Advanced Cooling and Extrusion Systems in Large Format 3D Printers

Big size 3D Printing is like a playground for additive manufacturing, with the capability of printing large functional parts and prototypes. As for increasing the volume of printing, there is no easy way out and engineering effort has been largely devoted to retaining accuracy and strength throughout the entire print. So two core technologies to help solve these problems-advanced extrusion, and smart cooling. Our work at Luoyang Dowell Electronics Technology Co., Ltd. has concentrated on refining these methodologies in order to produce the most reliable and best-built large format printers on the market.

The Importance of High-Performance Extrusion

The extrusion configuration is much more important for an FDM 3D printer, and this importance grows even further when it comes to large-format machines. For pushing the filament through long distances and ensuring that it’s being laid down evenly on a large build plate, you need a robust and precise system. As long as it took printing this over days, I’m thinking the stock hot end would fail on retraction accuracy, heat creep or under extrusion.

We achieve this by using a direct-drive extrusion, which eliminates the gap between the drive gear and hot end. With this configuration you can control better how the filament comes out and retracts, which is very important if you want to print fine details and good corners at large scale. The extruder is powered by a high-torque stepper motor – if you are familiar with our other machines, you would know we really don’t skimp on this part to make sure it can push even the trickiest of materials like special filaments. Besides, unlike normal 3D printer with hot-bed in the market, our 3D printer doesn’t need to be re-leveled if heat bed temperature changes after power off and restart, because this heating bed supports adjusting image automatically for different temperatures of heated. It is the only one base heavy-duty extrusion that can bring you to print Big and large printing times.

Intelligent Cooling for Dimensional Accuracy

The extruder deposits it, but the chilling system has to flash-freeze it into a set form. The lack of cooling on the big/large 3D printers is currently one of the most important common issues for part deformation, warping and layer adhesion. If one is not careful to cool the previous layer properly then heat from molten filament can deform the previous layer, as new layers are added on top of it. This effect is further exaggerated across large flat sections of some materials (like PLA).

We propose a targeted and flexible cooling scheme to overcome this. Our systems feature high performance adjustable fans which can blow a targeted air stream directly onto the nozzle print path. The filament, when it comes out of the extruder is however rapidly cooled in order to freeze it in-shape and facilitate overhangs. The printing software can also control the cooling power. This allows you to have separate cooling on the first layers (for better brim/raft adhesion), then faster speeds on later layers and more complex geometries that include small features. "Such intelligent temperature gradient management is necessary for dimensional accuracy and prevention of thermal locking in large-sized parts."

Synergy for Superior Large-Scale Results

But the real magic comes when advanced extrusion and intelligent cooling get a bit of action between the sheets. Feeding is second-to-none with tooth and precision gears as well as the capability for constant flow, both features that help to lay the groundwork for excellent quality 3D printing. Simultaneously, the adaptive cooling mechanism efficiently locks this material in its position of each layer along with their respective trajectory and modes strong inter-layer bonding. This combination of aspects allows manufacturing tall, large and complex pieces with good dimensional accuracy and very good mechanical ones.

We are committed to solutions that empower creators and makers. We are constantly evolving with an emphasis on R&D, our core competencies lie in extrusion technology and thermal management, designed to deliver 3D printers which enable you to actually touch your prints - Finally Large-Scale 3D Printing is here! This disciplined engineering methodology ensures each metrology system is designed with dependability and precision while scaling across the widest range of macros.