OPERATION OF PRINTING NOZZLES IN ADDITIVE MANUFACTURE AND APARATUS FOR CLEANING PRINTING NOZZLES

摘要

A method of providing nozzle calibration parameters for a 3D printer (114) comprises: printing an arc pattern, printing an X-Y align pattern, and printing a head calibration pattern, measuring actual positions of drops, calculating deviations of said measured actual positions from expected positions, and calculating calibration parameters to correct for the deviations. Indicator drops may be used to allow built-in image recognition to find the calibration drops, and a cam system is provided to guide nozzle wipers. An apparatus to clean the printing head nozzles is also disclosed.