Developing highly functional 3D-printing technologies supported by advanced programming methodologies

2021 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 18K19788
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Research (Exploratory)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Medium-sized Section 60:Information science, computer engineering, and related fields
• Research Institution: Waseda University
• Principal Investigator: Ueda Kazunori 早稲田大学, 理工学術院, 教授 (10257206)
• Project Period (FY): 2018-06-29 – 2022-03-31
• Keywords: 3D印刷 / 部品化・組合せ技術 / 造形パラダイム / 高水準モデリング / 継手・仕口 / スペースフレーム

Outline of Final Research Achievements

We have shown that the `Tsugite' (joint) technology used in traditional Japanese construction turns to be highly useful and practical in making small 3D-printed modules that can then be assembled to build arbitrarily large structures made up of bars and trusses. Of numerous variations of the Tsugite technology, we focused on Okkake Daisen Tsugi, one of the most widely used methods for joining beams and columns, and studied how it could be scaled down in such a way that it could be printed with desktop FDM 3D printers. The practicality of the design was demonstrated by tensile and bend tests of thin square bars with Okkake Daisen Tsugi joints. We applied our idea to design 2D truss modules and 3D truss (space frame) modules that could be interconnected with each other, based on which we built a fully functional plotter for a large whiteboard mostly built from 3D-printed structural and mechanical components. The thing files have been made open-source and publicly available.

Free Research Field

計算機ソフトウェア

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究の意義は，3Dプリンタの寸法限界を任意スケールで超えることのできる3D印刷物のモジュール化および相互結合技術を確立したことにある．特に，日本建築の伝統構法で培われた継手・仕口技術を3D印刷に本格的に導入し，数mm角の細い棒材を強固に接続する技法を実証的に確立させるとともに二次元および三次元構造物のモジュール化に応用することで，提案技法の高い汎用性と実用性を示した．これによって，3D印刷物における部品化，再利用性，寸法拡張性，機能拡張性，修理可能性，高速印刷可能性などの多様かつ重要な利点を確立させることができた．