Collision-Free Multi-Axis Tool-Path for Additive Manufacturing

Additive manufacturing (AM) is a process by which complex components or assemblies are fabricated in layers. As materials are deposited over time, the possibility of collision increases, inflicting damage to the components being printed or the machine parts. Therefore, special care needs to be taken while designing the tool-path (the path that the deposition head follows during the manufacturing process). We provide an algorithm to modify a given tool-path to avoid collision between the printing surface and the tool holder using a geometric approach. For each point on the tool-path, we generate multiple tool vectors that are collision-free. A tool vector at a point of the tool-path shows the direction of the deposit head at that point. Using these collision-free tool-vectors we build an edge-weighted graph, where an edge is added between two tool-vectors if they are associated with adjacent points on the tool-path. The weight of an edge denotes the change in angle between two tool-vectors. Then using shortest path algorithm, we generate a collision-free tool-path such that the difference in tilting angle is minimized between adjacent tool-path points. We present experimental results to show the performance of our algorithm. © 2023 CAD Solutions, LLC.