JPH11123767A - Light shaping device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To produce a highly accurate shape quickly by making the capacity of a resin tank as small as possible and stabilizing quickly the liquid surface of a light setting resin. SOLUTION: In a light shaping device adapted to perform shaping by selectively irradiating a light setting resin R filled in a resin tank 15 with light, an extensible bellows 13 is erected around a lifting table 10 that can freely be lifted and lowered for set resin to be stacked sequentially thereon, so as to form the resin tank 15. An auxiliary resin tank for storing light setting resin R and means 20, 21 for lowering the auxiliary resin tank 17 partially so as to inject the resin in the resin tank are provided around the resin tank 15.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method of selectively irradiating a photocurable resin with a laser beam or the like to form a three-dimensional image.
The present invention relates to an optical molding apparatus used for forming a resin mold and the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG.
Shown in As shown in FIG. 1, a resin tank 1 for filling a urethane-based photocurable resin R therein is provided, and an elevating table 2 having a flat upper surface is disposed inside the resin tank 1. I have. An elevating device such as a cylinder 3 is disposed outside the resin tank 1. The elevating table 2 is connected to an upper end of a cylinder rod 4 that penetrates a bottom plate of the resin tank 1 of the cylinder 3. The elevating table 2 moves up and down as the rod 4 expands and contracts. Furthermore,
A swage 5 is provided which runs along the upper surface of the resin tank 1 to level and stabilize the liquid level of the photocurable resin R filled in the resin tank 1.

On the other hand, a laser beam from a laser light source 6 is positioned above the resin tank 1 to selectively irradiate the photocurable resin R in the resin tank 1 via a mirror 7, for example, a carbon dioxide gas laser. A laser irradiation device 8 such as a generator is arranged. In this example, the laser irradiation device 8 includes a laser light source 6, a reflection mirror 7, and the like.

[0004] Thereby, the photocurable resin R is contained in the resin tank 1.
In this state, the elevating table 2 is lowered by a very small distance, and the swaging 5 is run to level and stabilize the liquid level of the photocurable resin R. The curable resin R is selectively irradiated with a laser beam to form one layer of the cured resin layer 9, and the cured resin layers 9 are sequentially laminated to perform modeling.

[0005]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional example, since the lifting table is raised and lowered in the resin tank,
Even for a small model, a considerably large resin tank is required, which not only requires a large initial cost, but also requires a great deal of time to exchange the resin. Furthermore, since the liquid surface of the photo-curable resin is leveled and maintained until it is stabilized by the swage, the time required for the liquid surface to stabilize is long, and the movement of the swage is reduced through the thin resin layer to the molded object after curing. Since it propagates and affects the cured portion, there has been a problem that it is necessary to firmly fix the cured resin layer in order to obtain a high-precision molded article.

[0006] The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, to improve the economy by reducing the volume of the resin tank as much as possible, and to stabilize the liquid level of the photocurable resin more quickly, and to achieve high precision. It is an object of the present invention to provide an optical shaping apparatus that can rapidly manufacture a modeled object.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An optical shaping apparatus according to the present invention comprises:
In an optical molding device that selectively irradiates light to a photo-curable resin filled in a resin tank to form a resin, the resin is vertically movable, and is expandable and contractible around a lifting table that sequentially laminates cured resin on an upper surface. A bellows is erected to constitute the resin tank, an auxiliary resin tank for storing the photocurable resin around the resin tank, and a part of the auxiliary resin tank is lowered so that the resin is stored in the resin tank. And a means for injecting the liquid into the liquid.

[0008] Thus, by changing the volume of the resin tank via an elastic bellows in accordance with the size (height) of the object being formed, the volume of the resin tank can be reduced, and the resin tank can be made smaller. The liquid level of the photocurable resin in the resin tank is rapidly stabilized by gently injecting the photocurable resin into the tank from the auxiliary resin tank provided around the tank. Can be prevented from moving.

[0009]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention.
This will be described with reference to FIG. As shown in the figure, a slightly thicker, hollow structure elevator 10 having a flat surface 10a on which the cured resin is sequentially laminated is provided.
Numeral 0 is connected to a cylinder rod 12 of a cylinder 11 constituting a lifting device, and moves up and down as the cylinder rod 12 expands and contracts.

At the lower end of the elevator 10, a flat flange 10b bulging outward is provided integrally, and a bellows 13 which can expand and contract is provided on the upper surface of the flange 10b. Further, a hollow disk-shaped flange plate 14 is connected to the upper end of the bellows 13 to form a resin tank 15 in which a urethane-based photocurable resin R is filled, for example.

