Development of a Fused Deposition Modeling System to Build Form-Fit Joints Using an Industrial Robot

Abstract

During the last years, Additive Manufacturing (AM) technologies have experienced substantial growth mostly due to their new design potentials. One technology commonly used in AM is Fused Deposition Modeling. Basically, virtual 3D models are segmented into a series of 2D cross-sections, which are then successively built on top of each other to create the final physical part. When implementing an industrial robot with additional rotational degrees of freedom to create these layers, new design possibilities are created. While layers no longer need to be parallel to the print bed and the final print may even leave the area above the print bed, it becomes possible to produce form-fit joints. In this article the development and commissioning of an Additive Robot Manufacturing System is shown, which is able to perform these tasks. Tests were conducted to confirm the feasibility of the approach.