Full User Guide

User Manual:

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Seraph Scientist™
3D Printing Platform
USER GUIDE
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Guide Edition 1.0 | Scientist v1.0
Copyright © 2015 Seraph Robotics, Inc.
All rights reserved. No part of this document may be repro-
duced in any form without express written permission by
the company. Please also be advised that several of the
items, names, topics listed in this document may be the
subject of various trademark, patent, and implied or ex-
pressed agreements, including confidentiality and nondis-
closure agreements. Please direct all questions regarding
company policies related to this document to
sales@seraphrobotics.com.
3
Please do not operate the equipment it unless you are able to ensure that it is
safe. You are wholly and solely responsible for all safety inspecon and safe
operaon of the equipment. Please take all necessary and proper precau-
ons, such as safety goggle use, gloves, enclosures, UV shielding, etc. Improp-
er use of the printer could result in INJURY OR DEATH.
4
2 February 2015
To Our Valued New Customers:
First, let me congratulate you on the decision to purchase the Scienst 3-D Printer from Seraph Robocs! You have taken
the rst step in a journey toward experiencing the very latest in 3-D prinng technology. Building on the legacy of the
Fab@Home 3-D printers developed at Cornell University, Seraph Robocs has taken 3-D prinng research technology to
the next level with the introducon of the Scienst.
Youll noce the ne crasmanship that went into building your Scienst the moment you take it out of the box. The fully
assembled printer encased in high-quality brushed aluminum represents the very highest standards in American manu-
facturing. With an ever-expanding array of tools and accessories, you will be able to enjoy the full advantages of a cus-
tomizable 3-D printer built just for you that can survive the test of me and connue to meet your evolving demands
with versale soware and well-built hardware.
Owning a Scienst places you in a league of professionals and academics commied to pushing the boundaries of 3-D
prinng with powerful tools for tradional and nontradional material prototyping, as well as cung-edge experiments
and research. Whether your unit has been congured to produce high-quality rigid prototypes, so or edible material
objects, advanced material science experiments, pushing the boundaries of ssue prinng in organ research, or to be
used for the rapid producon of 3-D cell cultures, you now have the equipment to achieve your goals with alacrity and
precision.
On behalf of all of us that Seraph Robocs, I would like to wish you luck in your 3-D prinng endeavors and hope that you
enjoy using our hardware and soware as you achieve your goals.
Sincerely,
Adam Perry Tow, MBA
Co-Founder and CEO
Seraph Robocs, Inc.
Adam Tow
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19 June 2015
To Our Valued Users:
I would like to welcome you to the Seraph Robocs family and applaud your choice of the Scienst3D Printer. You have
made a decision which puts you in league with the most cung edge academic and professional 3D prinng researchers
and developers on the planet. Whether you are doing simple prinng in plasc laments, novel mul-material prinng,
or bioprinng, the Scienstwill be an invaluable asset to any academic or professional user, doing prototyping or R&D
work.
Having worked as a 3D prinng engineer both at Seraph and in the academy before, I am personally honored to have
been a central part of developing and manufacturing this amazing technology. Each Scienstwe make is truly a ne
piece of machinery that far exceeds the standards for quality and reliability that preceded it. The work of calibrang new
materials is made much simpler on this latest machine and soware and the robustness of the hardware plaorm is
something you will benet from immensely.
I would like to wish you the best of luck as you calibrate your new materials and learn the ins-and-outs of the prinng
process. We hope that you will take advantage of the educaonal resources we have made available to make your rst
forays into the excing world of 3D prinng with the Scienstand we thank you for choosing Seraph Robocs.
Sincerely,
Jerey I. S. Lipton, Ph.D.
Co-Founder and CTO
Seraph Robocs, Inc.
Jeffrey Lipton
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About Scienst…………………………………………………..5
Technical Specicaons………………………………………6
Standard Terms & Condions……………………..………8
Limited Warranty …………………………………...…………9
Soware License…………………..……………………………11
Safety Noce…...…………………..……………………………12
Packing List...…...…………………..……………………………13
Unpacking the Box...……………..……………………………14
Filling Syringe Cartridges ….…..……………………………15
Disposables Suppliers …………..……………………………16
Loading Cartridges ………………..……………………………17
Soware Guide…………………………………………………...18
Technical Support & Troubleshoong…………………..37
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For your research needs
that dont require engineering or computer science
degrees to operate.
