Printing assemblies and methods for using the same

A manufacturing apparatus, comprising:

• a printing head comprises a plurality of print heads comprising a plurality of jet nozzles spaced apart from one another in a direction transverse to a longitudinal axis, which is a working axis of the manufacturing apparatus, wherein a distance from a first jet nozzle to a second jet nozzle positioned adjacent the first jet nozzle of the plurality of jet nozzles defines a jet-spacing;
• a printing head position control assembly comprising a first actuator assembly configured to move the printing head along the longitudinal axis and a second actuator assembly configured to move the printing head along a latitudinal axis;
• and
• an electronic control unit communicatively coupled to the printing head position control assembly, the electronic control unit is configured to:
• cause select ones of the plurality of jet nozzles to dispense one or more drops of binder to a powder layer in a deposition pattern defined by a slicing engine as the printing head traverses along the longitudinal axis applying binder, wherein the first jet nozzle of the plurality of jet nozzles corresponds to a first trajectory assigned by the slicing engine,
• index the printing head by an index distance along the latitudinal axis such that the first jet nozzle corresponds to a second pass trajectory and another jet nozzle corresponds to the first trajectory assigned by the slicing engine, and
• cause the indexed printing head to traverse along the longitudinal axis and apply binder to the powder layer in the deposition pattern defined by the slicing engine;
• wherein:
• the printing head includes a plurality of print head rows comprising a set of the plurality of print heads of the plurality of print heads, and each print head of the plurality of print head rows includes the plurality of jet nozzles;
• the printing head is sized and shaped to slidably receive the plurality of print heads therein;
• the plurality of print heads are configured to slidably translate within the plurality of print head rows, respectively, in a transverse direction relative to the working axis;
• each print head of the plurality of print heads includes a coupling feature attached thereto, wherein the coupling feature of each print head of the plurality of print heads in the plurality of print head rows is further attached to an actuator;
• and
• the actuator attached to the coupling feature is configured to move a respective one of the plurality of print heads of a first print head row and/or a second print head row upon an actuation of the actuator caused by execution, with the electronic control unit, of computer readable and executable instructions stored in a non-transitory memory of the electronic control unit.