Method of making a three-dimensional object

• US 6,261,506 B1
• Filed: 11/13/1998
• Issued: 07/17/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 10/07/1996
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: 3D Systems, Inc. (3D Systems Corporation)
• Original Assignee: 3D Systems, Inc. (3D Systems Corporation)
• Inventors: Partanen, Jouni P., Nguyen, Hop D.
• Primary Examiner(s): Tentoni, Leo B.
• Application Number:
  US09/191,161
• Time in Patent Office: 977 Days
• Field of Search: 264/308, 264/401, 425/135, 425/174.4, 425/375, 700/119, 700/120
• US Class Current: 264/401
• CPC Class Codes: B29C 64/124 using layers of liquid which are selectively solidified
• CPC Class Codes: B29C 64/153 using layers of powder being selectively joined, e.g. by selective laser sintering or melting
• CPC Class Codes: B29C 64/40 Structures for supporting 3D objects during manufacture and intended to be sacrificed after completion thereof
• CPC Class Codes: B33Y 10/00 Processes of additive manufacturing

Abstract

A method and apparatus for building three-dimensional objects having an internal structure, wherein the structure is discontinuous and is composed from a plurality of patterns and bridging patterns formed on a plurality of levels, wherein a bridging level and pattern reside between previous and subsequent levels from which the bridging pattern obtains at least a portion of its pattern. A portion of the bridging pattern is obtained from the pattern on the previous level and a portion of the bridging pattern is obtained from the pattern on the subsequent level.

Claims

1. A method of forming a three-dimensional object on a layer-by-layer basis from a solidifiable medium, the object having an upward facing skin surface defined by at least one skin layer, a downward facing skin surface defined by at least one further skin layer and at least one intermediate layer between said upward and downward facing skin surface layers, the method comprising:

defining a width dimension N;

determining whether at least one of a downward-facing skin surface and an upward-facing skin surface of the object has a width less than N;

determining the number of layers for at least one of said upward facing skin surface and said downward facing skin surface, dependent on the determination of whether the surface has a width less than N, wherein the number of layers for surface having a width greater than N is greater than the number of layers for a surface having a width less than N;

forming said upward and downward facing skin surfaces with the number of layers determined in said layer number determining step; and

forming at least one intermediate layer between the upward and downward facing skin surfaces while forming the three-dimensional object.

2. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein N is a value between about 20-60 mils.

3. A method of forming a three-dimensional object on a layer-by-layer basis from a solidifiable medium, the object having an upward facing skin surface defined by at least one skin layer, a downward facing skin surface defined by at least one further skin layer and at least one intermediate layer between said upward and downward facing skin surface layers, the method comprising:

determining whether at least one of a down-facing skin surface and an up-facing skin surface of the object has a width less than N;

determining the number of layers for at least one of said upward facing surface and said downward facing surface, dependent on the determination of whether the surface has a width less than N, wherein the number of layers for surface having a width greater than N is greater than the number of layers for a surface having a width less than N;

forming said upward and downward facing skin surfaces with the number of layers determined in said layer number determining step; and

forming at least one intermediate layer between the upward and downward facing skin while forming the three-dimensional object.

4. A method as recited in claim 3, wherein N is a value between about 20-60 mils.

5. A method of forming a three-dimensional object from a solidifiable liquid medium with improved build style and improved drainage having plural object regions, forming the object on a layer-by-layer basis from a liquid solidifiable medium, each given object region defining a height dimension, each object region having an upward facing skin surface defined by at least one skin layer, and a downward facing skin surface defined by at least one further skin layer, the method comprising:

identifying a desired height;

determining whether the height of a given region is less than the desired height;

determining the number of layers for forming at least one of said upward facing skin surface and said downward facing skin surface of said given region dependent on the determination of whether the height for the given region is less than the desired height, wherein the number of layers for forming a skin surface of a region having a height less than the desired height is less than the number of layers for forming a skin surface of a region having a height dimension greater than the desired height; and

forming said upward and downward facing skin surfaces with the number of layers determined in said layer number determining step while forming the three-dimensional object to improve the drainage of solidifiable liquid from the object.

6. A method of forming a three-dimensional object from a solidifiable liquid medium with improved build style having plural object regions, on a layer-by-layer basis from a solidifiable liquid medium, each given object region having a width N, each object region having an upward facing skin surface defined by at least one skin layer and a downward facing skin surface defined by at least one further skin layer, each skin layer having a thickness, the method comprising:

selecting a first number of layers for forming the downward facing skin surface and a second number of layers for forming the upward facing skin surface of each object region, wherein the first number of layers and the second number of layers are selected based on determining whether the downward facing surface and/or the upward facing surface on a given object region are less than N; and

forming said upward and downward facing skin surfaces with the number of layers determined in said layer number selecting step while forming the three-dimensional object.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein N has a value between about 20 to about 60 mils.