JPH1086225A - Photohardening forming device with photohardening resin liquid supply device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To easily form a thin liquid film in stable manner, if a highly viscous photohardening liquid is used for the formation of the thin liquid film and prevent a liquid supply from changing due to suspended matter by providing a supply tank which stores a photohardening resin liquid to be supplied to the upper face of a table, near a storage tank and supplying the photohardening resin liquid contained in the supply tank to a position near a sweeping tool. SOLUTION: A storage tank 7 which supplies a photohardening liquid 6 is provided on a frame, and a Z cursor is fitted to the frame. In addition, a Z table 32 is fixec to a Z table support fitted to the Z cursor and a shaped object 2 is formed on the Z table 32. Further, a supply tank 41 which stores the photohardening liquid 6 is installed outside the storage tank 7, and a sweeping tool 16 is attached to an X cursor to form a liquid level on a three-dimensional model. A liquid supply cursor B is fitted to a liquid supply cursor A provided on the frame, and a liquid supply bucket 38 is fixed to the liquid supply cursor B. The liquid supply bucket 38 is inserted into the supply tank 41 to scoop the photohardening liquid 6 and the photohardening liquid is drained after transporting the photohardeining liquid 6 to a position before a sweeping tool 16. Finally, the photohardening liquid 6 is levelled off to the thickness of one layer using the sweeping tool 16.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] The present invention relates to CAD and X-ray CT.
By horizontally slicing the three-dimensional model data obtained from etc., irradiating the light-setting wavelength light to the liquid light-setting resin liquid along the slice data, solidifying one by one, repeating this one after another and stacking The present invention relates to an optical shaping apparatus of an optical shaping method for creating a three-dimensional model, and in particular, includes a supply tank for storing a light-solidifying resin liquid to be supplied to an upper surface of the three-dimensional model, and a supply means for the light-solidifying resin liquid. The present invention relates to a photo-solidification modeling device with a photo-solidification resin liquid supply device that models with a uniform liquid level.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, immediately before irradiating a light-curable wavelength liquid to a liquid photo-curable resin liquid, the Z-table is lowered from the liquid level by the thickness of the laminate, and is directly above the Z-table by a sweeping tool for sweeping the liquid level. A thin liquid film is formed on a three-dimensional model. As a means for supplying the resin liquid for the thin liquid film, a method of providing a liquid pool utilizing the surface tension and capillary action of the resin liquid on the lower surface of the sweeping tool for sweeping the liquid surface, making the sweeping tool for sweeping the liquid surface hollow, A piston that moves below the lower surface of the sweeping tool that sweeps the liquid surface is provided inside the hollow, and the piston pumps the resin liquid to the liquid surface into the hollow part of the sweeping tool, and the piston and the inner wall of the sweeping tool that sweeps the liquid level. A method of supplying resin liquid pumped from the gap of
A nozzle is provided on the entire surface of a sweeping tool for sweeping the liquid surface, and a resin or the like is supplied from the nozzle by a pump or the like.

[0003]

However, such an apparatus has the following disadvantages. In other words, in the method in which a liquid pool utilizing the surface tension and the capillary phenomenon is provided on the lower surface of the sweeping tool for sweeping the liquid surface, if the surface tension is large and the contact angle between the resin liquid and the sweeping tool for sweeping the liquid level exceeds 90 °, it is theoretically necessary. Even when the contact angle between the resin liquid and the sweeping tool is 90 ° or less, the vertical dimension of the liquid pool is reduced as the contact angle increases, and the liquid separation surface is reduced. It is necessary to increase the area of the liquid contact portion on the lower surface of the sweeping tool to be swept, which is generally difficult as a supply means in the case of a highly viscous resin liquid having a large surface tension.

Further, in the piston method, suspended matter such as debris of a molded object contained in the pumped resin liquid is caught in the gap between the piston and the inner wall of the sweeping tool for sweeping the liquid level, and the gap between the resin liquid and the liquid is removed. A phenomenon that hinders the supply occurred, and it was difficult to stably supply. In the method of supplying a resin liquid from a nozzle with a pump or the like, it is necessary to select and configure a material that is not affected by the resin liquid. However, it is necessary to select a sealing material for the pump and a flexible piping material. It was difficult.
The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and an object of the present invention is to provide a photo-solidification molding apparatus with a photo-solidification resin liquid supply device that solves these disadvantages.

