Laminated object manufacturing system

A laminated object manufacturing system for converting sheet material into a three-dimensional object comprised of a plurality of layer of said sheet material, comprising:

• a base frame;
• a reference frame on said base frame, the reference frame comprising at least one reference frame member;
• a work station mounted to position said sheet material;
• a forming tool comprising an X-Y plotter, a laser for producing a laser beam and at least one mirror to receive said laser beam and direct the beam onto said sheet material, wherein said X-Y plotter, said laser, and said mirror are mounted on the same said reference frame member.

A laminated object manufacturing system for converting sheet material into a three-dimensional object comprised of a plurality of layers of said sheet material, comprising:

• a work station mounted to position said sheet material;
• a forming tool mounted to move relative to said work station to form said layers from the sheet material;
• a bonding tool mounted to move relative to said work station to apply force and bond adjacent layers of sheet material to each other to form said three-dimensional object;
• at least two spaced sensors on said bonding tool mounted to sense the force applied by said bonding tool to the sheet material during bonding of said adjacent layers;
• a controller which electronically controls the position of said bonding tool with respect to said work station in accordance with the force sensed by said sensor to ensure proper bonding of the adjacent layers of sheet material.

A laminated object manufacturing system for converting sheet material into a three-dimensional object comprised of a plurality of layers of said sheet material, comprising:

• a work station adapted to position said sheet material;
• a forming tool mounted to move relative to said work station to form said layers from the sheet material;
• a bonding tool mounted to move relative to said work station to bond adjacent layers of sheet material to each other to form said three-dimensional object;
• a temperature sensor mounted to sense the temperature of an exposed layer of sheet material that has been bonded to other layers;
• and
• a controller which controls the application of heat to a layer of sheet material that is applied to said exposed layer, said controller controlling said application of heat in accordance with the temperature sensed by said temperature sensor.

A method of converting sheet material into a three-dimensional object comprised of a plurality of layers, including the steps of:

• positioning said sheet material over a work station;
• forming a layer from the sheet material using a forming tool movably mounted over the work station;
• bonding said formed layer to an adjacent layer of sheet material to result in a bonded layer using a bonding tool movably mounted over the work station;
• sensing the temperature of the sheet material;
• adjusting the speed of the bonding tool on a subsequent bonding step based on the temperature sensed.

A method of converting sheet material into a three-dimensional object comprised of a plurality of layers of said sheet material, comprising the steps of:

• positioning said sheet material over a work station;
• forming a layer from the sheet material using a forming tool movably mounted over the work station;
• bonding said formed layer to an adjacent layer of sheet material using a bonding tool movably mounted over the work station;
• sensing the force applied by the bonding tool to the sheet material during bonding of said layer;
• and
• controlling the position of the bonding tool with respect to the work station in accordance with the force sensed by the sensor.

A laminated object manufacturing system for converting sheet material into a three-dimensional object comprised of a plurality of layers of said sheet material, comprising:

• a work station adapted to position said sheet material;
• a forming tool mounted to move relative to said work station to form said layers from the sheet material;
• a bonding tool mounted to move relative to said work station to bond adjacent layers of sheet material to each other, said bonding tool contacting said sheet material in a first position to begin bonding and moving to a second position to complete bonding while maintaining contact with said sheet material between the first and second positions;
• and
• first and second rolls, said sheet material extending between the rolls and across the work station, said first roll feeding said sheet material to said work station and said second roll receiving the material from the work station such that material proximate to the work station is under tension, said system releasing the tension after said bonding tool is in said first position, and restoring tension subsequent to said bonding tool reaching said second position.

A method of converting sheet material into a three-dimensional object comprised of a plurality of layers, comprising:

• sensing the temperature of an exposed layer of sheet material that has been bonded to other layers to form a portion of said object;
• applying a subsequent layer of sheet material to said exposed layer;
• heating said subsequent layer;
• controlling the heating of the subsequent layer in accordance with the sensed temperature of said exposed layer.