Multi-axis Additive Manufacturing: Development of Slicer and Toolpath for 2.5D/3D/5D Printing

In 3D printing, components are created incrementally along the normal direction through the sequential deposition of material. This methodology streamlines the manufacturing process and kinematics of 3D printers. However, due to the staircase effect, the conventional printing process has drawbacks such as additional material for supporting structures, more processing time, poor structural strength, and surface finish. Multi-axis 3D printing is the solution to overcome the stated problems. Nevertheless, a fully developed slicer is inaccessible. This paper describes the development of a slicer and toolpath for different printing strategies like 2.5D, 3D, 5D, and demonstrates its surface finish and structural strength. The HAGE1750L 5-axis machine is used to demonstrate the proposed methodology. The machine has three prismatic joints followed by tilting and rotating print bed. Initially, inverse kinematic equations of the machine are calculated, which will help give the joint parameters to the motors. The conformal slicer and toolpath are developed using the Rhino and Grasshopper software. Users can import or create the model into the Rhino, and slicer automatically creates the toolpath and G-code in Grasshopper for printing. The slicer generates isocurves of the geometry and divides the layers into points. It spiralizes the layers for continuous printing and calculates the flow rate of the extrusion material using the height of the nonlinear planes. It facilitates various parameters such as nozzle size, layer height, and thickness. Three tubes are designed, and compression test is conducted to validate the proposed methodology. Together, the system delivers the design of the geometries, simulates the toolpath, generates the G-code, and prints models.