COMBINED PROCESS FOR BUILDING THREE-DIMENSIONAL MODELS

• US 20100161105A1
• Filed: 12/18/2009
• Published: 06/24/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/22/2008
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Stratasys Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Stratasys Incorporated
• Inventors: Blake, Paul
• Application Number:
  US12/642,127
• Publication Number:
  US 20100161105A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 700/119
• CPC Class Codes: B29C 64/106 using only liquids or viscous materials, e.g. depositing a continuous bead of viscous material
• CPC Class Codes: B29C 64/112 using individual droplets, e.g. from jetting heads
• CPC Class Codes: B29C 64/188 involving additional operations performed on the added layers, e.g. smoothing, grinding or thickness control surface shaping B29C59/00; after-treatment of articles without altering their shape B29C71/00

Abstract

A method and system for building a three-dimensional model, which include performing a subtractive removal process on at least one material feedstock to form a plurality of base seeds, performing an additive deposition process to deposit at least one material on at least a portion of a base seed target surface, and performing an assembly process to combine the plurality of base seeds to form at least a portion of the three-dimensional model.

Claims

1. A method for building a three-dimensional model, the method comprising:

performing a subtractive removal process on at least one material feedstock to form a plurality of base seeds, wherein each of the plurality of base seeds comprises a mating surface, and at least one of the base seeds comprises a target surface;

performing an additive deposition process to deposit at least one material on at least a portion of the target surface to provide a coated target surface; and

performing an assembly process to combine the plurality of base seeds to form at least a portion of the three-dimensional model, wherein the coated target surface constitutes at least a portion of an exterior surface of the three-dimensional model.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein performing the subtractive removal process comprises selectively removing one or more portions of the at least one material feedstock.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the additive deposition process comprises a process selected from the group consisting of a jetting process, a fused deposition modeling process, and a combination thereof.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein performing the assembly process comprises securing the mating surface of a first of the plurality of base seeds to the mating surface of a second of the plurality of base seeds.

5. The method of claim 1, and further comprising separating the plurality of base seeds from the at least one material feedstock.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one material feedstock compositionally comprises a foamed polymeric material.

7. The method of claim 1, and further comprising:

identifying base seed geometries for each of the plurality of base seeds; and

generating first data instructions based at least in part on the identified base seed geometries, wherein the first data instructions are configured to direct a production system to perform the subtractive removal process.

8. The method of claim 7, and further comprising:

identifying additive surface properties for depositing the at least one material; and

generating second data instructions based at least in part on the identified additive surface properties, wherein the second data instructions are configured to direct the production system to perform the additive deposition process.

9. A method for building a three-dimensional model, the method comprising:

selectively removing at least a portion of at least one material feedstock to form a plurality of base seeds, wherein at least a portion of the plurality of base seeds each comprise a target surface;

depositing a material onto the target surfaces to form at least one surface feature selected from the group consisting of topographical features, color patterns, coatings, and combinations thereof;

separating the plurality of base seeds from the at least one material feedstock; and

assembling the plurality of base seeds to form at least a portion of the three-dimensional model, wherein the at least one surface feature constitutes at least a portion of an exterior surface of the three-dimensional model.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein selectively removing the portion of the at least one material feedstock comprises causing relative movement between a removal tool and the at least one material feedstock.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein depositing the material onto the target surfaces comprises a process selected from the group consisting of jetting the material onto the target surfaces in a layer-based additive manner, extruding the material onto the target surfaces in a layer-based additive manner, and a combination thereof.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein assembling the plurality of base seeds comprises securing a mating surface of a first base seed of the plurality of base seeds to a mating surface of a second base seed of the plurality of base seeds.

13. The method of claim 9, and further comprising:

identifying base seed geometries for each of the plurality of base seeds; and

generating first data instructions based at least in part on the identified base seed geometries, wherein the first data instructions are configured to direct a production system to selectively remove the portion of the at least one material feedstock.

14. The method of claim 13, and further comprising:

identifying additive surface properties for depositing the at least one material; and

generating second data instructions based at least in part on the identified additive surface properties, wherein the second data instructions are configured to direct the production system to deposit the material onto the target surfaces.

15. A system for building a three-dimensional model, the system comprising:

at least one subtractive removal station configured to form a plurality of base seeds from at least one material feedstock, wherein each of the plurality of base seeds comprises a mating surface, and at least one of the seeds comprises a target surface;

at least one additive deposition station configured to deposit at least one material on at least a portion of the target surface to provide a coated target surface; and

at least one assembly station comprising at least one robotic manipulator configured to combine the plurality of base seeds to form at least a portion of the three-dimensional model, wherein the coated target surface constitutes at least a portion of an exterior surface of the three-dimensional model.

16. The system of claim 15, and further comprising at least one motion assembly configured to move the at least one feed stock material between at least the at least one subtractive removal station and the at least one additive deposition processing station.

17. The system of claim 15, and further comprising a controller configured to receive digital data relating to the three-dimensional model, wherein the controller is in signal communication with the at least one subtractive removal station, the at least one additive deposition station, and the at least one assembly station.

18. The system of claim 15, and further comprising at least one separation station configured to separate the plurality of base seeds from the at least one material feedstock.

19. The system of claim 15, wherein the at least one subtractive removal station comprises a computer numerical control system.

20. The system of claim 15, wherein the at least one additive deposition station comprises a deposition head selected from the group consisting of a jetting head, an extrusion head, and combinations thereof.