Method and apparatus for additive manufacturing of a glass object

Abstract

The present invention relates to an additive manufacturing method and apparatus for forming a three-dimensional component/object of glass including the steps of: feeding a glass filament material in an essentially horizontal direction towards a stage, heating the glass filament material such that the glass fiber material becomes or remains molten/softened; and depositing the molten/softened glass material onto a surface of the stage or object, in which the molten/softened glass material is forming the three-dimensional component/object of glass; wherein during at least part of the depositing the three-dimensional component of glass being formed rests on an essentially vertical stage, the molten/softened glass material is deposited layer-by-layer and one or more computers control wherein each layer the molten/softened glass material is deposited, by controlling a set of actuators that actuate movement of the glass filament and/or the stage.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.