then, it has a moving table which is transferred onto the table.

Then, the sheet material at the sheet material supply source position is adsorbed one by one by the moving base of the sheet material supply mechanism and transferred onto the table.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the three-dimensional image forming apparatus according to the third aspect, the sheet material feeding mechanism uses the uppermost one of a number of sheet materials stacked at the sheet material source position as a roller. It has a feed roller that feeds and places it on the table.

Then, the sheet material at the sheet material supply source position is taken out one by one by the feed roller of the sheet material supply mechanism and transferred onto the table.

[0017]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention will be described below with reference to one embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 and another embodiment shown in FIGS. 3 and 4.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a sheet material supply mechanism 13 for supplying sheet materials 12 one by one is provided on a table 11 for forming a stereoscopic image. Sheet material 12
Is a sheet of a material that is thermally denatured when heated, such as a wax material that is melted and denatured by heating to solidify and can separate the non-heated portion.

The sheet material supply mechanism 13 includes a large number of sheet materials 12 stacked in a case 14 at the sheet material supply source position.
Is placed on the base plate 15, and every time one sheet material 12 is supplied, the base plate 15 is pushed up by the push-up mechanism 16 one by one, and the uppermost sheet material 12 is moved from the top opening of the case 14. The table 11 is attracted by a suction cup 18 provided below the table 17.
It is reprinted above.

That is, the moving table 17 is provided with a suction cup 18 which is horizontally reciprocated by a horizontal feed screw mechanism 21 and is vertically moved by a self-installed vertical feed screw mechanism 22. This suction cup 18 can suck the uppermost sheet material by vacuum suction and release the suction by an unillustrated suction and exhaust means.

The table 11 for receiving each sheet material 12 supplied by the sheet material supply mechanism 13 is provided so as to be vertically movable by a feed screw mechanism 23 or the like. Then, every time one sheet material 12 is laminated, the table 11 is lowered by one sheet so that the sheet material 12a located at the top of the laminated sheet material 12 is maintained at a constant level.

A line thermal head 26 is arranged above the table 11. This line thermal head 26
Is pressed against the uppermost sheet material 12a by the head moving mechanism 27, and while moving along the uppermost sheet material 12a, heat is generated by receiving an electrical signal based on a large number of cross-sectional data obtained by thinly slicing the three-dimensional data of the stereoscopic image. Then, the uppermost sheet material 12a on the table is heated.

Next, the operation of the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 will be described.

First, three-dimensional computer aided
A three-dimensional image drawn by a design (hereinafter referred to as CAD) is thinly sliced in order from the bottom on a three-dimensional CAD to create a large number of cross-section data, and the sheet material supply mechanism 13 is used to display each sheet material on the table 11. When 12 is supplied, each section data corresponding to each sheet material 12 is sequentially transferred to the line thermal head 26 as an electric signal for heating.

The line thermal head 26 horizontally moves on the sheet material 12a while being pressed against the sheet material 12a on the table from a predetermined position by the head moving mechanism 27 in conjunction with the heating electric signal. The sheet material is heated so as to draw a figure according to the cross-sectional data, only the heated portion is thermally melt-altered, and the wax material or the like is first thermally transferred onto the table 11.

Thereafter, the table 11 is lowered by the thickness of one sheet material, and the line thermal head is used.
The head moving mechanism 27 separates the sheet 26 from the sheet material 12a to return it to its original position, and waits until the next sheet material is supplied.

On the heat-transferred sheet material on the table 11, a new sheet material is supplied by the sheet material supply mechanism 13 and laminated. At this time, since the table 11 is lowered by the thickness of the sheet material, the sheet material 12a can always be kept at the same height level. That is, the heating surface of the thermal head can be maintained at a constant height level.

Every time the sheet materials 12 are stacked in this manner, the same heating operation by the line thermal head 26 is repeated based on the corresponding cross-sectional data, so that the lower layer of the deteriorated and solidified sheet material is covered with the upper layer. The sheet material may be sequentially heat transferred to potentially form a series of altered solidified stereoscopic images 28 in the sheet material.

Finally, by removing the non-heated portion of the laminated sheet material layer, the three-dimensional image 28 composed of a continuous layer of the solidified sheet material can be exposed to the outside.

Next, an embodiment different from the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 will be described.

First, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4,
The sheet material supply mechanism 13 may be composed of feed rollers 31, 32, 33. That is, the uppermost one of a large number of sheet materials 12 stacked at the sheet material supply source position is sent out by the carry-out feed rollers 31 and 32, and is also transferred so as to be sent to the table 11 by the carry-in feed roller 33. May be.
Since the other parts are the same as those shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the same reference numerals are given and the description thereof is omitted.

