Additive manufacturing part marking system and process
A method for additive manufacturing an object is disclosed. The method includes converting an encoded file for a set of components to a text-based component toolpath file; creating and encoding a set of serialization (SN) files for characters in a part marking geometry; and converting encoded SN files to a set of text-based SN toolpath files. The method then generates a combined print file from the component toolpath file and the SN toolpath files to include both component and SN scan paths, wherein generating includes combining location and part marking details from a part SN location script with SN geometries from the SN toolpath files to create a modified SN toolpath file for a part marking.
1 . A method for marking parts in an additive manufacturing (AM) process, comprising:
converting an encoded component file for a plurality of components to a text-based component toolpath file;
creating and encoding a set of serialization (SN) files for characters in a part marking geometry, wherein the part marking geometry is configured to be applied to each of the plurality of components and includes a predefined sequence of character positions and possible character values for each position;
converting encoded SN files to a set of text-based SN toolpath files; and
generating a combined print input file from the component toolpath file and the SN toolpath files to include both component scan paths and SN scan paths, wherein the generating includes combining location and part marking details from a part SN location script with SN geometries from the SN toolpath files to create modified SN toolpath files for marking each of the plurality of components with a unique set of characters;
wherein the part SN location script further defines how many components are on a build plate and a file server location of the component toolpath file and the SN toolpath files.
2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the encoded component file and encoded set of SN files are encoded in a stereolithography (STL) file format.
3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the text-based component toolpath file and the text-based SN toolpath files include common layer interface (CLI) files.
4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of components comprises a plurality of duplicate components.
5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the combined print input file is generated in response to inputs into a user interface, wherein the inputs include a print machine identifier, a batch number and a build type.
6 . The method of claim 5 , wherein the user interface includes a graphical user interface (GUI) with selectable user inputs.
7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the component scan path is undisturbed by the SN scan path in the combined print input file.
8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the set of SN files are created with a computer aided design (CAD) SN tool and wherein the encoded SN files are named with labels indicating a character value and a character position of an associated serialized character.
9 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising inputting the combined print input file into an additive manufacturing printer and printing components with part markings using selective laser melting (SLM).
10 . A computing system, comprising:
a memory; and
a processor coupled to the memory and configured to generate part markings in an additive manufacturing (AM) process, according to process that comprises:
receiving inputs that select an AM build for a batch of components;
in response to a selected AM build:
determining a combined toolpath folder associated with the AM build, wherein the combined toolpath folder includes serialization (SN) toolpath files representing a part marking geometry and a component toolpath file representing component geometries; and
generating a combined toolpath file that includes scan path data for both the batch of components and part markings, wherein the scan path data for the part markings is determined according to a part SN location script that locates character geometries and assigns character values for each component such that each component in the AM build receives a unique set of characters;
wherein the part SN location script further defines how many serialized components are on a build plate and a file server location of the component toolpath file and the SN toolpath files.
11 . The system of claim 10 , further comprising converting the combined toolpath file to a combined print input file and implementing an AM build.
12 . The system of claim 11 , wherein the SN toolpath files and the component toolpath file are stored in a text-based format.
13 . The system of claim 12 , wherein the text-based format comprises common layer interface (CLI) files.
14 . The system of claim 10 , wherein the part marking geometries includes a predefined sequence of character positions, and wherein each character position includes a set of character values that can be printed at a given character position.
15 . The system of claim 11 , wherein the combined print input file is generated in response to inputs into a user interface from an operator, wherein the inputs include a print machine identifier, a batch number and a build type.
16 . The system of claim 15 , wherein the user interface includes a graphical user interface (GUI) with selectable user inputs.
17 . The system of claim 11 , wherein the scan path data for the batch of components is undisturbed by the scan path data for the part markings in the combined print input file.
18 . The system of claim 10 , wherein the part marking geometry is created with a computer aided design (CAD) SN tool.