Custom color printed flexible structure
AssigneeRelatable Inflatables LLC
InventorsRabia Samma, Eman Samma, Ammar Samma, Muneeb Samma, Tyler Crain, Aleksander V. Tropp, Michael T. McClure
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Abstract
A three dimensional printing system which creates a multiple color printed structure which may be e.g. an inflatable likeness. The printing is done with a stretchy material such as silicone and is printed in layers of different color in order to match the designed likeness colors. In preferred embodiments, the 3d printing is done inside a gel suspension with a specialized print head which dispenses silicone in layers of color to produce the final desired color of silicone in the particular locations as determined by the avatar or likeness design.
Claims18
A 3D printer for printing flexible structures comprising:
- a base having a tank;
- a positioning support configured to move in at least three axes;
- a print head connected to the positioning support and configured to move with the positioning support, wherein the print head includes at least three dispenser elements which at least three dispenser elements move with the print head;
- feed reservoirs plumbed to said print head wherein said print head has one feed reservoir for each of the at least three dispenser elements;
- a controller configured to control the print head and feed reservoirs based on a print file, wherein the feed reservoirs are each configured to be filled with a different color of a material and the controller configured to control the three dispenser elements to simultaneously feed different amounts of the different colors of material from the feed reservoir out the print head in substantially different layers based on at least first and second selected colors associated with the print file, the first selected color associated with the print file created by at least three of the different colors are fed simultaneously out the print head for a least a portion of the flexible structure which is a printed object made by the 3D printer in a first ratio of the three different colors, and the second selected color associated with the print file created by at least three of the different colors which are fed simultaneously out the print head for a least a second portion of the printed object made by the 3D printer in a second ratio of the three different colors, wherein the material of at least two of the feed reservoirs, when cured, is translucent such that a perceived color from an exterior of the flexible structure is varied according to the different amounts of the different colors of the material and wherein the different layers are arranged relative to each other across to a build direction of the flexible structure;
- a fourth feed reservoir containing a white material and fourth dispenser wherein the controller is further configured to print a fourth layer in the white material for a most interior layer of the flexible structure.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.