Diseño y construcción de un equipo de manufactura aditiva por láminas de espuma poliestireno

Abstract

This paper addresses the design and construction of an equipment that can make cuts of 2D sections, corresponding to 3D models, in sheets of expanded polystyrene foam (EPS) with the aim of obtaining 3D elements that can be used for the lost foam casting (LFC) process. A design and selection of the components was made to obtain the equipment and a control software was defined to control the cutting procedure. The method that will be used to generate the 2D sections and to obtain the movement instructions (Gcode) that will control the equipment movements was also determined. As a result, this paper presents a thick layered aditive manufacturing equipment by employing comercial presentation EPS sheets and applies a new cutting method called “heated-wire cutting”.