The Seraph Scientistexpands the capabilities of the Fab@Home Model
3 Research Platform and allows professionals and researchers, both aca-
demic and private, to use our powerful technology to utilize or develop
innovative techniques in additive manufacturing and three-dimensional
printing. Whether youd like to culture cells in 3d, print living organs, exper-
iment in material science, or just print plastics, ceramics, or foods, the
Scientist will allow professional research users the ability to easily push
the limits of additive manufacturing technology. Combine new or existing
materials, experiment with unique deposition patterns, or manufacture
specialty, custom products, the ScientistResearch Platform will give you
the tools to develop your product or run your experiments. Our research
platform will allow you to precisely control every aspect of your digital fabri-
cation research – from materials, to depositions patterns and geometries.
ADVANCED FEATURES AND CONTROL
Manually create simple print jobs or write custom printer control software
using our novel XDFL command language, a simple, intuitive and human-
readable XML language for controlling 3D printers. XDFL allows precise
control over the movement of the printer and the operation of its extrusion
heads, affording the researcher machine-level control during experiments.
Further, XDFL files are transferable and shareable among printers, making
research protocols easy to document.
The fully assembled Seraph ScientistPlatform requires no engineering
or programming experience. Like all our products, its designed for the non
-technical user, making it ideal for scientists and professionals whose
expertise is in fields other than engineering (e.g. biology) and simplifying
the research of engineers without sacrificing control.
Our system uses Standard STL files which most modern CAD programs
can generate. Calibrate Materials and automatically process STL files into
CUSTOMIZATION COMES STANDARD
The Scientist platform allows you to select the number and type of tool head
thats right for your project.
Use heated or cooled build trays to control the temperature of the build surface
below ambient temperature and up to 150 degrees Celsius. Control the syringe
temperature, using our heating or cooling cartridges.
Use our UV light source to cross-link your materials. Available in 365 nm and
385 nm wavelengths.
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External Dimensions 54 cm width x 50 cm depth x 40 cm height
Prinng Technologies Syringe and/or Filament
Number of Tool/Material Bays 1,2, 3, or 4
Primary Fields of Use Material Science, Tissue Engineering, 3D Cell Culture, Food Science,
General Prototyping with soware packages for each, as appropriate
Exemplary Materials plascs, ceramics, silicones, food pastes, hydrogels, organic material,
and novel research materials
Usability
Point and click soware oers access to fundamental prinng process
at 'research level' without need for advanced coding or engineering
knowledge. Unit is pre-assembled with no training required to oper-
ate. Uses standard wall outlet. Disposable and sterilized cartridges
available, sterilizable work surface.
Posioning Accuracy 10 μm
Maximum travel speed 130 mm/s
Typical travel speed 80 mm/s
Build Dimensions (x/y/z)** 127mm, 200mm, 65mm
Reservoir volume Nordson EFD or Becton Dickenson Syringes 3-55 mL
Minimum p diameter 0.004”/ 0.1 mm / 32 gauge (or any lure lock p)
Maximum p diameter 0.06”/ 1.54 mm/ 14 gauge (or any lure lock p)
File Types STL and XDFL
*Specicaons may vary based on your units specic conguraon.
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Syringe Tools
Use 3-55mL Nordson EFD or 10ml Becton Dickenson syringes, nee-
dles, or taper ps to extrude material using pressure drive. 1,2, 3, or 4
syringe capacity tools available.
Plasc Filament Tool tradional plasc 3d prinng tool (1.75mm or 3mm lament opons);
Bowden Drive; 80 - 260C range
3D Cell Culture/Well Plang
use a specialized tool head and point-and-click soware to easily run,
design, or share complex cell culture protocols for automac 3D cell
culture in standard well plates without CAD or complex soware/
procedures.