[0005]

Means for attaining the object are as follows: (1) A storage tank according to claim 1, wherein a storage tank for sequentially solidifying the upper surface of the liquid by light irradiation to produce a modeled object. A table that moves up and down in a storage tank on which the shaped object is solidified sequentially, a light source that irradiates light at an arbitrary position on the liquid surface in the storage tank according to a three-dimensional model, and a sweep that sweeps the upper surface of the liquid A sweeping tool having a shape, and a repetition means for irradiating a light level on a liquid surface in an area corresponding to one section of a desired shape by the light source as the control procedure, causing the table to settle, and causing the sweeping tool to sweep the liquid level. A light-solidification modeling apparatus having a storage controller and a supply tank for storing a light-solidifying resin liquid to be provided near the storage tank and supplied to an upper surface of the table; and a light-solidifying resin liquid in the supply tank. The sweeping tool And a supply means for supplying to the vicinity of the device. (2) In claim 2, the supply means is a gutter-shaped liquid supply bucket having a width capable of generating the modeled object and capable of sweeping a liquid surface with the sweeping tool. A liquid scraper for scraping the highly viscous photo-setting resin liquid scooped up from the supply layer is provided inside.

[0006] In such an apparatus, the supply means for supplying the photo-solidifying resin liquid in the supply tank to the vicinity of the sweeping tool includes a resin in the supply tank for storing the photo-setting resin liquid in response to a command from the controller. The liquid can be pumped up by the bucket, moved to the vicinity of the installation of the sweeping tool, and then the bucket can be rotated to supply the resin liquid in the bucket to the vicinity of the sweeping tool. There is a liquid scraping material inside the bucket, and a highly viscous resin liquid can also be scraped with the scraping material. After the supply, the bucket can be evacuated to a supply tank for storing the photo-setting resin liquid, and the bucket can be returned to rotation. Then, the resin liquid is filled in the bucket before the supply command from the next controller.

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is an explanatory view of a main part showing one embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is an operation flowchart of the present invention. In FIG. 1, a light-solidification modeling device (not shown)
A controller for performing various controls is housed in the inside, and a storage tank 7 for supplying a photo-solidifying liquid 6 is disposed on a frame (not shown) in the center.

A frame is provided around the storage tank 7, and a Z rail having a slidable Z cursor is attached to the frame. A Z table support is engaged with the Z cursor.
When the Z table 32 is fixed so as to be parallel to the liquid surface of the photo-solidifying liquid 6 and the Z motor is driven, the Z table 3
2 is configured to move up and down, and the modeled object 2 of the three-dimensional model is formed on the Z table 32. The process for photo-solidification is well known, and its details are disclosed in many documents.

Next, the supply tank 41 of the present invention is arranged outside the wall of the storage tank 7, and the photo-solidified liquid 6 is stored in the supply tank 41. A frame is provided above the storage tank 7,
An X rail having a slidable X cursor is attached to the frame. A sweeping tool 16 is attached to the X cursor so as to be parallel to the liquid surface of the photo-solidifying liquid 6.
Numeral 6 reciprocates horizontally in response to a command from the controller, and forms a liquid surface on the three-dimensional model.

A frame is provided above the storage tank 7, and a liquid supply rail A having a slidable liquid supply cursor A is attached to the frame. The liquid supply cursor A is attached to the liquid supply cursor A so as to be parallel to the liquid surface of the photo-solidifying liquid 6.
Is driven, the liquid supply cursor B reciprocates horizontally in response to a command from the controller.

A liquid supply rail B provided with a slidable liquid supply cursor B is attached to the liquid supply cursor A. On the liquid supply cursor B, a gutter-shaped elongated liquid supply bucket 38 is attached so as to be parallel to the liquid surface of the photo-solidifying liquid 6, and when the liquid supply motor B is driven, the liquid supply bucket 38 The liquid supply bucket 38 is configured to move up and down according to a command. Further, a liquid scraping material 33 is arranged inside the liquid supply bucket 38.

