DATA PROCESSING FOR RAPID

PROTOTYPING
RP PROCESS OVERVIEW
 CAD Modelling- To prepare a solid model with
complete topological and geometric information is
required.

 STL Interfacing- Part geometry is converted into

STL format based on a tolerance for accuracy control.

 Part Orientation- Part accuracy, the amount of

supporting material required and ease of post-
processing are important factors influencing part
orientation determination.

 Support Generation- Defining support structures for

supporting down-facing areas during part build-up.
RP PROCESS OVERVIEW
 Model slicing and tool path generation- The digital
model of the object and related support structures
need to be sliced layer by layer. For each layer, a
set of surface contours is obtained and a tool path
is defined.

 Model production on an RP machine- The produced

tool path is sent to a RP machine for building up
the prototype model, including support, layer by
layer.

 Post processing- Depending on the RP process

involved, a post processing step might be needed
such as post-curing, removing the support
structures, surface polishing etc.
RP PROCESS OVERVIEW
CAD MODEL PREPARATION

 Rapid prototyping systems requires a valid STL

model as input. To reliably produce a valid STL
model, a non-ambiguous CAD solid model is often
needed.
 The model surface uniquely distinguishes between
'inside' and the 'outside' of the object concerned.
 A solid model provides a complete, valid and
unambiguous representation mostly suited for
automatic processing, such as interference analysis
between individual objects, mass property
calculation, automatic mesh generation for finite
element analysis, and rapid prototyping.
CAD MODEL PREPARATION
 A CAD surface model provides only geometric
information.
 A solid model is built upon surfac representations.

 CAD surfaces created through reverse engineering

techniques often need to be further processed and
converted into a solid model.
 To convert a CAD surface model into a solid model,
one often needs to extend the CAD surfaces, find
intersections between surfaces, apply chamfering
and fillets, and finally form a closed watertight solid
model.
CAD MODEL PREPARATION
 Constructive solid geometry (CSG)
 CSG defines a model in terms of combining basic and
generated (using extrusion and sweeping operation)
solid shapes.
 Objects are represented as a combination of simpler
solid objects (primitives).
 CSG uses Boolean operations to construct a model.
 There are three basic Boolean operations:
1. Union (Unite, join) - the operation combines two
volumes included in the different solids into a
single solid.
2. Subtract (cut) - the operation subtracts the
volume of one solid from the other solid object.
3. Intersection - the operation keeps only the volume
common to both solids.
BOOLEAN OPERATIONS
DATA STRUCTURE

 Data structure does not define model shape

explicitly but rather implies the geometric shape
through a procedural description.
 E.g: object is not defined as a set of edges & faces
but by the instruction : union primitive1 with
primitive 2.
 This procedural data is stored in a data structure
referred to as a CSG tree.
 The data structure is simple and stores compact
data easy to manage.
CSG TREE
 CSG tree stores the
history of applying
boolean operations on
the primitives.
 Stores in a binary tree
format
CSG TREE
 The outer leaf nodes
of tree represent the
primitives
 The interior nodes
represent the boolean
operations performed.
CSG – NONUNIQUENESS OF SOLID MODEL
 More than one procedure (and hence database)
can be used to arrive at the same geometry.
BOUNDARY REPRESENTATION (B-REP)
 B-rep defines an object by a set of boundary faces
that can be either planar or freeform surfaces.
 This technique consists of the geometric
information about the faces, edges and vertices of
an object with the topological data on how these
are connected.
 Technique guarantees that surfaces definitively
divide model space into solid and even after
model modification commands.
 B-Rep graph store face, edge and vertices as
nodes, with pointers, or branches between the
nodes to indicate connectivity.
DATA INTERFACING FOR RAPID
PROTOTYPING
STL Data Generation
 Precise CAD surfaces are approximated with
planar and linear primitive geometric elements
into a tessellated (triangular) facet boundary
surface model.
 There are two representations based on the
ASCII format and the binary format,
respectively.
 Both representations provide a list of triangular
facets that form the STL model and, for each of
the triangles, the coordinates of the three vertices
of the triangle in 3D space and the associated
face normal pointing outside the model surface.
 STL FILE FORMATS
ASCII STL File Binary STL File
STL DATA GENERATION
 The conversion from a precise solid model to an
approximate facet model is controlled through a
tolerance specification.
 Some CAD systems allow direct control of an
absolute chordal tolerance.
 Some systems allow the user to provide a quality
parameter for controlling the final model
resolution.
 Relative chordal tolerance is a percentage
parameter that equals the allowed maximum
deviation divided by the maximum facet
dimension.
 Orientation of a facet,
shown in Fig, is
determined by the
direction of the unit
normal and the order in
which the vertices are
listed, where p1, p2, p3 are
three vertices of the
triangle.
 The direction of the
normal is outward.
 The vertices are listed in
counterclockwise order
when looking at the object
from the outside (right-
hand rule).
EXAMPLE: MAKING A CUBE
s = 3.0 # length of a side
# Eight corner points of a cube
p1 = (0, 0, 0)
p2 = (0, 0, s)
p3 = (0, s, 0)
p4 = (0, s, s)
p5 = (s, 0, 0)
p6 = (s, 0, s)
p7 = (s, s, 0)
p8 = (s, s, s)
# Six faces of a cube; each face yields two triangles.
[
[p1, p3, p7, p5],
[p1, p5, p6, p2],
[p5, p7, p8, p6],
[p7, p3, p4, p8],
[p1, p2, p4, p3],
[p2, p6, p8, p4], Dividing a square into
triangles
]
TESSELATION OF DIFFERENT RESOLUTIONS
 STL file with the surface triangulation includes a
finite set of triangles satisfying the following
conditions:
1. Each edge is shared by at most two triangles.
2. A vertex shared by any number of triangles.
3. Connectivity: each triangle has at least one point in
common with another triangle.
4. knot-to-knot property: if a vertex shared by a
second triangle, then it is also a vertex of the second
triangle.
5. No piercing no overlapping: no triangle has an
intersection with the interior of any other triangles.
 All problems must be corrected through face flipping,
local re-triangulation, and edge, triangle and vertex
reconnection, insertion and deletion, as appropriate.
STL ERRORS
 PART ORIENTATION