Heated build tray External control (150 C max); useful in plasc prinng, cell tempera-
ture regulaon, and collagen crosslinking.
Syringe Head Heater Regulate the syringe temperature (80 C max)
Cooled build tray Peler juncon cooling system (-3.6 C min, 18.4C max)
Syringe Head Cooler Regulate the syringe temperature (-3.6 C min, 18.4C max)
(UV) LED light tools
LED light source of selected source (e.g. 365 or 385nm), mountable in
several conguraons. Useful for hydrogel cross linking, among other
uses. Illuminaon coordinated with prinng process automacally or
manually, depending on tool selected.
USB microscope tool 2 MP camera with 10-40x zoom; can be posioned to view work sur-
face or tool head during prinng. (May use mulple per printer.)
Custom tools are available upon request for users needing specialized functionality. Help others cite
your work by requesting that your custom tool is added to our standard accessories list, allowing others
to easily build from your research.
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Item Quanty
Scienst Base Unit Per Order
Power Cable One
Accessory Tower / Requested accessories Per Order; may be in separate boxes
Pressure Lines 0-5 depending on order
Item Where to Find
USB Cable Online or Local Retailer
Computer Online or Local Retailer (PC Only)
Soware Visit web link provided to download
Syringes & Tips Purchase from Nordson EFD/Becton Dickenson
Plasc Filament Online or Local Retailer
Spare Parts Contact us for more informaon
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Each order is dierent, depending on the tools/
accessories you've ordered. You may also receive the
items in mulple boxes/deliveries. Each order will con-
tain the two items below in separate boxes.
Scienst Printer Base Unit (w/o tool) Accessory / Control Tower (bay conguraon may
vary) - large orders may contain two units.
You will receive one or
more carriages (le)
and one or more tool
head aachments
(examples on the right).
Depending on your order, you may also receive addional accessories and their corresponding bays in the accessory tower.
Some examples are shown below.
UV (LED) Tool Heated build tray USB Microscope
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Tool Head
Syringe-
cartridge
assembly
Carriage X-axis rods
Z-table Build surface
Chassis
Pressure Dials
Heater bay 4
Cooled bay 3
Heater bay 2
UV LED bay 1
Coolant
Lines
Heang
120V
Power
Syringe air supplies
Front Panel
Power Supply
On Switch
Bay 3 power
control
Bay 1 power
control
Master Power Supply
Input switch & cord Master Air
Supply input
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A Scienst 3-D printer works by moving the tool head around in the X-Y plane and moving the build
tray down in the Z-direcon with each successive layer. The printer control soware, SeraphPrint™,
works by interpreng a language called Extensible Digital Fabricaon Language, or XDFL. XDFL con-
sists of a series of commands: XYZ points and material idencaons.
A third party Computer Aided Design (CAD) program creates a le called a stereolithography (STL)
le. The print job-processing soware, SeraphStudio™, takes an STL le of a three-dimensional ob-
ject, slices it into layers, and draws paths to ll in each of those layers. Each layer is assigned a Z-
height, according to the height of a single layer of the material used, (i.e. path height). Each XY path
within a layer has a width corresponding to the material idencaon , much like the path height
(layer height). The path width, height, and several other parameters are set in the Calibratorpro-
gram which creates ToolScriptles that instruct SeraphStudio on the geometric characteriscs of
the material you want to print with. (See Diagram on next page).
To begin a print job, move the build tray to a Z-height such that the p just barely rests on the build
tray and place the p at the back corner. Load the XDFL le generated by SeraphStudio
(Calibrator™, or your own code) into SeraphPrintand connect to the printer. The printer will begin
drawing each 2D layer in the XY plane, complete the layer, move the Z-table down by one path
(layer) height, and start the next path unl you print the whole object out!
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Legend:
Material Calibraon
Typical Prinng
3rd Party Soware Steps
(right path is oponal
and rarely used).
