3D Printing Support Layout for Uniform Post-Cut Separation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing three-dimensional object forming technologies face challenges in cutting supports from three-dimensional products due to variations in deformation and deflection, leading to uneven cuts and difficulties in separating the product from the supports.
Innovation Solution
A three-dimensional object forming system and data generation program that sets supports and a support member offset outside the product, generating data for forming objects with reduced length variations between the supports and the product, facilitating easier cutting by specifying the support member's position and length relative to the product's outer periphery.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If supports are connected directly to the three-dimensional product, then the structure is simple and easy to manufacture, but the supports deform and deflect unevenly during cutting, leading to uneven cuts and difficulty in separation
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a support member as an intermediary component between the supports and the three-dimensional product. This support member acts as a mediator that distributes cutting forces and prevents direct transmission of deformation to the supports, thereby achieving uniform cuts while maintaining simple support connection to the product.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the support structure into two distinct parts: the supports connected to the three-dimensional product and the support member that receives the cuts. This segmentation allows the support member to bear the cutting deformation independently, preventing it from affecting the supports and enabling clean separation.
2Volume of moving object
If the support member is positioned close to the three-dimensional product, then the support structure is compact, but the supports experience varying lengths and deformations during cutting
Solution Approach 1:
The support member serves as an intermediary that absorbs cutting deformations, allowing the supports to maintain consistent lengths regardless of their position. The support member's placement outside the product's outer periphery provides a stable reference point that ensures uniform support lengths while keeping the overall structure compact.
3Shape
If supports are cut close to the three-dimensional product outer periphery, then the product geometry is preserved, but the supports deform and deflect during cutting
Solution Approach 1:
The support member acts as an intermediary buffer zone positioned outside the product's outer periphery. This intermediary structure provides a dedicated cutting zone that is separated from the product geometry, allowing supports to be cut uniformly without causing deformation that would affect the product's shape or require geometry modification.
Data Source
AI summary
An object forming data generation program including instructions to cause a controller of a computer to perform operations. The operations include obtaining three-dimensional data representing a three-dimensional shape of a three-dimensional product; setting a plurality of supports to be connected to the three-dimensional product and a support member to be connected to each of the plurality of supports, based on the three-dimensional data, such that, when viewed from a reference direction intersecting each of the plurality of supports, the support member is offset to a position outside the three-dimensional product and at which a length of each of the plurality of supports in a longitudinal direction thereof is a predetermined amount from an outer periphery of the three-dimensional product; and generating three-dimensional object forming data for forming an object including the three-dimensional product, the plurality of supports, and the support member, using a three-dimensional object forming apparatus.