Automated Filament Pigmenting for Multi-color 3D Printing
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
Fig. 1. 3D printing using the automated filament pigmenting mechanism (left). Filament passes through the mechanism (blue)
mounted at the top of the printer frame. White filament can be seen pigmented magenta. Results of a gradient print to test reproducible
19
colors using three alcohol ink markers (middle). Two test prints showcasing color gradients possible with proposed method (right).
20
The test print on top uses four markers corresponding to CMYK color scheme, while the bottom print makes use of three: cyan,
21
magenta, and black.
22
23
24 Automated Filament Pigmenting for Multi-color 3D Printing
25
26 EAMMON LITTLER, Dartmouth College,
27
28 BO ZHU, Dartmouth College,
29 WOJCIECH JAROSZ, Dartmouth College,
30
31
32
1 INTRODUCTION
33
34
Multi-color 3D printing for traditional FFF desktop 3D printers has long been a challenge for the industry. Existing solutions are often
35
limited in color palette and require precise tuning and calibration unique to each system. Dual extruder printers, for example, makes
36
use of two separate extruder and hotend assemblies to extrude filament independent of each other. This allows for printing with two
37
colors at the cost of added weight to the gantry and a reduced build volume to account for offsets between the two nozzles. Attention
38
must be paid to the alignment of the nozzles to prevent collisions with a print. Single nozzle multi-color enabling attachments have
39
gained attention in recent times, opting to swap between colors by completely unloading and reloading filament. This step, while
40
necessary, is the weakest link of the process, being susceptible to failures if the proper calibration steps are not taken. In the case of
41
printer errors, extensive time can be taken to troubleshoot and restart a print. This puts multi-color 3D printing outside of the realm of
42
43
possibility for the majority of consumers.
44
45 Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not
46
made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components
47
of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to
48
redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from permissions@.
49
? 2018 Association for Computing Machinery.
50
Manuscript submitted to ACM
51
52
1
SCF '21, October 28?29, 2021,
53
2 METHODS
54
We propose a novel hardware solution in the form of a low-cost attachment for existing desktop 3D printers, greatly increasing the
55
56
available color palette options while requiring little maintenance beyond what a typical 3D printer requires. The coloring method is
57
achieved by pigmenting white PLA filament using alcohol-based inks prior to extrusion. Our custom attachment has been designed
58
to house four alcohol ink markers, actuated by a rack and pinion system controlled by servo motors. The filament is fed from one
59
end, inked and air-dried by a fan, and exits into the 3D printer extruder inlet. The attachment dispenses ink directly onto filament
60
programmatically through the use of custom G-code commands. G-code is read by an Octoprint instance running on a Raspberry
61
Pi 3, intercepting the custom command and running the pigmenting tool in parallel, leaving the printer undisturbed. This greatly
62
reduces the chance of prints failing as a result of the filament swapping process as seen in other approaches. At worst, a print will
63
complete without proper coloring while still providing useful insight to its form. Up to four inks, based on the CMYK color scheme, are
64
65
dispensed onto filament at varying pressures or frequency to achieve the desired color. Pigmented filament mixes naturally as part of
66
the extrusion process, producing consistent colors in the print. G-code is generated using PrusaSlicer under a multi-extrusion profile.
67 A post-processing script is used to remove any unloading and reloading commands that would normally take place between nozzles,
68
as well as the addition of our custom color change command. The issue of color bleeding is handled by the use of a purge tower, akin
69
to most single nozzle approaches. In effect, a 3D print can have limitless color options given nozzle purges are conducted between
70
each color change. This has implications beyond coloring filament, giving users options beyond market offerings while keeping 3D
71
printer modifications to a minimum.
72
73
3 DISCUSSION
74
75
Being a work in progress, there are many improvements planned in the pipeline of the project. For future additions, G-code parsing
76
and post-processing will be improved to color only the perimeters and walls of prints, reducing the use of inks to just the exterior.
77
Though untested, the possibility of compromising the structural integrity of pigmented prints cannot be ignored. Coloring only the
78
exterior should serve to improve the strength and durability of a print. Mixing colors automatically and color reproducibility is yet
79
untested and will be determined heavily by the accuracy of the mechanism. In testing this, the desired color will be specified as a
80
81
parameter in the custom G-code command represented as CMYK percentage values. This will allow for per basis color changing
82
control rather than being limited to a set palette, as well as understanding the true color range of the system.
83
ACM Reference Format:
84
Eammon Littler, Bo Zhu, and Wojciech Jarosz. 2018. Automated Filament Pigmenting for Multi-color 3D Printing. In . ACM, New York,
85
NY, USA, 2 pages.
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
2
................
................
In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.
To fulfill the demand for quickly locating and searching documents.
It is intelligent file search solution for home and business.
Related download
- 3d printing the total cost of ownership
- turning old milk jugs into 3d printer filament
- 3d printing elevates cost efficiency of the molding process
- 3d printing filament comparison learnbylayers
- design and fabrication of low cost 3d printer
- dimensional analysis of metal powder infused filament low cost metal
- working principles 3d printing for beginners
- thermally conductive 3d printing filaments
- 3d printing using a pa12 ndfeb filament worcester polytechnic institute
- design and development of 3d printer filament extruder for material reuse
Related searches
- 3d printing dungeon and dragons miniatures
- 3d printing hero forge
- tinkercad 3d printing for free
- free 3d printing design
- titanium 3d printing machine
- 3d printing metal
- 3d printing aluminum parts
- aluminum 3d printing machine
- 3d printing prices
- 3d printing service
- cost of 3d printing service
- cost of 3d printing materials