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Pressure Dials
Heater bay 4
Cooled bay 2
Heater bay 2
UV LED bay 1
Coolant
Lines
Heang
120V
Power
Syringe air supplies
Front Panel
Power Supply
On Switch
Heater bay 3
power control
Heater bay 1
power control
Master Power Supply
Input switch & cord Master Air
Supply input
Most Scienst printers are congured to use a Control/Accessory Tower. The Control Tower is
where you hook up the external air pressure source, i.e. lab output or portable compressor
up to 100 PSI. Accessories are also typically operated from one or more towers.
The lab or compressor air supply is connected at the Master Air Supply input.Each syringe
is connected via the Syringe air supplies.Pressure is connected when the switch is directed
toward the hose (and away from the air release ports), which must always be uncovered for
safety. Pressure can be adjusted for each syringe using the pressure dial directly beneath the
syringe air supply with which you are working. Remember, each calibrated material has a
parcular pressure which the material should be run at to extrude the paths at the correct
dimensions (i.e. the dimensions the computer is expecng based on calibrated ToolScript).
16
You may not have ordered all of the accessories shown here! You
may not even have a valved air pressure tool. Some congura-
ons dont use them, (e.g. the mechanical piston driven tools and
lament tools dont use air pressure, so you wouldnt have re-
ceived air pressure hook ups in your setup). We also oen ship in
separate boxes, so make sure you checked all the boxes.
If you want to order more tools or accessories, we can help!
Email us at sales@seraphrobocs.com and well get you set up.
Does your
unit look
dierent?
Dont panic!
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18
19
20
Heang
120V
Power
Master Power Supply
Input switch & cord
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Insert the tube into the push-to-connect port, push it in, and tug gently to ensure it is
secure. If you need to move the tower and release the connecon, disconnect the tube.
To release the tube, push inwards and then pull out to remove.
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23
24
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List of compable disposables and suppliers
Item Where to Find
55cc Non-sterile Syringe Nordson EFD
30cc Non-sterile Syringe Nordson EFD
10cc Non-sterile Syringe Nordson EFD
Taper Tips (assorted sizes) Nordson EFD
10cc Becton Dickenson Syringe Becton Dickenson
Replacement Pressure Cap Nordson EFD or Seraph Robocs for BD Caps
Web addresses
Company Website
Nordson EFD hp://www.nordson.com/en-us/divisions/efd/
products/opmum-components/pages/
Becton Dickenson hp://www.bd.com/
Seraph Robocs www.seraphrobocs.com
Distributor (Becton Dickenson) hp://www.coleparmer.com/Category/
BD_Disposable_Sterilized_Syringes/15116
*Please carefully monitor the pressure used and take necessary safety precauons when
working with syringes under pressure to avoid serious injury or death. Seraph makes no
representaons or warranes about the suitability of these syringes for use in our printers.
Please independently evaluate the risks and needed safety precauons.
*Each tool head is dierent. Please use the syringe barrel which corresponds to the tool head(s) you have on your printer.
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Installaon Instrucons
Visit the provided web link
Or scan this QR Code to download our soware.
Double click the installer and then the SR icon to
launch Lab Manager
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With the Scienst, Seraph
introduces Lab Manager™ ,
our centralized 3-D prinng
control suite. Use the Lab
Manager ow chart to guide
your 3-D prinng experi-
ments from computer con-
cept to printed reality.
Begin by using the Calibrator tool to
calibrate your material and generate a
"tool script" le unique to that material's
sengs.
Then, launch SeraphStudio to import
STL les for processing.
For most users, the easy-to-use, ad-
vanced features of SeraphStudiowill
provide all of the tools they need to con-
duct both simple and complex 3-D
prinng procedures. However, for more
advanced users, Seraph introduces Ma-
nipulatorwhich allows for the batch
combinaon and eding of mulple pro-
cessed STL les (XDFL les).
If you've created a complex prinng job
and would like to view a digital represen-
taon of the past the printer tool head
will follow, launch the XDFL Viewer to
scroll through the various layers in your
print job.
Whether you create the print job le
right from SeraphStudio or you further
process it with Manipulator, launch
SeraphPrint to connect to the Scienst
and load your print job.
