Sometimes when programming the operations for a Multi-Axis Additive Manufacturing part, the design lends itself to being programmed using a constant number of deposition beads to complete the operation. In other words, the part design has a fairly uniform thickness, and a constant number of beads can be used to program the part. To address these types of parts, we added a new operation to the latest version of NX Multi-Axis Additive Manufacturing named Additive Track Buildup.
Rather than using user input drive geometry, this function works by finding the medial axis of the body, at each slice level, and using that as the drive geometry to create the operation output. It will offset the medial axis on either side depending on how many beads are required to build the part.
In the part below, the blades on this impeller are of a constant thickness, and it is determined that three beads will sufficiently build the part. Rather than performing a standard zig-zag or contour fill operation, three beads are created, one on the medial axis, and one offset on either side of the medial axis. This creates a smoother machine motion, and more consistent output from level to level.