Recoater Arm Collision Detection Tool
Recoater Arm Collision Detection Tool is used to detect and highlight the potential deformation areas or sharp edges of the parts that may collide with the recoater arm and damage the part and/or recoater. Recoater arm spread the powder from one side of the build platform to the other. If there is a long-edge parallel to the recoater, it will be more difficult for the recoater to pass over it in case of deformation. This tool can rotate a part and specify the recoater direction and identify areas of the part that may be prone to recoater damage.
Instructions
The Recoater Bump GUI is shown in the figure below. The detailed explanation of each option in the GUI is given below.
Figure 2 Recoater Arm Collision Detection GUI
a) Select Body
This option is used to select the body for which Recoater Bumps are detected and highlighted.
b) Rotation along Z axis
Rotation along Z axis (value to be entered in degrees) will rotate the selected part along the Z axis.
c) Recoater Direction
The moving direction of the recoating blade
d) Threshold Value
Slice thickness is the distance between two adjacent slicing layers (unit in mm). As slice thickness decreases, the analysis is more accurate. However, decreased slice thickness will increase the processing time of the tool.
e) Tolerance
The tolerance for checking whether two neighbor lines are considered as one line. Keep default value for most cases.
The output window of the Recoater Bump Detection is shown below. The result shows the height of the possible collision location
Figure 3 Recoater Arm Collision Detection Output Window
Please watch the video tutorial of the module for an example part included with the zip file of the module.
Example Problem
Use the Parasolid File named sample.x_t in the Example Parts folder attached in the Recoater Bump Detection module folder that you have extracted from the website.
Open the example part, try the following input configurations and note the changes of the Recoater Bumps.
a. Input Recoater Direction as X direction, analysis the possible collision location.
b. Input Recoater Direction as Y direction, analysis the possible collision location.
c. Input the Rotation along Z axis as 45 degree, analysis the possible collision location.