Xerox Corporation

Palo Alto Research Center Inc.

David G Tilley

David Allen Mantell

Christopher T Chungbin

Daniel R Cormier

PriyaankaDevi Guggilapu

Dinesh Krishna Kumar Jayabal

Walter Hsiao

Stuart Alan Schweid

Michael F Dapiran

Nathaniel G Martin

William Kenneth Stumbo

Zachary S Vader

Viktor Sukhotskiy

Scott J Vader

A slicer in a material drop ejecting three-dimensional (3D) object printer identifies the positions and local densities for a plurality of infill lines within a perimeter to be formed within a layer of an object to be formed by the printer. The local density of each infill line is filtered and a control law is applied to the filtered local density to identify an error in the local density compared to a target density. This process is performed iteratively until the error is within a predetermined tolerance range about the target local density. The error is used to generate machine ready instructions to operate the 3D object printer to achieve the target density for the infill lines.

Method for improved infilling of part interiors in objects formed by additive manufacturing systems

A metal object manufacturing apparatus is configured to eject melted metal drops to form a continuous metal line over a line of spatially separated pillars in a single pass. The ejection frequency for forming the continuous metal line is different than the frequency used to form the pillars. In one embodiment, the ejection frequency for forming the pillars is about 100 Hz and the frequency used to form the continuous metal line over the line of spatially separated pillars is about 300 Hz with a drop spacing of about 0.2 mm. Continuous metal lines are formed to extend the continuous metal lines over the pillars laterally to fill the gaps between the continuous metal lines over the pillars. These continuous metal lines that fill the gaps are formed while operating the ejection head at the 300 Hz frequency with a drop spacing of 0.28 mm.

Metal drop ejecting three-dimensional (3D) object printer and method of operation for forming support structures in 3D metal objects

A slicer in a material drop ejecting three-dimensional (3D) object printer determines the number of material drops to eject to form a perimeter in an object layer and distributes a quantization error over the layers forming the perimeter. The slicer also identifies the location for the first material drop ejected to form the perimeter using a blue noise generator.

System and method for operating a material drop ejecting three-dimensional (3D) object printer to prevent quantization error in perimeters of a three-dimensional printed object

A three-dimensional (3D) metal object manufacturing apparatus is operated to form sloping surfaces having a slope angle of more than 45&#xb0; from a line that is perpendicular to the structure on which the layer forming the slope surface is formed. The angle corresponds to a step-out distance from the perpendicular line and a maximum individual step-out distance determined from empirically derived data. Multiple passes of an ejection head of the apparatus can be performed within a layer to form a sloped edge and the mass of the sloped structure is distributed within the sloped edge so the edge is formed without defects.

Method and apparatus for forming overhang structures with a metal drop ejecting three-dimensional (3D) object printer

System and method for improved infilling of part interiors in objects formed by additive manufacturing systems

A method for printing a structure, the structure including a plurality of pillars. The method for printing can include ejecting only a first drop of a print material such as a liquid metal sequentially at each of a plurality of pillar locations, then ejecting only a second drop of the print material sequentially onto the first drop at each of the plurality of print locations. Additional drops can be ejected at two or more of the pillar locations to form the plurality of pillars. Ejecting only a first drop at each pillar location allows the first drop to cure (i.e., cool or dry) before ejecting the second drop. The printer continues printing while the drops cure, thus improving processing efficiency and increasing production throughput.

Method for supporting three dimensional (3D) printed features

A method for distributing a document by email. The method includes scanning a business document, extracting an email address from the business document, scanning a document and automatically emailing the scanned document to the email address extracted from the business document.

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Williamson, NY, United States of America

David G Tilley