3D printing may now become easier as two researchers from Pennsylvania have created and developed a whole new system in which it utilizes a new way to make five-axis 3D printing more cost efficient and valuable.
The New 3D Printing System
The news of the new 3D printing system came after a paper by two researchers who are doctoral candidates, namely Sanjay Joshi and Xinyi Xiaoa was released in known science website Science Direct. The paper was entitled "Process planning for five-axis support free additive manufacturing," wherein they have proposed a solution in which it featured a 3D printer that will utilize a build plate that can be moved in various ways. It is also dubbed as an extrusion arm which could allow objects to be in their 3D space whenever it would be 3D printed.
The project proposed in the researchers' paper is inclined towards developing a newer model to allow printing preparation to be a lot faster and efficient for the objects in the process of printing through a five-axis 3D printer.
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In the normal process of 3D printing, it would begin at the bottom part of a certain object in which the printing would eventually add layers as it proceeds with the printing itself. Whenever the objects are sized bigger located on the top part rather than the base or on the overhang over the base, traditional and already established 3D printers in the past and on the current state of 3D printing tend to provide support material in which it would just be eventually thrown away and cannot see further use of it.
The researchers also indicate that removing such support materials or structures may oftentimes be expensive, as well as time-consuming "especially for the metal parts." Design, science and technology website Gizmodo reports that the project could be summed up as something which could cater 3D printing which is "squared," due to the fact that there is another axis located and added on to the 3D printer itself to reach its full potential and maximizing the whole given process while the object being printed would then grow as the printing goes on.
How Five-Axis Machines Benefit 3D Printing
As stated in their paper, the researchers also noted that upon using a five-axis deposition machine could grown the potential of the 3D printers to build and develop various structures in which those may not need the supporting items or parts anymore. Yet they also clarified that it may still lack the desired "automated process planning software" in order for it to be support what could be the full potential of the five-axis machines.
The main process of it involves cutting of the objects into pieces which would then be printed on an entirely different axis. If a regular 3D printer would be used, the support material on it may cover an entire object and most of it could be hard to remove. The new process offered by the proposed machine of the two researchers can help reduce or even remove the entire support material.
