Vibrationally enhanced stereolithographic recoating

A method for recoating a previous layer of a part having an upper surface comprising the steps of:

• (1) coating the upper surface of the part with liquid building material to form an upper coat;
• and
• (2) inducing vibration in the upper coat, wherein said step (1) is comprised of the substeps of:
• (a) over-dipping the part;
• and
• (b) locating the part in a position in which the upper surface is below a working surface by a distance substantially equal to a desired layer thickness.

A method for recoating a previous layer of a part having an upper surface comprising the steps of:

• (1) coating the upper surface of the part with liquid building material to form an upper coat;
• and
• (2) inducing vibration in the upper coat, wherein said step (2) is comprised of the substeps of:
• (a) providing a vibration generator;
• (b) providing a physical coupling between said vibration generator and liquid building material;
• (c) causing said vibration generator to vibrate liquid building material.

A method of recoating a previous layer of a part comprising the steps of:

• applying excess liquid building material over a substantial portion of the previous layer of said part, wherein the liquid building material has an actual material surface locatable at a desired working surface;
• locating an upper portion of the previous layer approximately one layer thickness below the working surface;
• and
• applying vibration to the excess liquid building material to aid in locating the actual surface of the material at the working surface.

A method for forming a three-dimensional object comprising the steps of:

• maintaining a container of liquid building material that has an actual material surface which is an upper surface and which is locatable at a desired working surface;
• forming a first layer of structure having an upper surface at the actual material surface when the actual material surface is substantially at the desired working surface;
• separating the upper surface of the first layer of structure from the desired working surface;
• inducing vibration into the liquid building material to aid formation of a substantially uniform coating of material having an upper surface over said first layer of structure and having a thickness substantially equal to the desired layer thickness;
• selectively exposing the uniform coating of material to synergistic stimulation to form a second layer of structure integral with said first layer of structure;
• and
• repeating the separating and exposing steps to form said object from a plurality of integral layers of structure.

A method for coating a previous layer of structure of a three-dimensional object with liquid building material comprising:

• forming a coating of said liquid building material over the previous layer of structure;
• and
• inducing vibrational energy into the liquid building material to form the coating of liquid building material into a uniform coating of thickness substantially equal to that of a layer thickness,
• where the coating of said building material over the previous layer of structure is a coating of excess material over a substantial portion of the previous layer of structure and where the excess coating is obtained by overdipping the previous layer of structure into a container of said building material and then positioning an upper surface of the previous layer of structure subtantially one layer thickness below a desired working surface.

A method for recoating a previous layer of a part having an upper surface comprising the steps of:

• coating the upper surface of the previous layer with liquid building material to form an upper coat;
• and
• inducing vibration in the upper coat;
• wherein inducing vibration further comprises the steps of:
• providing a vibration generator;
• providing a physical coupling between said vibration generator and the liquid building material;
• and
• causing said vibration generator to vibrate the upper coat.

A method for forming a three-dimensional object comprising the steps of:

• maintaining a container of liquid building material that has an actual material surface which is an upper surface and which is locatable at a desired working surface, wherein the desired working surface is substantially fixed in a vertical plane;
• forming a first layer of structure having an upper surface at the actual material surface when the actual material surface is substantially at the desired working surface;
• separating the upper surface of the first layer of structure from the desired working surface;
• inducing vibration into the liquid building material to aid formation of a substantially uniform coating of material having an upper surface over said first layer of structure and having a thickness substantially equal to the desired layer thickness;
• selectively exposing the substantially uniform coating of material to synergistic stimulation to form a second layer of structure integral with said first layer of structure;
• and
• repeating the separating and exposing steps to form said object from a plurality of integral layers of structure.

A method for forming, layer by layer, a three-dimensional object comprising the steps of:

• forming a layer of a liquid building material, wherein forming the layer includes inducing vibration into the building material to aid formation of a substantially uniform layer of material;
• selectively solidifying the layer of building material;
• and
• repeating the steps of forming the layer and solidifying the layer until the three-dimensional object is formed.