US 12,186,992 B2
Method for operating a metal drop ejecting three-dimensional (3D) object printer to form electrical circuits on substrates
David A. Mantell, Rochester, NY (US); Christopher T. Chungbin, Webster, NY (US); Daniel R. Cormier, Pittsford, NY (US); Denis Cormier, Pittsford, NY (US); Manoj Meda, Brighton, NY (US); and Dinesh Krishna Kumar Jayabal, Rochester, NY (US)
Assigned to Additive Technologies LLC, Palm City, FL (US)
Filed by ADDITIVE TECHNOLOGIES LLC, Palm City, FL (US)
Filed on May 22, 2023, as Appl. No. 18/321,509.
Application 18/321,509 is a division of application No. 16/945,509, filed on Jul. 31, 2020, granted, now 11,731,366.
Prior Publication US 2023/0294364 A1, Sep. 21, 2023
Int. Cl. B29C 64/393 (2017.01); B22F 10/22 (2021.01); B22F 10/85 (2021.01); B22F 12/53 (2021.01); B29C 64/112 (2017.01); B29C 64/209 (2017.01); B33Y 50/02 (2015.01); B33Y 70/00 (2020.01); B33Y 80/00 (2015.01)
CPC B29C 64/393 (2017.08) [B22F 10/22 (2021.01); B22F 10/85 (2021.01); B22F 12/53 (2021.01); B29C 64/112 (2017.08); B29C 64/209 (2017.08); B33Y 50/02 (2014.12); B33Y 70/00 (2014.12); B33Y 80/00 (2014.12)] 10 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method of operating a metal drop ejecting apparatus comprising:
using model data or user input data to identify a bulk metal material melted within a chamber of the metal drop ejecting apparatus;
using the model data or the user input data to identify a substrate onto which at least one ejector of the chamber of the metal drop ejecting apparatus ejects melted bulk metal drops from the chamber;
operating a printhead at a predetermined temperature corresponding to the identification of the bulk metal and the identification of the substrate to melt the identified bulk metal within the printhead;
operating the at least one ejector at a predetermined ejection frequency and a predetermined overlap percentage corresponding to the identification of the bulk metal and the identification of the substrate;
operating at least one actuator to move a platform and the at least one ejector relative to one another to provide one of a plurality of predetermined drop spacings for melted bulk metal drops ejected from the at least one ejector onto the identified substrate, the provided predetermined drop spacing corresponding to the identification of the bulk metal and the identification of the substrate, the predetermined drop spacing corresponding to a 0% percentage of overlap, and a separation between adjacent ejected melted bulk metal drops is equal to or greater than one diameter of an ejected melted bulk metal drop; and
operating the at least one ejector to eject at least one melted bulk metal drop on each of the previously ejected separated bulk metal drops with an overlap percentage of 100% before operating the at least one ejector to eject melted bulk metal drops that freeze to at least one of the separated bulk metal drops after the ejected melted bulk metal drops reach the substrate to connect the separated bulk metal drops and form metal traces on the identified substrate.