Washington Patent of the Month – February 2022
Glowforge, Inc. is known for their at-home 3D laser printer that makes magical things at the push of a button. But people don’t tend to consider how much innovation goes into each of their products, from the 3D printing mechanisms to the control systems. 3D printers must receive a set of instructions that specify the cuts, layers, and patterns before it can begin construction. Recently, Glowforge has designed a cloud controlled laser fabrication.
A computer numerical control (CNC) machine provides precision manufacturing under the control of a computer. Typically, a moving head is used to add or remove material or impart an electromagnetic change in the material. In the system, an execution plan can be transferred to the CNC machine. The execution plan will define the operations which control that movable head and direct product development. In making it cloud-based, the system now has the ability for instructions to be delivered from anywhere as long as the machine is connected to the cloud network. This means instructions can be directed to multiple CNC machines at once or a CNC machine can receive instructions from multiple cloud networks at once. To add protection from any potential communication errors the company has added a pause feature. This safe pausing point provides a spot where the execution plan can be restarted while minimizing the difference in appearance of the finished work product relative to if it had not been paused at all. This means you can enjoy the benefits of cloud-based control without any of the concern of wasted material.
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