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JP-7855916-B2 - 3D printing equipment

JP7855916B2JP 7855916 B2JP7855916 B2JP 7855916B2JP-7855916-B2

Inventors

  • 橋爪 啓太郎

Assignees

  • セイコーエプソン株式会社

Dates

Publication Date
20260511
Application Date
20220512

Claims (11)

  1. The stage and, A first molding head having a first nozzle for supplying a first material to the aforementioned stage, A second molding head having a second nozzle for supplying a second material different from the first material to the stage, A moving mechanism for relatively moving at least one of the first and second build heads and the stage, The system comprises a first molding head, a second molding head, and a control unit for controlling the moving mechanism, The control unit causes the first build head to build a first calibration body on the stage, and the second build head to build a second calibration body on the stage. The first calibration body has a plurality of molding lines arranged at first intervals in a first direction on the stage, The second calibration body has a plurality of molding lines arranged on the stage in the first direction at a second interval wider than the first interval, A three-dimensional molding apparatus in which the distance between the first calibration body and the second calibration body in a direction intersecting the first direction is wider than the backlash interval in the moving mechanism .
  2. A three-dimensional molding apparatus according to claim 1, A three-dimensional molding apparatus in which a base layer is placed between the first calibration body, the second calibration body, and the stage.
  3. A three-dimensional molding apparatus according to claim 2 , The aforementioned base layer is formed using the first build head or the second build head in a three-dimensional 3D printing apparatus.
  4. A three-dimensional molding apparatus according to claim 1, The control unit, Using the first or second build head, scale information corresponding to the build line of the first calibration body is created. A three-dimensional molding apparatus that uses the first molding head or the second molding head to mold scale information corresponding to the molding lines of the second calibration body.
  5. A three-dimensional molding apparatus according to claim 1, An imaging means capable of imaging at least one of the first calibration body and the second calibration body, A storage unit that stores the image captured by the aforementioned imaging means, A three-dimensional modeling device equipped with the following features.
  6. A three-dimensional molding apparatus according to claim 5 , Images of the first calibration body and the second calibration body captured by the imaging means, A three-dimensional molding apparatus comprising a calibration screen on which calibration values obtained from the first calibration specimen and the second calibration specimen can be input, and a display unit that displays the calibration values.
  7. A three-dimensional molding apparatus according to claim 6 , Equipped with an image processing unit, The storage unit stores a first calibration image obtained by the imaging means of the first calibration body and a second calibration image obtained by the imaging means of the second calibration body, and the image processing unit trims the edges of the stored first calibration body image and the edges of the second calibration body image. The display unit displays the trimmed first calibration image and the trimmed second calibration image side by side in a three-dimensional modeling apparatus.
  8. A three-dimensional molding apparatus according to claim 6 , The display unit displays scale information corresponding to the molding lines of the first calibration body and scale information corresponding to the molding lines of the second calibration body, in a three-dimensional molding apparatus.
  9. A three-dimensional molding apparatus according to claim 1, A sensor that detects the height in a direction intersecting the first direction, The calculation unit and Equipped with, The calculation unit calculates the amount of displacement between the first and second calibration bodies based on the height information of the first calibration body obtained by the sensor and the height information of the second calibration body obtained by the sensor, in a three-dimensional molding apparatus.
  10. A three-dimensional molding apparatus according to claim 1, A three-dimensional molding apparatus in which the proportion of the first calibration body on the stage is smaller than the proportion of the second calibration body on the stage.
  11. A three-dimensional molding apparatus according to claim 1, The control unit, Before printing the first calibration body using the first build head, the first material is purged at the stage or maintenance position. A three-dimensional molding apparatus that purges the second material at the stage or the maintenance position before molding the second calibration body using the second molding head.

Description

This invention relates to a three-dimensional molding apparatus. Patent Document 1 discloses a three-dimensional 3D printing apparatus that calibrates the vertical distance between the tip of the injection nozzle and the mounting surface on the stage by measuring the distance between the tip of the injection nozzle in the 3D printing head and the stage sensor in the 3D printing head. Japanese Patent Publication No. 2017-217792 A cross-sectional view showing the configuration of a three-dimensional printing device.A cross-sectional view showing the configuration of the build plate head.Plan view showing the configuration of the first and second calibration specimens.A plan view showing the relationship between the build lines of the first proof model and the build lines of the second proof model.A diagram illustrating how to read the scales on the first and second calibration specimens.A diagram illustrating the amount of displacement in the X and Y directions.A diagram showing the display content of the display unit.A diagram showing the display content of the display unit.A diagram illustrating a method for determining the amount of displacement using a distance sensor.A plan view showing the configuration of a modified calibration specimen.A diagram illustrating the relationship between scale format and minimum reading. In the following diagrams, the three mutually orthogonal axes are referred to as the X-axis, Y-axis, and Z-axis. The direction along the X-axis is called the "X-direction," the direction along the Y-axis is called the "Y-direction," and the direction along the Z-axis is called the "Z-direction." The arrows indicate the + direction, and the opposite direction is called the - direction. The +Z direction is also sometimes called "up" or "upward," and the -Z direction is sometimes called "down" or "downward." Viewing from the +Z direction is also called a planar view or two-dimensional view. Furthermore, the surface on the Z-direction + side is referred to as the top surface, and the surface on the opposite Z-direction - side is referred to as the bottom surface. First, the configuration of the three-dimensional molding apparatus 1000 will be explained with reference to Figures 1 and 2. The three-dimensional molding apparatus 1000 extrudes the plasticized thermoplastic resin molding material 300 (see Figure 2) from the molding head 100 toward the stage 200, while simultaneously driving the moving mechanism 400 to change the relative position between the molding head 100 and the stage 200. As a result, the three-dimensional molding apparatus 1000 creates a three-dimensional object 300a of the desired shape on the stage 200. As shown in Figure 1, the three-dimensional molding apparatus 1000 comprises a stage 200, a first molding head 100a and a second molding head 100b positioned opposite the stage 200, a moving mechanism 400, and a control unit 500 that controls the first molding head 100a, the second molding head 100b, and the moving mechanism 400. The first build head 100a has a first nozzle 110a that supplies a first material to the stage 200. The second build head 100b has a second nozzle 110b that supplies a second material, different from the first material, to the stage 200. As described above, the moving mechanism 400 moves at least one of the first build head 100a and the second build head 100b relative to the stage 200. The moving mechanism 400 is composed of a three-axis positioner that moves the stage 200 in the X, Y, and Z directions using the driving force of three motors. Each motor is driven under the control of the control unit 500. The control unit 500 is comprised of a computer, for example, a processor, a storage device, and an input/output interface for inputting and outputting signals to and from the outside. In this embodiment, the control unit 500 controls the operation of the first build head 100a, the second build head 100b, and the moving mechanism 400 by having the processor execute programs and instructions stored on the storage device, thereby executing a build process to create a three-dimensional object 300a based on the build data. The molding data is created, for example, by loading shape data into slicer software installed on a computer connected to the 3D printing apparatus 1000. The shape data represents the target shape of the 3D object 300a, created using 3D CAD (Computer-Aided Design) software or 3D CG (Computer Graphics) software. Shape data can be in formats such as STL (Standard Triangulated Language) or AMF (Additive Manufacturing File Format). The slicer software divides the target shape of the 3D object 300a into layers of predetermined thickness and creates molding data for each layer. The molding data is represented using G-code or similar methods. The molding data includes information such as the movement path of the nozzle 110 relative to the stage 200, the amount of molding material 300 extruded from the nozzle 110, and the shape and area of ea