Break away support for 3D printing
AssigneeHewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
InventorJames Charles McKinnell
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
In one example, a 3D printing system includes a support structure generator to identify a breakaway support to temporarily support part of the object, to design a wedge shaped groove between a portion of the object and the support, the groove ending at a line along which the support intersects the object, and to generate a digital object model that includes the support and the groove. The system also includes a 3D printer to print the object, support and groove based on the object model.
Claims12
A 3D printing system, comprising:
- a support structure generator to identify a breakaway support to support part of an object, to design a wedge shaped groove between a portion of the object and the support, the groove ending at a line along which the support intersects and is integral or directly connected to the object, and to generate a digital object model that includes the support and the groove;
- and
- a 3D printer to print the object, support and groove based on the object model.
A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause a 3D printing system to:
- analyze a digital model of an object;
- identify a breakaway support to support part of the object;
- design a structural feature, including a wedge shaped groove, to concentrate a breakaway force along a line where the support intersects and is integral or directly connected to the object;
- modify the digital object model to include the support and the structural feature;
- and
- print the object, support and groove based on the modified digital object model.
A process for 3D printing an object, comprising:
- identifying a span;
- designing a breakaway support to support the span;
- designing a wedge-shaped groove to concentrate a breakaway force along a line where the support intersects the span and is integral or directly connected to the span;
- generating digital object slices to print the span, support, and groove;
- printing the object using the digital object slices.
A physical object comprising:
- a span;
- a breakaway support to temporarily support the span;
- and
- a structural feature, including a wedge shaped groove, to concentrate a breakaway force along a line where the support intersects the span and is integral or directly or directly connected to the span.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.