Authors:
Isidore Onyeako
and
Won-sook Lee
Affiliation:
University of Ottawa, Canada
Keyword(s):
Additive Manufacturing (AM), Layered Manufacturing (LM), 3D Printing, Computer Aided Design, Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF), Fused Deposition Modelling (FDM), Electron Beam Freeform Fabrication (EBFF), Electron Beam Melting (EBM), Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), Computer Tomography (CT), Rapid Prototyping (RP), Stereolithography (SLA).
Related
Ontology
Subjects/Areas/Topics:
CAGD/CAD/CAM Systems
;
Computer Vision, Visualization and Computer Graphics
;
Geometry and Modeling
;
Model Validation
;
Modeling and Algorithms
Abstract:
Low resolution printing results in fused joints when the joint clearance is intended to be very small. Various 3D printers are capable of print resolutions of up to 600dpi (dots per inch) as quoted in their datasheets. It is imperative to include the ability of a 3D slicing application, to validate 3D models, based on the ability of the printer to properly produce the features with the smallest detail in a model. A way to perform this validation would be the physical measurement of printed parts and comparison to expected results. Our method uses ray casting to detect features in the 3D models whose sizes are below the minimum allowed by the printer resolution. Our model was tested using few simple and complex 3D models. Areas in the slices with thickness less than the specified resolution were detected. Our model serves two purposes: (a) to assist CAD model designers in developing models whose printability is assured- by warning or preventing shape operations that will lead to regio
ns/features with sizes lower than that of the printer resolution; (b) to validate slicing outputs to identify regions/features with sizes lower than the printer resolution. This makes our model very powerful in the quality assurance of 3D printing and a huge cost/time saver when planning for 3D printing.
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