These two identical cylinders have the same layer height, but were
printed with different build orientations (left: vertically, right:
horizontally)
PART ORIENTATION AND SUPPORT
GENERATION
Part orientation has a significant effect on the final
part quality and prototyping cost.
 Part orientation characteristics:

 Ensuring that the part is firmly supported during

the entire prototyping process.
 The overall support contact area should be
minimized.
 Should also make good use of the allowable
overhang angle that needs no further support.
 The total support volume should also be
minimized to save time and material(s) for
building the support structures.
PART ORIENTATION DETERMINATION
 A generic cost model
 If the machine life is T, the initial machine cost is
C, annual maintenance is M = 15% · C, i.e., 15%
of the initial machine cost, and it is estimated
that on average the machine is utilized 15 hours
per day, the hourly machine cost Cmach can then
be estimated as
PART ORIENTATION FOR SURFACE QUALITY
IMPROVEMENT
 To minimize the maximum staircase error of all of its
facets of a particular feature for a given direction.
 To minimize a weighted staircase error, as some features
might be more important than others.
 To minimize the sum of staircase errors.
Stair case Effect
PART ORIENTATION WITH MINIMUM
SUPPORT
 The volume of support in shading can be computed as

 where n is the total number of down-facing and overhanging facets of the STL model
requiring external support
 A; the project area of facet i onto the horizontal slicing plane.
 h; the average support height evaluated from the corresponding facet to either the
platform or the next intersection facet.
 The volume V; can also be directly computed on the basis of the geometry of the
corresponding facet and the projected geometry onto either the platform or another
part area.
PART ORIENTATION WITH MULTIPLE OBJECTIVE
OPTIMIZATION
A part should be oriented to meet the following criteria:
 maximize the number of perpendicular surfaces;

 maximize the number of up-facing horizontal surfaces;

 maximize the number of holes with their axes in the

slicing direction;
 maximize the number of curved cross sections drawn in
the horizontal plane;
 maximize the area of the base surface;

 minimize the number of sloped surfaces;

 minimize the total area of overhanging surfaces; and

 minimize the number of trapped volumes.

 THE FUNCTIONS OF PART SUPPORTS
 To separate parts from the platform: safely remove the part
from the platform.
 To provide support to hanging structures: supports and
prevents structures from collapsing. Also prevents curling.
 To provide a collision avoidance buffer: provide a
collision avoidance buffer between the platform and other
components of the machine
 Process improvement

FDM component with support structures Steriolithography component with support

structures
SUPPORT STRUCTURE DESIGN
The structure should be
designed such that its total
weight is minimized. Thus,
the three functional areas
are:
 sierras or needles:
connections between the
main support and the part.
 supports: the main support
structure, and
 separators: connections
between the main support
and the platform.
SUPPORT STRUCTURE DESIGN- CURLING
EFFECT PREVENTION
SUPPORT STRUCTURE
a) Gussets: gussets (a single
one or a set) are used to
support lightweight
overhang areas during
the part building process
and attach to a vertical
wall near the overhang
areas.
b) Projected feature edges:
The edges of unsupported
lightweight areas where
gussets cannot reach are
projected downwards to
provide support.
c) Single webs: Thin walls
can be supported by
single webs produced by
projecting the center-
line along the narrow
side of the thin walled
feature .
d) Webs:Large
unsupported areas are
supported by various
web structures.
e) Scaffolding: Simple
sticks are used to
compose a wall for the
web structure instead of
perforating the walls.
f) Honeycomb: sophisticated
support structures similar to
the honeycomb style for
hollowing master prototype
models initially may also be
used as support structures.
g) Columns: For isolated small
islands, column type support
structures can be used as
shown in figure. For large
islands, columns defined by
other web structures may also
be used.
h) Zigzag and perimeter support:
Delicate support structures are
most suitable for processes such
as steoreolithography as the
laser beam can be easily
blocked anytime anywhere to
prevent the resin from
solidification.
AUTOMATIC SUPPORT STRUCTURE
GENERATION
 All support structures can be automatically
generated based on the inclination angle of a
particular facet.
 If the inclination angle between the facet under
consideration and the slicing plane is larger than
the face angle specified by the user, the
corresponding face is considered to be a self-
supporting face, so there is no need to provide
any extra support.
 The areas that require support for the entire part
will be the union of all individual areas identified
with the face selection angle.
AUTOMATIC SUPPORT STRUCTURE
GENERATION