Even though we think we've thought of
nearly every possible tool you might wish
to use to modify the XDFL printer instruc-
ons, the unique design of Seraph Print
allows you to print any XDFL le, regard-
less of whether was originally generated
in SeraphStudio. With this feature, ad-
vanced users can write their own XDFL
manually or using custom soware. We
encourage users choosing this opon to
contact us to let us know what you've
come up with!
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Will it print?
If you can manually extrude the material, and it passes the
test of:
1. Being extruded through the syringe
2. Creang lines that hold their shape and
3. can be stacked,
it is probably going to work. If it doesnt work right away, you
may need to chemically or physically modify the material by
adding an addive or by using temperature or UV accessories.
29
30
Valve Tool Instrucons
The steps for calibraon using Calibrator
and the valve tool can be summarized in
these steps:
1. Aer successfully manually tesng materi-
al, connect the syringe to the pressure
source, but dont load into the printer. If
you do load it into the printer, be sure to
use the controls on SeraphPrintto open
the valve. Otherwise, hold the syringe
barrel and slowly increase pressure. Aer
youve found a sweet spotpressure that
seems to give a nice material ow out of
the p, record the PSI reading. This is an
art, but not a terribly dicult one. Watch
some of our demo videos if you want to
get an idea of how good ow should look.
2. Launch LabManagerand select Calibra-
tor ™. Provide the material name (you
can reuse the name in mulple calibra-
ons and a unique variable nameto
idenfy this calibraon.
3. Input your best guess for inial sengs.
You can manually extrude some lines of
material and measure them with calipers
to get starng path width/height.
4. The valve tool requires accurate path
height and width to calibrate the print le
appropriately. Choose a print speed that
is appropriate. Start with 30mm/s and
move up slowly, as needed. Area con-
stant and compression volume should
remain at their default 1.0 and 0.0 mm^3
values.
5. Generate a Test XDFL le and make sure
to name it with the lename.xdsyntax.
Load into Seraph Print and the test le
will extrude a line which you can measure
again to more accurately congure the
material.
6. When you are happy
with the correlaon
between the input
values and printed
values, click Generate
ToolScript and save
the tool script in the
Seraph Studio system
directory on your com-
puter. Make sure the
syntax is
lename.xml
7. Load a Test Cube in SeraphStudiousing the ToolScript to create the XDFL
and send outpued XDFL to SeraphPrintto ensure youre happy with
your results. (You may try a more complex print rst, if you choose, but we
dont recommend it. If the rst couple layers of the test print go well, you
can always cancel it. The idea is to try stacking the material with an easy
print of a geometry that is known to print well, a cube being a great shape.)
***Always be aware of safety when working with pressurized items—you are
always responsible for your own acons and we make no warranes or repre-
sentaons as to the suitability of 3rd party syringes for use with your materials
or our printers.****
**NOTE: TIP name must not have any numbers 123 or special characters .,*@#$%
31
Displacement Tool Instrucons
The steps for calibraon using Calibrator
and the displacement tool can be summa-
rized in these steps:
1. Aer successfully manually tesng ma-
terial, install the syringe the printer. Be
sure to use the controls on
SeraphPrintto prime the p.
2. Launch LabManagerand select Cali-
brator ™. Provide the material name
(you can reuse the name in mulple
calibraons and a unique variable
nameto idenfy this calibraon.
3. Input your best guess for inial sengs.
You can manually extrude some lines of
material and measure them with cali-
pers to get starng path width/height.
4. The displacement tool requires accu-
rate path height and width to calibrate
the print le appropriately. Choose a
print speed that is appropriate. Start
with 30mm/s and move up slowly, as
needed. Area constant should remain
at its default 1.0 , but can be used for
quick adjustments to the ow equaon,
if desired. The and compression volume
is the amount of extra pushneeded to
compress the material to start its ow
from standsll. The default value is 0.0
mm^3 , and can be adjusted up for vis-
cous materials.
5. Generate a Test XDFL le and make sure
to name it with the lename.xdsyn-
tax. Load into Seraph Print and the test
le will extrude a line which you can
measure again to more accurately con-
gure the material.
