Warp compensation for additive manufacturing
An additive manufacturing method includes receiving a design model indicative of a part that may be fabricated using the additive manufacturing method, and generating expected-warping information based on the design model, the expected-warping information being indicative of an expected change in a shape of the part resulting from the additive manufacturing method. The method also includes modifying the design model based on the expected-warping information and fabricating the part using the modified design model.
1. An additive manufacturing method, comprising:
receiving, by one or more processors, a design model for an additive manufacturing apparatus, the design model being indicative of a part formed with a plurality of layers stacked on each other in a vertical direction, the design model having a portion that is horizontally shifted away from an expected warping of the portion based on expected-warping information; and
forming the part based on the design model, including the shifted portion, by controlling the additive manufacturing apparatus, with the one or more processors, to:
heat a material within an extruder;
transfer the material to a nozzle; and
deposit the material from the nozzle, the deposited material having a shape that corresponds to the shape of the design model, to form the part.
2. The additive manufacturing method of claim 1 , further including controlling a gantry of the additive manufacturing apparatus based on the shifted portion to deposit the material as a series of layers stacked on each other in the vertical direction.
3. The additive manufacturing method of claim 1 , further including moving the nozzle of the additive manufacturing apparatus along a path based on the shifted portion of the design model.
4. The additive manufacturing method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of layers includes at least one layer for support or trim material and at least one layer that corresponds to the shifted portion of the design model.
5. The additive manufacturing method of claim 4 , wherein, in the design model, a cavity is positioned above the at least one layer for support or trim material.
6. The additive manufacturing method of claim 1 , wherein the expected-warping information is generated based on an expected-warping model.
7. The additive manufacturing method of claim 1 , wherein the expected-warping information includes a plurality of points that correspond to a respective plurality of points in the design model, at least one point in the design model having been modified based on a difference between the at least one point in the design model and a corresponding point of the expected-warping information.
8. The additive manufacturing method of claim 1 , further including generating an expected-warping model and displaying the expected-warping model on a display device.
9. The additive manufacturing method of claim 1 , wherein the part extends at least ten feet after being formed with the additive manufacturing apparatus.
10. The additive manufacturing method of claim 9 , wherein the part is a mold or a tool.
11. A method of forming a part with an additive manufacturing apparatus, comprising:
receiving, by one or more processors, a design model representative of the part, wherein the design model includes a plurality of layers stacked on each other in a vertical direction;
generating, by the one or more processors, an expected-warping model that corresponds to at least a portion of the design model that is modified based on a predicted amount of warping that the part will experience during cooling;
modifying at least a section of the design model based on the predicted amount of warping, including shifting a portion of the design model in a direction away from an expected warping of the portion and in a horizontal direction; and
forming the part with the additive manufacturing apparatus based on the modified design model by heating material within an extruder and depositing the heated material with a nozzle downstream of the extruder.
12. The method of claim 11 , further including moving the nozzle of the additive manufacturing apparatus along a path based on the modified portion of the design model.
13. The method of claim 11 , wherein the design model includes a cavity, the portion corresponding to the cavity.
14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the plurality of layers includes at least one layer of support material below the cavity.
15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the plurality of layers includes at least one layer of material above the cavity that is determined to be free of warping based on expected-warping information that corresponds to the design model.
16. The method of claim 14 , further including removing the at least one layer of support material.
17. The method of claim 16 , wherein the at least one layer of support material is removed with the additive manufacturing apparatus.
18. The method of claim 11 , wherein the portion of the design model corresponds to a cavity of the part.
19. The method of claim 11 , wherein the predicted amount of warping is produced by performing, with the one or more processors, a point-by-point analysis of the design model to calculate whether a plurality of points of the design model will warp.
20. The method of claim 11 , wherein the heated material includes a thermoplastic material.