MetaPrint: A Virtual Additive Manufacturing Tool for Print Analysis

Abstract

With the emergence of additive manufacturing, various rapid production techniques are used to manufacture physical representations of items designed in computer-aided design (CAD) software. The development of additive manufacturing machines like fused deposition modeling machines. These devices produce layer-by-layer by moving an extruder and extruding filament materials onto a bed canvas. These devices accept Geometric Code (G-Code), which is translated from Standard Tessellation Language (STL) design files. G-Code is a low-level language that contains commands the printer must take to build the physical model. The manufacturing process is frequently carried out without the user a clear visualization of the manufacturing process. There is currently no general method for simulating how a machine might manufacture the thing. Through the development of a system that replicates the additive manufacturing process, this study aims to close that gap. This research proposes a simulation tool that processes G-Code and simulates the development procedure. Reproductions of various G-code files yielded a 100% match rate during system testing. This discovery will offer various avenues for exploring additive manufacturing process enhancements.