Makerbot Industries, LLC

Mark Waller

Taylor S Goodman

Samuel Holland

Carlos Fernandez Arreola

Vishnu Anantha

Aljosa Kemperle

Mark Palmer

Kevin C Rand

Michael C Pappas

Christopher James Yarka

Eric Justin Macneil

An extruder of a three-dimensional printer may be coupled with one or more filament tubes, each filament tube having its own supply of filament. The extruder may include a drive gear rotatable in a first direction to advance a filament from a filament tube toward at least one extrusion opening defined by the extruder and rotatable in a second direction, opposite the first direction, to advance another filament from a different filament tube toward the at least one extrusion opening defined by the extruder. Also, as one filament is advanced by the drive gear, another filament may be retracted by the drive gear to improve the switching of filaments in a three-dimensional printing process. The extruder may work in conjunction with a filament supply-side drive system that feeds filament into one or more filament tubes, reducing a pull force exerted by the drive gear of the extruder.

Multi-filament three-dimensional printing

An extruder is fitted with a connector for coupling and decoupling with a filament feed source, such as a filament tube. When connected, the extruder and filament tube are aligned to define a feed path for a filament. A tool rack includes a plurality of filament tubes secured within respective openings. The tool rack may facilitate coupling and decoupling operations between the extruder and filament sources. For example, the tool rack may define an insertion path that engages a filament tube during insertion, and that secures the filament tube against an excursion from the insertion path. The extruder may disengage the coupling by initiating a motion along the insertion path and then moving off of the insertion path to decouple the filament tube and the extruder. In this manner, filaments may be swapped through engaging and disengaging the extruder with different filament tubes on the tool rack.

Filament swapping in three-dimensional printing

A three-dimensional printer uses its extruder and build platform to properly orient the build platform within a working volume. In a multi-point leveling operation, the extruder is moved to the z-axis origin at a number of x-y positions within the plane of the build platform, and the height of the build platform is adjusted to meet the extruder at the origin. If the build platform is a meltable material such as a plastic, then this leveling process must be performed while the extruder is cool. A homing operation may be performed periodically after leveling in order to realign the z-axis positions of the build platform and extruder. A non-meltable contact point may be usefully provided so that homing can be performed while the extruder is hot, such as immediately before a build or between a number of builds.

Build platform leveling and homing

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Mark Waller