Free-Form Spatial 3-D Printing Using Part Levitation

摘要

A part is fabricated by an additive manufacturing process while levitating in space. Constituent features of the part are formed by 3-D printing. A part levitation system allows the spatial orientation of the part to be manipulated relative to one or more print heads.

主权项

1. An additive fabrication method, comprising:
forming a feature of a part by printing material into space; levitating the part; changing a spatial orientation of the part while the part is levitating; forming another feature of the part by printing material into the space; and repeating the steps of changing the spatial orientation of the part and printing material into the space until an entire part is formed.