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Abstract

Powder to Printhead Spacing (commonly known as PPS) is a key parameter in all 3D Printers based in Jet

Fusion technology, like the Plastics and Metals ones produced by HP. PPS is the distance between the top

surface of the powder in the print bed of the Build Unit and the Printheads that spit the agents to fuse or

agglomerate this powder into printed parts.

This disclosure describes a system to measure PPS without using powder in a fast and reliable way,

requiring just two tools:

 A special Printhead with a laser distance measuring system in the place of the dies.

 A plate of soft material but with special properties to keep a specific shape during an extended

amount of time, like Memory Foam or “plasteline”, to simulate the powder bed.

The proposed method is simpler, faster and leads to more detailed results than the ones currently used

to measure PPS. The tools needed are portable to wherever a printer is installed and don’t require an

expert operator to perform the measurements. Finally, it can be used in any 3D Printing system that uses

a powder bed and printheads or laser drawing on top of it, regardless of the kind of material being printed

(plastics, metals, etc.).

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 License.

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