Topolabs Aims to Improve The Way FDM 3D Printers Print - Improved tooling paths..?

[Eddie]

So it looks like a company named Topolabs has come up with a revolutionary new method of printing objects on FDM 3D Printers. It's quite amazing, and makes so much sense really. Instead of printing only utilizing the X & Y Axes (except when changing layers), they utilize all the axes at the same time.

Read the article (Topolabs Aims to Improve The Way FDM 3D Printers Print And it’s Quite Amazing) and check out the video of this new technology in action at http://3dprint.com/2140/topolabs-fdm-3d-print-method

[muckychris]

This would be a monster change without new hardware or workflow.
Sign me up yesterday!

[LambdaFF]

OK, so I studied engineering and I thought preparing moulding tools for the school ball's give_away ashtrays was cool.

I guess I had been waiting for that stuff to materialize from the beginning and I was oddly wondering if some arcane reason somhow made it impossible...

Topologcal tool paths. Thank you. Please don't sell your licenses / cloud something too expensive.

http://3dprint.com/2140/topolabs-fdm-3d-print-method/

[MeoWorks]

I've read from someone on reprap forums that you can have the z move continuously via the firmware, I've never tried it or looked into it but isn't this the same concept?

[old man emu]

I often wondered why the software for generating toolpaths for 3D printing were really only 2D (Moving X & Y axes simultaneously to complete a layer, then move the Z axis to go to the next layer). The Gcode generators for CNC routers can code for simultaneous movement of all axes.

Perhaps there is an historical reason - 2D coding might have been easier to do for the first experimenters and since it was found to work, no one bothered to explore control software anymore.

If Topolabs has developed a generator for multi-axis movement, then it will be a major advance in 3D printing.

Old Man Emu

[QuiveringToad]

My god, this is amazing. I sure hope that we see this in the near future. This could really make cheap 3D printers capable of doing a lot more than they do right now.

[LambdaFF]

I've read from someone on reprap forums that you can have the z move continuously via the firmware, I've never tried it or looked into it but isn't this the same concept?

Hi Meow,
You are correct but there is a notable difference : the Z movement is continunous in their case. Which means it will produce a helicoidal trajectory on a cylinder profile for instance.

What topolabs aims for is what has existed for years in CNC machining : the tool path follows the components topology instead of arbitrarily defined planes.

[LambdaFF]

So it looks like a company named Topolabs has come up with a revolutionary new method of printing objects on FDM 3D Printers. It's quite amazing, and makes so much sense really. Instead of printing only utilizing the X & Y Axes (except when changing layers), they utilize all the axes at the same time.

Read the article (Topolabs Aims to Improve The Way FDM 3D Printers Print And it’s Quite Amazing) and check out the video of this new technology in action at http://3dprint.com/2140/topolabs-fdm-3d-print-method

I hope they will release it soon and document compatibility.

[MeoWorks]

That's a great way of visualizing it and it makes perfect sense that our current way of moving Z is not the most efficient. I'm looking forward to this development.

[Pattycakes]

Incredible. I hope this will work with my Replicator 2!