Calibration system and method for additive manufacturing devices

An additive manufacturing device system comprising:

• a laser;
• a laser steering system for controlling a direction of focus of said laser;
• a build surface;
• an interface;
• and
• computer instructions configured to:
• (i) collect a number of laser locations on said build surface and corresponding control values of said laser locations necessary to direct said laser to said laser locations;
• and
• (ii) apply a function fitting algorithm to an unfitted mapping function utilizing said laser locations and said corresponding control values to generate a calibration data set of laser locations and corresponding control values wherein said calibration data set permits control values to be determined from other laser locations not yet collected.

An additive manufacturing device system comprising:

• a laser;
• a laser steering system for controlling a direction of focus of said laser;
• a build surface;
• a substrate depicting multiple marks representing laser locations on said build surface;
• an interface allowing a user to manually direct the laser to said marks on said substrate as said substrate rests on said build surface;
• and
• computer instructions configured to:
• (i) collect control values as said laser is directed at each of said marks;
• and
• (ii) apply a function fitting algorithm to an unfitted mapping function utilizing said laser locations, associated with each of said marks, and said corresponding control values to generate a calibration data set of laser locations and corresponding control values wherein said calibration data set permits control values to be determined for other laser locations not identified by a mark on said substrate.

An additive manufacturing device system comprising:

• a laser;
• a laser steering system for controlling a direction of focus of said laser;
• a build surface;
• a series of photosensors for use on said build surface;
• an interface;
• and
• computer instructions configured to:
• (i) collect control values as said laser is directed automatically at each of said photosensors;
• and
• (ii) apply a function fitting algorithm to an unfitted mapping function utilizing laser locations associated with each of said photosensors and said corresponding control values to generate a calibration data set of laser locations and corresponding control values wherein said calibration data set permits control values to be determined for other laser locations not identified by a photosensor on said build surface.