6. When you are happy with the correla-
on between the input values and print-
ed values, click
Generate
ToolScript and
save the tool
script in the Ser-
aph Studio system
directory on your
computer. Make
sure the syntax is
lename.xml
7. Load a Test Cube
in SeraphStudiousing the ToolScript to create the XDFL and send out-
pued XDFL to SeraphPrint to ensure youre happy with your results.
(You may try a more complex print rst, if you choose, but we dont recom-
mend it. If the rst couple layers of the test print go well, you can always
cancel it. The idea is to try stacking the material with an easy print of a ge-
ometry that is known to print well, a cube being a great shape.)
**NOTE: TIP name must not have any numbers 123 or special characters .,*@#$%
32
Filament Tool Instrucons
The steps for calibraon using Calibrator
and the plasc lament tool can be summa-
rized in these steps:
1. Load the lament into the tool accord-
ing to the instrucons in this document.
Read those instrucons before cali-
brang any materials with the steps
below.
2. Launch LabManagerand select Cali-
brator ™. Provide the material name
(you can reuse the name in mulple
calibraons and a unique variable
nameto idenfy this calibraon.
3. Input your best guess for inial sengs.
4. The lament tool requires accurate path
height and width to calibrate the print
le appropriately. A guideline is that a
0.4mm p would have a starng guess
of a 0.4mm path width and a 0.2mm
path height. Choose a print speed that is
appropriate. Start with 60mm/s and
move up slowly, as needed. Area con-
stant and compression volume should
remain at their default 1.0 and 0.0
mm^3 values. It is crical that you in-
put a temperature. Each material is
dierent and you may need to tweak
this value. A guide is that PLA usually
prints at 180-210C, ABS prints around
230C and Nylon prints around 270C.
Please note that temperatures above
280C may damage the tool head or melt
it. Always supervise printer and do safe-
ty checks!
5. Generate a Test XDFL le and make sure
to name it with the lename.xdsyn-
tax. Load into Seraph Print and the test
le will extrude a line which you can
measure again to more accurately con-
gure the material.
6. When you are happy with the correlaon between the input values and
printed values, click Generate ToolScript and save the tool script in the Ser-
aph Studio system directory on your computer. Make sure the syntax is
lename.xml
7. Load a Test Cube in SeraphStudiousing the ToolScript to create the XDFL
and send outpued XDFL to SeraphPrintto ensure youre happy with
your results. (You may try a more complex print rst, if you choose, but we
dont recommend it. If the rst couple layers of the test print go well, you
can always cancel it. The idea is to try stacking the material with an easy
print of a geometry that is known to print well, a cube being a great shape.)
***Always be aware of safety when working with heated items—you are always
responsible for your own acons and for inspecng the printer for safety****
**NOTE: TIP name must not have any numbers 123 or special characters .,*@#$%
33
The p name, comments, and PSI sengs you input in calibrator will
appear in Seraph Studio when you load the print scene of a calibrated
material for which you have generated and used a toolscript.xml le
saved in the appropriate directory.
34
Use Seraph Studio to Process STL les created in your CAD soware of choice into XDFL les, specialized les
containing instrucons for the 3D Printer. (See XDFL Guide to understand how XDFL works and how you can
by pass SeraphStudio to write your own XDFL code to control the Scienst, if you wish.)
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Use the visualizer to load an XDFL le and scroll through its layers.
Within each layer, the individual paths the printer will follow are
shown. This tool will help you design prinng experiments as well as
verify the pathing of a processed STL le or custom XDFL le to en-
sure there are no errors.
48
Advanced XDFL Manipulaon with Manipulator
Use the Manipulatorto translate, rotate, parity transform, mirror, drop/set clearance paths, scale, threshold, or reset
start path of an XDFL le. Use the dropdown menu to see a brief descripon of each funcon. When you select a func-
on, the necessary parameters will appear below it. Fill out the sengs, type a name for the output le, and click run to
create a new XDFL le in the directory containing the original le.
