A new research paper describes a nonplanar hardware and software slicing system.
The new system, called “Atomizer”, uses a new paradigm for generating toolpaths. Today’s typical 3D print slicing software will decompose an object into layers, which are then printed in 2D form, layer by layer.
Atomizer instead decomposes an object into “atoms”, which are three-dimensional chunks of the model. These atoms each have unique spatial and directional properties, which are used to optimize a toolpath.
For example, a tower is composed of a series of adjacent atoms. These would be printed in sequence, rather than jumping to other portions of a layer, as is typically done in today’s slicing software. This presents an opportunity to speed up the printing process by eliminating some amount of toolhead travel time.
The researchers say the results can be more accurate and have smoother surfaces as a result of the optimized toolpath, in addition to speeding up the print job.
The optimization generation is aware of the possibility of collisions, as you might expect when printing in this manner. The eventual toolpath does not have collisions because they are detected and avoided.
Another interesting benefit is the ability to produce smooth surface artifacts on curves, something that is difficult to do with conventional slicing. Similarly, the “staircase effect” is greatly minimized.
As with other nonplanar systems, the amount of support material is drastically reduced. That’s because the hardware is expected to tilt the in-progress print to avoid the overhangs, where possible.
About that hardware: normal desktop FFF 3D printers have motion systems that operate in three dimensions only, X, Y, and Z. Here the researchers made a relatively simple modification to a 3D printer to enable an extra dimension of movement.
They modified a standard RatRig V-Core 3.1 printer’s motion system by installing triple independent Z-axis motors. These allowed fine control to tilt the build plate as required during printing to achieve another axis of motion. They also ensured the system had a rather long hot end, which would minimize collisions.
Here is a video showing how the system works:
I’m flabbergasted that this simple motion system modification hasn’t been done before, at least as far as I can tell. This could easily be implemented by any of the major FFF 3D printer manufacturers to make their desktop devices far more capable. It doesn’t provide a full range of motion, but even some would be quite beneficial.
Perhaps they haven’t done so because new software would be required to drive the modified hardware. Well, that’s just what Atomizer is all about.
Hopefully, we will see one of the manufacturers take on this technology.
Via GitHub
