Home · Glossary

5-axis 3D printing

Additive manufacturing where the nozzle and part re-orient relative to each other during printing — three linear axes plus two rotary axes — so material can be deposited along directions other than straight up.

Conformal printing

Layers that follow (conform to) a curved surface — the surface of the growing part, or an existing object. In printed electronics the word centres on printing onto existing surfaces; in FDM it usually means curved layers. This site uses it for both, and says which.

Non-planar printing

Toolpaths not confined to flat horizontal planes, producing curved layers. Used almost interchangeably with "conformal" in the FDM community; the stricter term of the two.

RTCPROTATION TOOL CENTRE POINT

Controller compensation that keeps the nozzle tip exactly on the programmed toolpath while rotary axes move. Without it, every tilt displaces the tip and conformal paths distort — the sharpest question to ask any "5-axis" machine.

Trunnion

A tilting-and-rotating work table carrying the part through both rotary axes, inherited from 5-axis CNC machining. The most common configuration in desktop 5-axis printing — including our platform.

3+2 printingINDEXED

Re-orient between sections, print flat layers within each. Simpler in every way than simultaneous motion — and not conformal, whatever the brochure says.

Simultaneous interpolation

All axes moving together under one coordinated motion command, so orientation changes continuously while material is deposited. The motion mode true curved layers require.

Stair-stepping

The stepped finish flat layers leave on any curved surface. Thinner layers shrink the steps but never remove them; curved layers eliminate the cause rather than the symptom.

Substrate printing

Printing onto an existing object — printed, machined or moulded — instead of a flat bed, following its surface with multi-axis orientation. Enables repair, added features and personalisation.

Self-supporting angle

The steepest overhang a process can print without support. On a 3-axis machine it's roughly 45° from vertical; a 5-axis machine changes the angle itself by re-orienting the part, which is the whole trick.

Orientation field

The assignment of a nozzle direction to every point of a non-planar toolpath — the core data a conformal slicer computes, and the thing flat slicers don't have at all.

Singularity

A pose where a rotary axis must spin infinitely fast to maintain the path — a real failure mode of 5-axis toolpaths near vertical orientations, handled (or not) by the slicer and controller.