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US 9,789,649 B2Granted
Printer with laser scanner and tool-mounted camera
AssigneeMakerBot Industries, LLC
InventorsAnthony James Buser, Ariel Douglas, Nathaniel B. Pettis
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A three-dimensional printer includes a laser line scanner and hardware to rotate the scanner relative to an object on a build platform. In this configuration, three-dimensional surface data can be obtained from the object, e.g., for use as an input to subsequent processing steps such as the generation of tool instructions to fabricate a three-dimensional copy of the object, or various surfaces thereof.
Claims15
A method comprising:
- positioning an object within a working volume of a three-dimensional printer;
- illuminating a surface of the object with a laser line;
- capturing a plurality of images of the laser line on the surface with a camera, wherein the camera is affixed to a toolhead of the three-dimensional printer and three-dimensionally positionable within the working volume using an x-y-z positioning assembly of the three-dimensional printer, the x-y-z positioning assembly configured to position the toolhead and the camera affixed thereto within the working volume for capturing surface data of the object used for a subsequent fabrication with the toolhead along a toolpath;
- analyzing the plurality of images to provide a point cloud representing a three-dimensional surface of the object and including a plurality of cross sections of the object, each one of the plurality of cross sections lying in a plane perpendicular to a z-axis of the three-dimensional printer and each one of the plurality of cross sections intersecting the z-axis at a different point;
- and
- creating tool instructions for a fabrication system to fabricate a copy of at least a portion of the object using at least a portion of the plurality of cross sections to reproduce the surface of the object, the tool instructions created directly from the point cloud without use of interim computer models.
3 more elements
A device comprising:
- a three-dimensional printer having a working volume;
- a build platform within the working volume, the build platform including a planar surface positioned to receive an object;
- a laser line projector directed toward the working volume;
- a camera affixed to a toolhead of the three-dimensional printer and three-dimensionally positionable within the working volume using an x-y-z positioning assembly of the three-dimensional printer, the x-y-z positioning assembly configured to position the toolhead and the camera affixed thereto within the working volume for capturing surface data of the object used for a subsequent fabrication with the toolhead along a toolpath;
- and
- a controller configured to coordinate operation of the laser line projector and the camera to capture three-dimensional data from a surface of the object within the working volume using illumination of the object by the laser line projector, thereby providing three-dimensional surface data for the object, the controller is further configured to extract a number of two dimensional outlines of the object at a number of positions along the axis from the three-dimensional data, thereby providing planar outline data, and the controller is further configured to generate tool instructions directly based on the planar outline data without use of interim computer models to fabricate a three-dimensional copy of the surface of the object.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.