METHOD FOR PRINTING A THREE-DIMENSIONAL OPTICAL COMPONENT
A method for printing a three-dimensional optical component ( 1 ), wherein the three-dimensional component ( 1 ) is built up from layers of printing ink which are printed at least partially one above the other in consecutive layer-printing steps, wherein during at least one layer-printing step a layer is printed in multi-pass mode, wherein the multi-pass layer ( 4 ) is divided into multiple sublayers ( 3 ) which are printed in consecutive sublayer-printing steps such that during each sublayer-printing step only part of the multi-pass layer ( 4 ) is printed and the full multi-pass layer ( 4 ) is obtained through the multiple sublayer-printing steps.
1 . A method for printing a three-dimensional optical component, wherein the three-dimensional component is built up from layers of printing ink which are printed at least partially one above the other in consecutive layer-printing steps;
wherein during at least one layer-printing step a multi-pass layer is printed in multi-pass mode;
wherein the multi-pass layer is divided into multiple sublayers which are printed in consecutive sublayer-printing steps such that during each sublayer-printing step only part of the multi-pass layer is printed and the full multi-pass layer is obtained through the multiple sublayer-printing steps;
wherein the multi-pass layer is printed during final layer-printing steps;
wherein the final layer-printing steps comprise the last 20 layers; and
wherein the final layer-printing steps are carried out at a different printing speed than the remaining layer-printing steps.
2 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein a printing pattern of at least one sublayer of the multi-pass layer is randomly generated.
3 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein a printing pattern of at least one sublayer of the multi-pass layer is generated through conversion of a greyscale image into a black-and-white pattern.
4 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein all multi-pass layers are printed with the same sublayer printing patterns.
5 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the multi-pass layer is printed in N sublayer-printing steps and each sublayer covers an Nth of a surface of the full multi-pass layer.
6 . The method according to claim 5 , wherein N is smaller than 10.
7 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein between 4 and 12 multi-pass layers are printed in multi-pass mode.
8 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the three-dimensional optical component is rotated by a defined angle after at least one layer-printing step.
9 . The method according to claim 8 , wherein the defined angle is 20°.
10 .- 12 . (canceled)
13 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein at least one layer-printing step is followed by a curing step.
14 . The method according to claim 13 , wherein final layers are cured with different curing properties than remaining layers.
15 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein each layer-printing step comprises a targeted placement of droplets of printing ink at least partially side by side.
16 . The method according to claim 3 , wherein the printing pattern of at least one sublayer of the multi-pass layer is generated through halftoning.
17 . The method according to claim 6 , wherein N=3.