As described above, by forming the peripheral wall of the resin tank 15 with the elastic bellows 13, the volume of the resin tank 15 can be changed according to the size (height) of the object to be formed. The volume of the tank 15 can be reduced.

A rubber having a semicircular concave portion 17a for storing the photocurable resin R at substantially the center in the width direction, connecting the flange plate 14 and the fixing member 16 at a position around the resin tank 15. An auxiliary resin tank 17 made of an elastic material such as is provided. A resin introduction pipe 18 for sequentially introducing the photocurable resin R is connected to the concave portion 17a of the auxiliary resin tank 17.

A cylinder 2 is provided on the back side of the flange 14.
0 is arranged in the vertical direction, and the upper end of the cylinder rod 21 of the cylinder 20 is connected to the back surface of the flange 14. Thereby, the cylinder rod 2 of the cylinder 20 is
With the contraction of 1, a part of the auxiliary resin tank 17 is lowered,
The photo-curable resin R in the concave portion 17 a of the auxiliary resin tank 17 is configured to be injected into the resin tank 15.

As described above, by lowering a part of the auxiliary resin tank 17 and injecting the photocurable resin R in the auxiliary resin tank 17 into the resin tank 15, the swaging method is not adopted, and This descent is performed at a low speed, and the resin tank 1
By gently injecting the photocurable resin into the resin tank 5 from the auxiliary resin tank 17, the liquid level of the photocurable resin in the resin tank 15 is rapidly stabilized, and at the time of this injection, the model moves. Can be prevented.

Above the resin tank 15, the laser light from the laser light source 6 is applied to the photocurable resin R in the resin tank 15 via the mirror 7 in the same manner as in the conventional example shown in FIG. A laser irradiation device 8 such as a carbon dioxide laser generation device for selectively irradiating is provided.

Next, an example of use of the optical shaping apparatus of the above embodiment will be described. First, the liquid surface is the flat surface 10a of the lift table 10.
The photo-curable resin R is filled in the resin tank 15 so as to be on the same plane as. Thereafter, the elevating platform 10 is lowered by a small distance, and a part of the auxiliary resin tank 17 is lowered by the cylinder rod 21 to inject a predetermined amount of the photocurable resin R from the auxiliary resin tank 17 into the resin tank 15. Thus, the liquid surface of the resin R is stabilized.

In this state, the resin tank 1 is
A laser beam is selectively irradiated to the photocurable resin R in 5 to form a single cured resin layer 9 on the flat surface 10a of the lift 10.

Next, the elevator 10 is lowered a small distance, and a predetermined amount of the photo-curable resin R is supplied from the auxiliary resin tank 17 to the resin tank 15.
After stabilizing the liquid surface of the resin R by injecting it into the inside, the laser irradiation device 8 selectively irradiates the photocurable resin R in the resin tank 15 with laser light to Another hardened resin tank 9 is laminated on top, and this is sequentially repeated to perform molding.
Thus, the molding can be performed by using the resin tank 15 having a small capacity and rapidly stabilizing the liquid level of the photocurable resin R in the resin tank 15 without using swage.

[0019]

As described above, according to the present invention, the volume of the resin tank is changed via the stretchable bellows in accordance with the size (height) of the object being formed. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the volume of the resin tank, thereby minimizing the amount of resin in the resin tank, reducing the initial cost, and removing the photo-curing resin when it is not necessary to reduce this deterioration. Can be prevented.

In addition, the liquid level of the photocurable resin in the resin tank is rapidly stabilized by gently injecting the photocurable resin into the resin tank from the auxiliary resin tank provided around the resin tank. It is possible to prevent a molded article from moving at the time of injection, and quickly produce a highly accurate molded article.
Further, the photocurable resin can be easily exchanged by extracting the photocurable resin from the auxiliary resin bath or the resin bath. Further, maintenance such as cleaning of the resin tank is also easy.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional front view showing an embodiment of the present invention.

2 is an enlarged sectional view of a main part of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a vertical sectional front view showing a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 6 laser light source 8 laser irradiation device 9 cured resin layer 10 elevating table 11 cylinder (elevating device) 13 bellows 14 flange plate 15 resin tank 17 auxiliary resin tank 20 cylinder

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An optical molding apparatus for selectively irradiating light to a photo-curable resin filled in a resin tank to form a resin, wherein the resin is a vertically movable table, and the cured resin is sequentially laminated on an upper surface. The resin tank is constituted by erecting a bellows that can expand and contract around the auxiliary resin tank. The auxiliary resin tank stores the photocurable resin around the resin tank. Means for injecting the liquid into the resin tank.