Mimaki Engineering Company, Ltd.

Takuya Matsushima

Kosuke Kobayashi

Kunio Hakkaku

Kazuhiro Ochi

Kenji Harayama

Tomoya Kawai

Kyohei Maruyama

A method for shaping a three-dimensional (3D) shaped object using a 3D shaping device including a shaping table having a substantially flat upper surface on which the 3D shaped object is shaped; an ejection unit that ejects ink for 3D shaping, a planar scanning driving unit that relatively moves the ejection unit with respect to the shaping table in a plane parallel to the upper surface of the shaping table; a layering scanning driving unit that relatively separates the ejection unit and the shaping table from each other in a layering scanning direction; and a flattening unit that flattens the ejected and layered ink; where a support layer disposed between the shaping table and the 3D shaped object to support the 3D shaped object from the lower side includes a plurality of layers formed by being layered in plurals on the shaping table before shaping the 3D shaped object.

Three-dimensional shaping method

A building apparatus configured to build an object includes inkjet heads serving as a plurality of ejection heads, a scanning driver, and a maintenance unit configured to perform a maintenance of the inkjet head. The scanning driver allows a plurality of inkjet heads to perform at least a main scanning operation and allows the inkjet head to perform the main scanning operation multiple times until building of the object is completed. The maintenance unit performs the maintenance of the inkjet head in an interval between two successive main scanning operations and performs the predetermined maintenance for only part of a plurality of inkjet heads in each maintenance. Hence, building with high accuracy is performed more appropriately.

Building apparatus and building method

Provided is an apparatus for manufacturing a three-dimensional object that may allow a support material to land on a table before a modeling material irrespective of the moving direction of a carriage. The apparatus includes a modeling material head that ejects an ink for object shaping, support material heads that eject an ink for supporting the three-dimensional object, color ink heads that eject color inks, curing units for curing the ejected inks, and a flattening roller unit with a flattening roller used to flatten surfaces of the ejected inks. In the apparatus, one of the curing units, the flattening roller unit, one of the support material heads, the modeling material head, the color ink heads, the other support material head, and the other curing unit are arranged and mounted in the carriage in the mentioned order from one side to the other in the main scanning direction.

Apparatus for manufacturing three-dimensional object

A printing device is provided and includes: a table attaching portion, replaceably attaching a respective table of a first table for mounting a three-dimensional object and a second table including a mounting surface for mounting a medium and a plurality of pass-through holes passing through the mounting surface and a back surface on an opposite side of the mounting surface; an ejecting unit, ejecting a shaping material for shaping the three-dimensional object and a coloring material for coloring the three-dimensional object and the medium toward the table attached to the table attaching portion; a relative moving portion, relatively moving the table attaching portion and the ejecting unit in a vertical direction and a horizontal direction; and a suction portion, decompressing a side of the back surface of the second table when the second table is attached to the table attaching portion to adsorb the medium to the mounting surface.

Printing device

A three-dimensional object production apparatus includes a table, an ink-jet head, a flattening roller, a carriage, and a roller lifting-lowering mechanism. The ink-jet head is configured to eject ink droplets toward the table. The flattening roller is configured to flatten a surface of a layer of the ink. The carriage is configured to carry the ink-jet head and the flattening roller. The roller lifting-lowering mechanism is configured to lift and lower the flattening roller, and includes a roller holding member configured to rotatable hold the flattening roller, and a swing mechanism configured to cause the roller holding member to swing between a contact position and a retracted position. The flattening roller is able to contact the surface of the layer of the ink when the contact position is reached, and is retracted to be more on an upward side than the surface of the layer of the ink when the retracted position is reached.

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Nagano, Japan

Takuya Matsushima