Further, the sheet material 12 according to the present invention is hard to be physically destroyed by being thermally altered and solidified.
Alternatively, the wax material is not limited to the above wax material as long as it is formed of a single sheet of a material having a property of being difficult to chemically dissolve. The operation of removing the non-heated portion of the laminated sheet material layer is performed physically or chemically.

Further, when the sheet material 12 is a wax material which is fixed to the lower sheet material when it is melted and solidified by heating, it is preferable to stack only the wax material as described above. If not, put the sheet material 12 into the case 14
During transfer from the table to the table 11, by applying a thermosetting adhesive or the like to the back surface of the sheet material 12 with a coating roller or the like, the heating portions of the upper layer sheet material and the lower layer sheet material are heated at the time of heating. It is good to stick and integrate.

Further, in the above-mentioned embodiment, the non-heated portion of the sheet material 12 is removed. However, some sheet materials are easily decomposed by heating. By removing the portion, the non-heated portion can be left as a stereoscopic image.

Finally, the industrial applicability of the present invention can be utilized when forming a molding die for molding a synthetic resin product or the like, or when directly forming a final molded product.

[0036]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, each time a large number of sheet materials that can be thermally altered are laminated, the corresponding cross-sectional data is transferred to the thermal head, and each sheet material is transferred by the thermal head. Repeat the heating and heat-altering operation to draw a figure according to each section data, and finally remove one of the non-heated part and the heated part of the sheet material to form a three-dimensional image of a continuous layer of the sheet material. Therefore, it is possible to provide a three-dimensional image forming method which can be used even in an office environment, which does not require a laser or auxiliary equipment for exhaust, nor requires labor or skill.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the sheet materials are stacked on the table that can be moved up and down, and every time one sheet material is stacked, the table is lowered by the thickness of one sheet material. Therefore, it is not necessary to move the thermal head up and down, and the thermal head can be easily positioned.

According to the third aspect of the invention, a sheet material supplying mechanism for supplying sheet materials which can be thermally altered one by one, and a table for laminating each sheet material supplied by the sheet material supplying mechanism. And a thermal head that is located above the table and heats the uppermost sheet material based on the corresponding cross-sectional data, it is possible to perform conventional manual processing or There is no need to consider the trouble of NC milling, tool exchange, wear, etc., and a three-dimensional image forming device that uses a photo-curing resin, or one that forms a three-dimensional image by stacking paper cut with a laser etc. It is possible to provide a stereoscopic image forming apparatus that does not require auxiliary equipment for exhaust, which was required by the above.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, the sheet material supply mechanism includes a movable table for adsorbing the uppermost sheet material from a large number of sheet materials stacked at the sheet material supply source position and transferring it onto the table. Since the sheet material is provided, the sheet materials can be surely sucked and supplied one by one.

According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, the sheet material feeding mechanism is a feed roller for feeding the uppermost sheet material from a large number of sheet materials stacked at the sheet material supply source position and transferring it onto the table. Therefore, there is an advantage that the sheet material supply mechanism can be configured relatively easily by the feed roller.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of a stereoscopic image forming apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front view of the same embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing another embodiment of the three-dimensional image forming apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a front view of another embodiment of the same.

[Explanation of symbols]

 11 Table 12 Sheet material 13 Sheet material supply mechanism 17 Moving table 26 Thermal head 28 Three-dimensional image 31-33 Feed roller

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A three-dimensional image forming method for forming a three-dimensional image from a large number of cross-sectional data obtained by slicing three-dimensional data of a three-dimensional image. To the thermal head, and this thermal head repeats the operation of heating each sheet material so as to draw a figure according to each section data and thermally degrading, and finally removing one of the non-heated part and the heated part of the sheet material. A three-dimensional image forming method comprising forming a three-dimensional image composed of a continuous layer of sheet material. 2. The sheet materials are stacked on a table that can be moved up and down, and each time one sheet material is stacked, the table is lowered by the thickness of one sheet material. The three-dimensional image forming method described. 3. A three-dimensional image forming apparatus for forming a three-dimensional image from a large number of cross-sectional data obtained by slicing three-dimensional data of a three-dimensional image, and a sheet material supply mechanism for supplying one sheet of sheet material that can be thermally altered, It is characterized by comprising a table for stacking the sheet materials supplied by the sheet material supply mechanism, and a thermal head located above the table and heating the uppermost sheet material based on the corresponding sectional data. 3D image forming device. 4. The sheet material supply mechanism has a moving base for adsorbing the uppermost sheet material from a large number of sheet materials stacked at the sheet material supply source position and transferring it onto a table. The three-dimensional image forming apparatus according to item 3. 5. The sheet material supply mechanism has a feed roller for feeding the uppermost sheet material from a large number of sheet materials stacked at the sheet material supply source position and transferring the sheet material onto a table. Item 3. The three-dimensional image forming apparatus according to item 3.