Variable Nozzle technology

A paradigm shift...

Sculpman's patented Variable Nozzle Technology is an innovative approach to speed up and improve plastic extrusion 3D printing without having to compromise on feature detail or visual quality. The most fundamental idea was to break away from circular nozzle shape thinking which has been the de-facto standard for decades.

If you come to think about it, a circular output shape, which produces cylindrical 'spaghetti' tracks is not really an optimal configuration for effeciently printing clean layers. Cylindrical tracks that are placed horizontally next to each other (e.g. to make a perimeter that is 2 walls wide) produce a wave pattern. Even if they are squished slightly flat by the nozzle (e.g when extruding more than the layer height dictates) the area with which both tracks touch is still small, as each track's cross-section is elliptic and only the mid section of the sides touch.

In contrast, the Sculpman nozzles deposits ribbons of varying width that can draw a coherent, flat track that is multiple millimiters wide in a single stroke.

Continuously variable

Our technology is based on a continuously variable width-of-stroke regulation during extrusion. Think of drawing a painting. If you need high detail, a small pencil is the beter choice. But where large areas need to be filled in, you would take a broader-stroke brush. The Sculpman nozzle can transform continously between that small pencil size and the large brush. Moerover, it can completely close to 0, cutting of the material flow as shown at the end of this short clip.

Infinitely rotating

Because we are extruding rectangular ribbons, the orientation of the nozzle with respect to the X-Y movement of the platform becomes important. In other words, the nozzle needs to rotate in order to be able to extrude along the direction of the ribbon.

So we designed the system with infinite rotation capability, which allows printing to continue along closed paths without interruptions (e.g. vase-like objects). It also allows for more flexibility in planning and improves the paths that are generated.

Smooth and fast

For traditional, fixed nozzle systems, extruding a single submillimeter cilinder of plastic at ever higher speeds is the only way to increase build speed. But physics has its limits, and at high platform speeds and accelerations, defects in the print become ever more serious.

Quality prints rely on smoothness of motion and finely synchronized, precise extrusion. The more sensible way forward thus is to increase extrusion volume, but without losing capability for details or introducing high accelerations and jerk. Our variable nozzle brings those capabilities.

Decoupling track width from layer height

With circular nozzles, larger apertures always result in larger minimum layer heights. So, when you need a large object to print fast, you have to compromise between desired track width and acceptable layer line thickness.

The Sculpman nozzle effectively decouples track width from layer height, so you can choose the track to be wide for a faster build, but the layer height still small for a nicer sloped surface.