Translate Translate the le in the x y and z direcons. Use material ID to select a single material to translate
Rotate Rotate the le about an axis
Parity Perform a parity transform on the le (x->y, y->x)
mirror Mirror the le about an axis
Drop clearance Remove all clearance paths from the le
Set clearance Set the amount the head will move up between paths and the speed of the movement between
paths
scale Scale the le by a percentage along the x y and z dimensions
Threshold Remove all paths bellow 0 height
Start path Remove all paths up unl and including the path number specied
49
Advanced XDFL Manipulaon with Manipulator
Overview
The Manipulaon tool for XDFL is designed to let you edit your print jobs and to customize your prinng process. The tool
has several funcons that can change your XDFL print job. The print job is loaded by typing in the le locaon and name into
the line underneath the explaining text or by hing the open buon. Each funcon has a set of arguments (inputs) that are
needed to perform their task. They are loaded into the box beneath the input le name. Each argument is given a default
value. You can edit some or all of the arguments. The output of the funcon is sent to the output le. By default, the input
le is overwrien by the funcon, but you can specify a new le to be wrien.
The rest of this document will be used to describe the dierent funcons and how to use them. The funcons are broken
into three groups, geometric, clearance, and edits. Geometric funcons change the locaon and orientaon of print jobs.
Clearance funcons change the behavior of the printer between extrusion paths. Edit funcons truncate a print job or
merge print jobs together.
Functions
Geometric
Geometric funcons change the locaon and orientaon of print jobs. The printer uses X Y and Z coordinates. The XDFL le
coordinate will be the coordinates referenced for the enre print job. The Printer bays will moved in order to align the ex-
trusion heads for the correct material to the locaons in the print job.
Translate
Function
The Translate tool moves the paths of one or all of the materials in a print to move the object on the build surface. If you
use a material ID only that material is shied, none of the clearance paths and none of the other extrusion paths are shied
to match it. You can used the clearance funcon to update the clearance paths to match the ends of extrusion paths aer
shiing one material.
Arguments
Name Units Default Descripon
X mm 0 The amount in mm to shi the print job in the X direcon
Y mm 0 The amount in mm to shi the print job in the Y direcon
Z mm 0 The amount in mm to shi the print job in the Z direcon
Id -1 The ID of the material to shi, use -1 to shi all materials and the
clearance paths, use 0 to shi the non-extrusion paths
50
Advanced XDFL Manipulaon with Manipulator
Example
Lets sat you have a mul-material print and you placed one of the STLs in the wrong locaon, you can use this tool to make
a correcon. Aer your rst aempt prinng, if you measured that you were o by 5mm in the y direcon on the STL for
material two, you can enter 5 for Y and 2 for ID. Then when you are done use the clearance funcon to update the clearanc-
es.
Rotate
Function
The rotate funcon turns the enre print job about the X Y or Z axis This funcon can put parts below the XY plane (the
build surface), make sure to shi your prints up to prevent the tool head from crashing into the build plate if you rotate it
about the X or Y plane.
Arguments
Example
Lets say you made a print job that is too long for the X axis but can t on the printer if your rotated it. Use the tool to rotate
the print 90 degrees around the Z axis
Parity
Function
The parity funcon performs a parity transform. Parity transforms turn right hands into le hands. This is similar to mirror-
ing the print through the build tray and rotang up to original posion on the build surface.
Arguments
None
Example
Lets say you want to turn and le ear into a right ear, use the parity funcon to make a new print job.
Name Units Default Descripon
Angle Degrees 0 The angle to rotate the print around an axis
Axis z The axis to rotate around X Y or Z
51
Advanced XDFL Manipulaon with Manipulator
Mirror
Function
This mirrors the print job through a plane. The planes are dened by the axis that is perpendicular to them. IE the Z axis is
perpendicular to the XY plane (build surface). If you mirror about it, it will put the print jobs below the build surface.
Arguments
Example
Lets say you want to print an object upside down. Use the mirror tool to mirror about the Z axis and then use the translate
tool to shi the print up back above the build surface.
Scale
Function
This funcon will scale the print in the X Y and/or Z direcons. It will not ll in areas, it will only change the spacing of the
points in the paths. 1 is equivalent to 100%. This tool is rarely used, but it can be used to make solid objects into sparse lled
scaolds.
