Optimal rotations for overhang reduction

Author: Carlos Eduardo Leal de Castro (UFSC)
Advisor: Leonardo Sacht (UFSC)
Master Thesis - Mathematics - UFSC

Photo of the same surface after printed. On the left, the surface is on its initial vertex position and on the right, the surface is positioned after a rotation, leading to less supports.


Abstract

3D printing is gaining ground in many areas around the world, being used in construction, modeling and mockups, educational purpose and for health research, as well as in the printing of body parts for surgery assistance. When the printer needs to print a 3D surface, some of the parts can be suspended in the air, requiring support for better printing. These supports are detached from the object and are discarded, generating waste of material and money. This thesis proposes a new approach to this problem of 3D surface printing based on the normal field of surfaces, which seeks a global surface orientation, so that, after rotating the surface in the found orientation, its printing generates as less support as possible.


Downloads

- PDF: Final version of the thesis.
- Presentation: Presented on February 18th, 2020.
- Source code (Matlab).