Patent ID: 11318671

Abstract:
A web sheet processing system for cutting and/or stacking AM composite printed sheets from the web combines web edge waste with the cut sheets, stacking the waste with the 3D object. The waste may be removed during the cleaning of the 3d object (e.g., by abrasive blasting, chemical removal, dissolution) to result in a 3D printed object. This approach eliminates the separate need for waste removal of a rewound web of substrate material waste. In examples, a tractor drive transport assembly ensures consistent web/sheet motion via tractor feeding along the edges of the web/sheet to a stacker subsystem. The tractor drive transport assembly, in combination with a drive guide, positions the cut sheets over the stacker subsystem for release onto the top of a stack, with the substrate waste that would normally be processed downstream stacked with the 3D object for removal during a normal cleaning of the object.