Next, the operation will be described with reference to FIGS. Note that cursors A and B and rails A and B
Since B is not the gist of the present invention, its description is omitted.
First, in (a), the liquid supply bucket 38 is inserted (a) into the supply tank 41 in which the photo-solidifying liquid 6 is stored,
Before the further start, the light-solidified liquid 6 in the supply tank 41 is pumped up by the liquid supply bucket 38 (b), and is conveyed to the position just before the sweeping tool 16 (c), and then the liquid supply bucket 38 is rotated (d) to supply the liquid. The photo-solidified liquid 6 in the bucket 38 is discharged onto the liquid surface of the storage tank 7, and then the liquid supply bucket 38 is returned to the original state (e). At this time, since the photo-solidification liquid 6 has high viscosity, it is forcibly discharged by the liquid scraping material 33. The discharged photo-solidification liquid 6 is leveled by the sweeping tool 16 so as to have a uniform thickness on the three-dimensional model (f) and (g). Further, the excessively supplied photo-solidification liquid 6 is scraped out to the supply tank 41. On the other hand, the sweeping tool 16 repeats the above-described operations (c) to (a) to repeat the operation shown in (a), and returns to the original position (h) after the sweeping by the sweeping tool 16 is completed. Return. By the above-described operation, light irradiation is performed for each layer of the forming operation, and the formed object 2 is sequentially formed by descending the Z table 32.

[0013]

As described above, according to the present invention, the following effects can be obtained. I. Even with a highly viscous photo-solidified liquid, a thin liquid film can be easily and stably formed directly on the Z-table or on the three-dimensional model regardless of the shape and size of the three-dimensional model. B. The plane area of the sweeping tool can be reduced. C. There is no change in the amount of the supply liquid due to the influence of suspended matter such as debris of the molded article contained in the pumped resin liquid, and the supply can be performed stably. two. It is easy to select a material that is not affected by the resin liquid as the material of the liquid contact part.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of a main part showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an operation flowchart showing one embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Light-solidification modeling apparatus 2 Modeled object 3 Frame 5 Controller 6 Light-solidification liquid 7 Storage tank 8 X cursor 9 Frame 10 Frame 11 Frame 12 X rail 13 X rail 14 X cursor 15 X cursor 16 Sweep tool 17 Z cursor 18 Z rail 19 Z rail 20 Z table support 21 Frame 22 Frame 23 Frame 24 Frame 25 Liquid supply rail A 26 Liquid supply rail A 27 Liquid supply cursor A 28 Liquid supply motor A 32 Z table 33 Liquid scraping material 34 Liquid supply motor B 35 Liquid supply rail B 36 Liquid supply rail B 37 Liquid supply cursor B 38 Liquid supply bucket 39 Z motor 40 X motor 41 Supply tank 43 Laser oscillator 44 Optical unit 48 Optical system 49 Optical system 50 Optical system 51 Optical system

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A storage tank for sequentially solidifying an upper surface of a liquid by light irradiation to generate a model, a table moving up and down in a storage tank on which the model is solidified sequentially, and the storage tank A light source that irradiates light at an arbitrary position on the liquid surface in accordance with a three-dimensional model, a sweeping tool that sweeps the upper surface of the liquid, and a liquid in a region corresponding to one cross section of a desired shape to be formed by the light source as a control procedure. And a controller having repetition means for irradiating light to the surface, causing the table to settle, and causing the sweeping tool to sweep the liquid surface. A supply tank for storing a photo-solidifying resin liquid to be supplied to
And a supply means for supplying the photo-solidifying resin liquid in the supply tank to the vicinity of the sweeping tool. 2. The supply means is a gutter-like liquid supply bucket having a width capable of generating the modeled object and capable of sweeping a liquid surface with the sweeping tool, and inside the liquid supply bucket. 2. The photo-solidification molding apparatus with a photo-solidification resin liquid supply device according to claim 1, further comprising a liquid scraping material for scraping a highly viscous photo-solidification resin liquid picked up from the supply layer.