Aibuild Adds Hybrid Manufacturing Capabilities to 3D Printing Software

Nikon-backed Aibuild is startup that develops software tool for driving 3D printers. If you need a robotic arm printer designed for metal directed energy deposition (DED) or polymer extrusion, for example, Aibuild can help power it. It’s similar to Cura for large-format printing but with AI-based tools. You can use Aibuild for wire arc additive manufacturing (WAAM), DED, polymer extrusion, concrete printing, and other novel printing processes. While Cura or PrusaSlicer are aimed at desktop printer users, Aibuild (along with Adaxis) is targeting the next generation of 3D printing technologies. For robot arms, gantries, shipbuilding, or construction, Aibuild could dominate them all.

For many large-scale applications such as aerospace tooling, molds, outdoor advertising, and boats, models often need finishing. We’re seeing hybrid machines emerge that can deposit and mill with a single head or use multiple heads via tool changers, either inline or within the same system. There is also progress in integrated workflows and cell-like systems that combine milling and printing in the same space, more or less simultaneously. In any application where smooth surfaces are essential, milling will likely play a role. In some cases, while a print may take a day, the milling step could take a week. Companies can save significant time and money by integrating and optimizing milling alongside 3D printing. This is why it’s important that Aibuild now accommodates hybrid manufacturing.

Aibuild can now perform tasks such as stock clearing, planar finishing, geodesic finishing, 3D contouring, engraving, and drilling. With stock clearing, a workpiece is cleared of leftover material, while planar finishing smooths a part. Geodesic finishing focuses on creating a continuous smooth surface.

We reached out to Aibuild to learn what customers are doing with the software. Project Manager Jack Sandiford told us that creating a complete workflow for MRO, adding material for subsequent post-processing steps, and reducing print times are already happening. The watchword at Aibuild seems to be flexibility, and they hope that customers will implement whichever functionality they need for specific processes or production systems.

“Pre-finishing and finishing a printed part can give you a great quality component, but that requires a significant initial investment. You need a milling machine, an engineer with the necessary skills, the tools to program a tool path and experience with your material. This can be a big barrier to overcome,” Sandiford told 3DPrint.com. “With milling now in Aibuild, you can program tool paths for printing and milling in the same software. By using your existing printer as a milling machine, and using Aibuild for hybrid tool path generation, you can achieve that high part quality without the high additional costs. We are knocking down the barriers to additive and hybrid manufacturing through R&D, in-house physical testing and putting AM expertise into the application. We are making it as easy as possible to do multi-axis hybrid manufacturing for production applications.”

The new hybrid functionality works with all the previously integrated machines, both gantry and robot. It also works for all material types as well. However, you will need to have an Advanced tier license to use it.

¨In Aibuild, you generate a tool path through a series of logical blocks. You can combine these in any order to solve your specific application. The platform is totally flexible. We’re seeing that, by combining milling operations with additive slice modes, users can generate state-of-the-art hybrid manufacturing workflows to suit their applications.”

I’m a huge fan of Aibuild and what they’re doing. As long as the company continues to forge ahead with new connections to machines, improved operations, better workflows, optimized tool pathing, and more processes, they will become an indispensable tool for anyone developing the next generation of 3D printers.