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US 12,686,172 B2Granted
3D printer and methods of welding 3D printed items
AssigneeThe United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Air Force
InventorsRyan Bernardy, Thomas Koemel
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A 3D printer and methods for hot air welding of 3D printed items within a printing operation of the 3D printer are disclosed. These methods allow for a controlled weld between either similar or dissimilar (miscible or immiscible) 3D printed materials with hot air heated from jets near the printer head or heads.
Claims16
A 3D printer comprising:
- a printer bed;
- a movable printer head disposed over said printer bed;
- a hot air welding head disposed over said printer bed, wherein said hot air welding head is movable over the printer bed;
- and
- at least one controller in communication with said printer head and said hot air welding head for controlling said printer head and said hot air welding head, wherein said at least one controller is configured to cause said printer head to print material on the printer bed in an additive manner by laying down layers of the material on the printer bed in order to build articles on the printer bed comprising a first 3D printed component comprised of a first material and a second 3D printed component comprised of a second material, wherein said first material and said second material are immiscible, and said at least one controller is configured to cause said printer head to print said first 3D printed component and said second 3D printed component on said printer bed in a position adjacent to each other with an interface therebetween such that said first and second 3D printed components are not initially joined together, wherein said at least one controller is configured to move said hot air welding head over the printer bed into the area of the interface between said first and second 3D printed components and to cause said hot air welding head to weld the first and second 3D printed components together at said interface.
2 more elements
A 3D printer comprising:
- a printer bed;
- a first movable printer head disposed over said printer bed, said first movable printer head provided with a supply of a first material for 3D printing a first component on said printer bed;
- a second movable printer head disposed over said printer bed, said second movable printer head provided with a supply of a second material immiscible with said first material for 3D printing a second component on said printer bed;
- a movable welding material dispenser disposed over said printer bed, said welding material dispenser containing a welding material;
- a hot air welding head disposed over said printer bed, wherein said hot air welding head is movable over the printer bed to weld the first 3D printed component to the second 3D printed component on said printer bed;
- and
- at least one controller in communication with said first printer head, said second printer head, and said hot air welding head, said at least one controller configured to control said first printer head and said second printer head to respectively print said first component and said second component adjacent to each other on the printer bed with an interface therebetween such that the first and second components are not initially joined together, wherein said at least one controller is further configured to control said hot air welding head to perform said welding at said interface.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.