Silicon Mat Grooves for 3D Pen Filament Precision
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Solution Overview
Problem
The precision and stability issues in creating 2D and 3D plastic objects using a free-hand 3D drawing pen result in imprecise shapes due to human hand instability and the soft, warm nature of extruded filament, which fails to maintain the desired form before cooling.
Innovation Solution
A silicon mat with cut grooves of various geometric and non-geometric shapes serves as a guide and depository for the melted plastic filament, providing a precise formation of objects and facilitating easy extraction by allowing the filament to cool and harden within the grooves, while the mat's non-stickiness prevents adhesion and its flexibility aids in object removal.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If free-hand 3D drawing pen is used without guide, then operation flexibility is maintained, but manufacturing precision deteriorates due to hand instability and soft filament
Solution Approach 1:
A silicon mat with grooves is introduced as an intermediary between the 3D drawing pen and the work surface. The grooves guide the soft, warm filament as it is extruded, providing physical constraints that ensure precise shape formation while allowing the user to maintain free-hand operation flexibility.
Solution Approach 2:
The grooves are pre-cut into the silicon mat in the desired shapes and patterns before the drawing process begins. This preliminary preparation creates ready-made guides that direct the filament placement, eliminating the need for real-time manual positioning adjustments and ensuring manufacturing precision from the start.
2Manufacturing precision
If grooves are added to guide filament, then manufacturing precision is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The silicon mat with grooves is designed as an inexpensive, simple accessory rather than a complex mechanical system. The grooves are cut directly into the mat surface using basic tools, and the entire device can be replaced if needed, avoiding complex mechanisms while achieving high precision.
Solution Approach 2:
The silicon mat provides a flexible, thin guiding surface that conforms to the work area. The flexibility of the silicon material allows the grooves to be easily formed and the mat to be handled easily, providing precision guidance without adding rigid, complex structural elements.
3Manufacturing precision
If silicon mat with grooves is used, then manufacturing precision is improved, but ease of operation deteriorates due to extraction difficulty
Solution Approach 1:
The flexible silicon material allows the mat to be bent and manipulated easily. This flexibility enables the user to peel or flex the mat to release the hardened plastic objects from the grooves without requiring complex extraction mechanisms, maintaining ease of operation despite the precision guidance provided by the grooves.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Enables the creation of precise and complex 2D and 3D plastic objects by stabilizing the filament within the grooves, ensuring accurate shape retention and easy extraction, overcoming the limitations of free-hand drawing precision and filament handling.
Implementation Method 1
3D free-hand pens...utilizes plastic thread...that is melted and then cooled through a process, while moving through the 3-D drawing pen
Implementation Method 2
plastic thread...that is melted and then cooled through a process...into a solid structure
Implementation Method 3
melted plastic filament, extruded by the 3 D pen...before it transforms into hard plastic
Data Source
AI summary
The object of the present invention consists of a device that allows for the easy creation of 2-dimantional and 3-dimensional plastic objects using a 3-D drawing pen. The device object of the present invention is comprised of a flexible, heat resistant, non-sticky, transparent silicon mat characterized by the presence of grooves cut in its surface, the path of which can be of any geometric or non-geometric shape. The groove works as a guide for the 3-D drawing pen user by allowing such user to stretch the melted plastic, extruded by the 3D pen, on its bed, and within its walls, so that once hard the plastic object is exactly of the shape of the groove and its path, and not an imprecise shape caused by the unstableness of the hand of the free-hand 3-D pen user.