Autodesk develops black technology: Raise your 3D printing speed by 24 times

Recently, Autodesk engineers found a way to dramatically accelerate the printing speed of certain 3D objects on their Ember 3D printers. They think that this method of adjustment can also be used on other light-curing 3D printers.

At present, almost all 3D printers based on light curing or DLP technology face a problem of how to speed up printing. Overall, this 3D printer's print speed is mainly limited by two aspects:

The current UV light mainly illuminates the resin in the transparent resin cans from the bottom, curing the resin layer by layer, but unfortunately the cured resin also tends to stick to the cans and requires a method of separation that often requires a large amount of time.

During 3D printing, the print object moves up to make space for the next layer of cure, which requires the space left by the viscous liquid resin to fill. However, depending on the geometry of the object, suction sometimes significantly slows down this movement.

At present, there are already several companies that have overcome the first problem in various ways. For example, Carbon's CLIP technology, by introducing a very small oxygen-rich layer at the bottom of the resin can suppress the curing, thus avoiding the adhesion. There is also a layer of non-stick material coated on the container surface. Now there is a way to use low-power laser to cure the resin so that it can not form enough cohesion and so on.

Ironically, however, when the above method overcomes the first problem (viscous tank), the second problem (suction force) is highlighted again. Due to the faster printing speed, there is a problem that the flow of the resin can not keep up with the curing Speed, the biggest reason is that the middle of the print platform to move up faster, suction has become larger.

However, Autodesk engineers tried to solve the problem and used it on their Ember 3D printer. This method does not involve changing the hardware, but requires material, 3D models, and software to be adjusted accordingly.

So, how did they do it?

By converting solid objects into grids, the actual area of ​​each layer is greatly reduced.

Using a new resin formulation, the resin is less viscous and more fluid and reduces the effects of suction as a whole.

The first few layers of the printed object are printed in the usual way because suction problems are unavoidable as the large, flat print platform approaches the bottom of the can, which is not of much concern to the printed object.

When the print platform is away from the bottom of the tank, avoid using the time-consuming resin tank spin process to print the rest.

Note that this method is only valid for objects that can translate a cross-section of a mesh called a suction-capable mesh. Autodesk also provides an example of this, but for other print objects, especially those that require strength, this approach may not be a good choice.

Another interesting thing is that this method can theoretically be used with virtually any other light-cured 3D printer.