Rapid tooling for automated desktop manufacturing

A new rapid tooling (RT) system based on pre-placed metallic powder has been proposed. A 500 W Nd-YAG laser, a pre-placed powder mechanism, a linear planar motor based working table, and PC-based controller are incorporated for the hardware architecture. In this research, we propose a software technique that includes slicing with bucket sorting, direct slicing, and tool path generation algorithms. The slicing method provides the direct slicing of the CAD model in IGES geometric format to improve the accuracy of desired part. Effort was attempted to find out the better parameters of laser cladding using single clad and cladding layer techniques. The process of the proposed system involves path control, laser cladding of layer by layer, milling, and finishing. Based on the investigation, some metallic components were fabricated.