1P Z system license information

1P Z bed motion system for 3D printers. The Open Source license is held by Sunnyvale Investments Group. Contact phone…
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updated September 27, 2023

Description

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**1P Z bed motion system for 3D printers.

The Open Source license is held by Sunnyvale Investments Group.

Contact phone number +64 275 985 266**

Field of Invention

The present invention relates to apparatus and methods (system) for raising or lowering a print bed in a 3D printer. The license holder for this system is Liam Venter.

Object of the invention

The 1P Z or First-Principals Z motion system is a unique new Z motion system that provides for auto bed levelling with no leadscrew induced banding or artifacts in the print.

Background of operation of lifting/lowering a bed/gantry in a 3D printer

A completely non constrained bed would have 6 degrees of freedom as follows:

  1. Rotation about X axis (pitch)
  2. Rotation around Y axis (roll)
  3. Rotation around the Z axis (yaw)
  4. Movement in the X direction
  5. Movement in the Y direction
  6. Movement in the Z direction

A 3D printer with a moveable bed needs at the minimum 1 degree of freedom, motion in the Z direction.

A 3D printer with a self levelling bed needs at a minimum 3 degrees of freedom.

  1. Movement in the Z direction
  2. Rotation about the X axis (pitch)
  3. Rotation about the Y Axis (roll)

Background art:

Current methods for doing this are fundamentally flawed due to the relationship between the lifting elements.

Movement of the bed in the Z direction.

  1. This is typically achieved in current commercial printers using a cantilevered bed. In this arrangement the bed is mounted to a lifting component that is driven by a leadscrew or ball screw. A reference guide is provided either with one or more smooth rods or linear rails. An example of this would be the bed lifting system employed in Markforged printers. This system does not allow automatic bed levelling.
  2. The Open Source Community has also developed systems using 2 or more bed raising/lowering mechanisms that are referenced to each other by a fixed cradle under the bed. An example of this would be the bed lifting system employed in the Voron Trident printer. These do not allow automatic bed levelling unless some flexible component is introduced between the bed lifting mechanisms and the bed.
  3. The Open Source Community has also developed systems using 3 or more nearly independent lifting mechanisms. An example of this would be the bed lifting system employed in a Rat Rig printer. These systems do allow automated bed levelling but the lifting mechanisms are not directly referenced to each other. These designs employ a single linear guide for each of the three Z lifting mechanisms.

These designs have two main issues.

i) The linear rails are only loosely referenced to each other (due to being mounted on separate vertical frame elements that can never be perfectly true with each other). As a result to prevent binding, these designs require some clearance between the linear rails and the carriages that the bed arms are attached to.

ii) Due to needing some clearances between the rails and carriages as describe in i) above, these designs allow some small unwanted rotation around the Z axis (yaw) and/or small unwanted movement in the X and Y directions due to play between the the linear rails and their respective carriages that the bed lifting arms are attached to.

Field of the invention:

The present invention relates to apparatus and methods as follows:

The claims for the 1P Z system are as follows.

The 1P Z or First-Principals Z motion system is a unique and novel Z motion system that provides for auto bed levelling with no leadscrew banding or artifacts in the print.

This is achieved by limiting the freedom of degrees of movement to only the minimum three degrees of movement required for an automated bed raising/lowering and levelling system as follows:

  1. Movement in the Z direction
  2. Rotation about the X axis (pitch)
  3. Rotation about the Y Axis (roll)

While constraining all other degrees of freedom.

Description of Invention

Integral to the 1P Z system are three independent Z linear motion systems to allow automatic bed levelling about the X and Y axis of rotation and vertical movement in the Z direction.

To achieve this three key mechanisms are required:

Key Mechanism One.

On one of the three Z linear motion systems, the 1P Z system employs a unique dual axis V-block pivot, that limits movement of the moving bed or gantry to two degrees of freedom, being rotation around the X axis (pitch) and rotation around the Y axis (roll). There are a variety of possible mechanisms to achieve this.

An example of a mechanism for doing this could be a dual axis roll pin resting in V-blocks set at 90 degrees to each other.

The specific mechanism for enabling this is not operation with the other two key mechanisms is covered by this GPL license, but a specific mechanism is covered by other intellectual protection by this license holder.

This mechanism is situated between one of the lifting mechanisms (leadscrew, ball screw, linear motion system or belt) and the surface of the bed of the 3D printer. It can be of various designs to suit the required packaging. For the purpose of providing a functional understanding of this mechanism the components of one such possible design is illustrated to show it's function.

Key Mechanism Two.

Integral to the 1P Z system is a single reference Z linear motion system associated with the same linear motion system as Key Mechanism One. It's purpose is to provide a single well restrained reference for raising and lowering the bed. It comprise of one or more vertical linear rails, smooth rods or linear motion systems.

An example of a mechanism for achieving this could be a wide linear rail, dual linear rails or dual smooth rods guiding a device lifted by belt(s), leadscrew(s) or ballscrew(s)

The specific mechanisms for achieving this are not prescribed in this license, but may be covered by other intellectual protection.

Key Mechanism Three.

The 1P Z system also employs one or more mechanisms associated with the other two linear Z motion systems for raising and lowering the bed that:

i) allows freedom of movement (or enough tolerance of movement) of the bed in the X and Y direction so that there is no mechanical quarrel with the single reference Z linear motion system.

ii) do not constrain bed rotation around the X axis (pitch) or rotation about the Y axis (roll)

An example of a mechanism for achieving i) and ii) above could be bed attachments such as spherical balls sitting on linear bearings or sliding on plates.

The specific mechanisms for achieving i) and ii) above are not prescribed in this license, but may be covered by other intellectual protection.

The 1P Z system may be retrofittable to many current 3D printer designs.

Category: 3D Printer Parts

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The author marked this model as their own original creation. Imported from Thingiverse.

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