Verheyden James P, Huffaker Bryce, Sevcik Max J, Snyder Isaac, Wilson Finnegan, Rabinowitz Grace I, Watkins Carter, Caravaca Elbert, Tersine Edward G, Eliasson Veronica
Colorado School of Mines Department of Mechanical Engineering, Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, Computer Science, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO 80401, United States of America.
Picatinny Arsenal, US Army Combat Capabilities Development Command - Armaments Center (DEVCOM-AC), Picatinny, NJ 07806, United States of America.
HardwareX. 2025 Jul 28;23:e00681. doi: 10.1016/j.ohx.2025.e00681. eCollection 2025 Sep.
Direct ink write (DIW) is a material extrusion additive manufacturing technique where a flowable liquid or semi-solid ink is selectively deposited through a nozzle onto a build surface. DIW can be leveraged to print a wide range of multi-material components with unique geometries, which would otherwise be challenging to produce with traditional manufacturing techniques. However, despite their unique capabilities, DIW extruders are costly to purchase and labor intensive to clean, limiting widespread adoption. To address these challenges, an automatic tool changer with tool sharing system was developed to reduce printer capital costs, minimize operator interactions, and increase extruder utilization. Unlike conventional tool changers popular with fused filament fabrication (FFF) printers, which allows a single printer to swap between multiple tools, this novel tool sharing system enables tool sharing and coordination between two adjacent printers. By effectively halving the total number of extruders and associated cleaning operations, DIW capabilities are greatly improved, increasing production, lowering system cost, and minimizing operator involvement. The hardware consists of a tool changing mechanism, post processor to insert tool exchange G-code, and software to coordinate tool sharing between printers, enabling tool changing and tool sharing between two adjacent printers.
直接墨水书写（DIW）是一种材料挤出增材制造技术，通过该技术，可流动的液体或半固体墨水通过喷嘴选择性地沉积到构建表面上。DIW可用于打印各种具有独特几何形状的多材料部件，而使用传统制造技术生产这些部件具有挑战性。然而，尽管DIW挤出机具有独特的功能，但其购买成本高昂且清洁工作劳动强度大，这限制了其广泛应用。为应对这些挑战，开发了一种具有工具共享系统的自动换刀装置，以降低打印机的资本成本、减少操作员的交互并提高挤出机的利用率。与常用于熔融长丝制造（FFF）打印机的传统换刀装置不同，传统换刀装置允许一台打印机在多个工具之间切换，而这种新颖的工具共享系统能够在两台相邻打印机之间实现工具共享和协调。通过有效地将挤出机总数和相关清洁操作减半，DIW的性能得到了极大提升，提高了产量、降低了系统成本并减少了操作员的参与。该硬件由换刀机构、用于插入刀具交换G代码的后置处理器以及用于协调打印机之间工具共享的软件组成，实现了两台相邻打印机之间的换刀和工具共享。
