A special form of 3D printing makes it possible to lay down layers along curved surfaces rather than planar ones. This non-planar approach promises more stable and material-saving components.
Maker Michael Wüthrich has demonstrated an inexpensive way to implement the technology using a modified Prusa Mini 3D printer. The main change is the installation of an extruder with improved accessibility to the build space.
Instead of conventional slicing software, Wüthrich uses Matlab with self-developed scripts for path generation and manual adjustments. In a practical example, he first prints an uneven “printing plate” with PETG filament and then prints a PLA part on it, which can then be easily removed from the PETG base.
Nonplanar printing on nonplanar printed „printbed“:
First I nonplanar printed a wavy part with PETG. Then I changed to PLA and printed nonplanar on it. So the resulting wavy part is nonplanar on both sides.
1/x pic.twitter.com/gcjg61tZiU— Michael Wüthrich (@mwuethri) April 15, 2024
Fergal Coulter demonstrates another way of increasing the degrees of freedom of FDM printers with a six-axis 3D printer. Here, the extruder can print objects on an existing surface as required – provided that the computing power for path planning is sufficient.
Although the technology is still in a niche, it could well become of interest for prototypes or small series in the medium term.
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