Additive manufacturing apparatus with removable, exchangeable frame-like spacer foil

Abstract

The present invention relates to an additive manufacturing apparatus for additively manufacturing a component including: a resin vat unit which includes: a reservoir for storing UV-light photocurable resin; and a frame assembly holding a UV-transparent window at the bottom of the reservoir, said UV-transparent window includes a UV-transparent plate and a UV-transparent anti-adhesive flexible foil; a projection unit for projecting UV-light through the UV-transparent window into the reservoir; and a movable building platform having a surface onto which said component can be formed through layerwise curing of said resin. The UV-transparent window further includes a removable frame-like spacer foil which has a predetermined thickness and can be removably mounted by means of the frame assembly between the UV-transparent plate and the UV-transparent anti-adhesive flexible foil in order to create a plate-foil air gap; and at least one air hole for communicating said plate-foil air gap with the atmosphere.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.