Tool change reduction for multicolor fused filament fabrication through interlayer tool clustering implemented in PrusaSlicer

Journal article

Aliaksei Petsiuk, Brandon Bloch, Derek Vogt, Mitch Debora, Joshua M. Pearce
Rapid prototyping journal, 2024

Semantic Scholar DOI

Cite

APA Click to copy
Petsiuk, A., Bloch, B., Vogt, D., Debora, M., & Pearce, J. M. (2024). Tool change reduction for multicolor fused filament fabrication through interlayer tool clustering implemented in PrusaSlicer. Rapid Prototyping Journal.

Chicago/Turabian Click to copy
Petsiuk, Aliaksei, Brandon Bloch, Derek Vogt, Mitch Debora, and Joshua M. Pearce. “Tool Change Reduction for Multicolor Fused Filament Fabrication through Interlayer Tool Clustering Implemented in PrusaSlicer.” Rapid prototyping journal (2024).

MLA Click to copy
Petsiuk, Aliaksei, et al. “Tool Change Reduction for Multicolor Fused Filament Fabrication through Interlayer Tool Clustering Implemented in PrusaSlicer.” Rapid Prototyping Journal, 2024.

BibTeX Click to copy

@article{aliaksei2024a,
  title = {Tool change reduction for multicolor fused filament fabrication through interlayer tool clustering implemented in PrusaSlicer},
  year = {2024},
  journal = {Rapid prototyping journal},
  author = {Petsiuk, Aliaksei and Bloch, Brandon and Vogt, Derek and Debora, Mitch and Pearce, Joshua M.}
}

Abstract

Purpose Presently in multicolor fused filament-based three-dimensional (3-D) printing, significant amounts of waste material are produced through nozzle priming and purging each time a change from one color to another occurs. G-code generating slicing software typically changes the material on each layer resulting in wipe towers with greater mass than the target object. The purpose of this study is to provide an alternative fabrication approach based on interlayer tool clustering (ITC) for the first time, which reduces the number of tool changes and is compatible with any commercial 3-D printer without the need for hardware modifications.

Design/methodology/approach The authors have developed an open-source PrusaSlicer upgrade, compatible with Slic3r-based software, which uses the described algorithm to generate g-code toolpath and print experimental objects. The theoretical time, material and energy savings are calculated and validated to evaluate the proposed fabrication method qualitatively and quantitatively.

Findings The experimental results show the novel ITC method can significantly increase the efficiency of multimaterial printing, with an average 1.7-fold reduction in material use, and an average 1.4-fold reduction in both time and 3-D printing energy use. In addition, this approach reduces the likelihood of technical failures in the manufacturing of the entire part by reducing the number of tool changes, or material transitions, on average by 2.4 times.

Originality/value The obtained results support distributed recycling and additive manufacturing, which has both environmental and economic benefits and increasing the number of colors in a 3-D print increases manufacturing savings.