Arguments
Example
lets say you want to make a sparse scaold. Take a print with solid inl and scale it in the x and y direcons.
Name Units Default Descripon
Axis z The axis to rotate around X Y or Z
Name Units Default Descripon
X - 1 The amount to scale the print job in the X direcon
Y - 1 The amount to shi the print job in the Y direcon
Z - 1 The amount to shi the print job in the Z direcon
52
Advanced XDFL Manipulaon with Manipulator
Clearance
Clearance paths are the non-extruding movements between extrusion paths. These paths lower the build tray, and then
move the head to the XY posion of the start of the next path, and then move the tray back up.
Drop clearance
Function
This funcon removes all of the clearance paths from a print. This will cause the head to move in a straight line between the
end of one path and the beginning of the next path. You will want to drop clearance to make a print faster or if you plan on
making a series of edits to the XDFL and seng the clearance at the end.
Arguments
There are no arguments for the funcon other than input and output le name
Example
Lets say you a prinng with plasc with a single plasc material, removing clearance paths can speed up the print process.
You would not want to remove clearance paths when using two materials with dierent heights which might cause the ma-
terials to drag into each other.
Set clearance
Function
This funcon sets the clearance paths between all paths in the print process. You can set the Z movement amount to ensure
either a breaking of the strand from the p or to avoid dragging the p into another region of material.
Arguments
Example
Lets say you have a print with a single material that needs a movement to break its connecon between the path and the
Name Units Default Descripon
- - - -
Name Units Default Descripon
clearance mm 0.1 The amount to drop the tray before moving in XY
speed Mm/s 10 The speed along the print pass
53
Advanced XDFL Manipulaon with Manipulator
nozzle. Set a 0.1mm clearance and 50mm/s speed to ensure that the head jerks away from the path and breaks the material
connecon.
Lets say you have a two material print where one material has a 1mm path height and the other has a 2mm path height,
seng a 1.1mm clearance will ensure that the nozzles do not crash into printed materials.
Edits
Threshold
Function
This funcon removes all paths bellow the build surface (XY plane) from the print to prevent the head from crashing to the
build surface. This funcon is needed because there is nothing to stop you from pung an object bellow the build surface
using one of the other manipulaon funcons.
Arguments
There are no arguments for the funcon other than input and output le name
Example
Lets say you have rotated a print using the X axis and it now has the rst 5 paths bellow the build surface, but these paths
are un needed to print the object, this funcon can remove those paths.
Start path
Function
This is a debugging funcon useful for resuming a print from a specic path number if your print fails and you want to recov-
er the print from a specic path. This funcon removed all paths before this specied number from the print job.
Arguments
Name Units Default Descripon
- - - -
Name Units Default Descripon
Path number - 1 The number of the path to start the print from
54
Advanced XDFL Manipulaon with Manipulator
Example
Lets say a 5 hour print fails are path 190 because you ran out of material or the p clogged. Write down the number of the
path it is on in Seraph Print, cancel the print. Move the print to X=0 Y=0 and the current layer height. Then use this tool to
make a new print job from that path, and run this new print job.
Merge (for Multi-Material Printing)
Function
This funcon merges mulple XDFL les together to make a new mul-material XDFL le. All of the materials are kept, even
if they are unused in the le. The system assumes that both les are aligned to the same origin. The merged le will be sort-
ed by layer height to make the print order for the layers.
Arguments
There are mulple arguments of the same name, you only need to ll a value for as many les as you are merging together.
Example
Lets say you want to make a combinaon of two materials, but dont have a toolscript for the combinaon. You can align
the STLs in seraph studio and record their XYZ posions form the menu on the right. Then remove the STLs for material 2
and path material 1 and save an XDFL le. Then remove the STLs and place the STLs using the corrdinate you recorded be-
fore and make a new XDFL le for material 2 and save it. Then merge the two les together into a new le using this tool.
Lets say you have an STL le and a set of paths you generated from code in matlab. You can use the XDFL from the STL le
and the XDFL wrien in matlab code to make a new print job. Use this tool to merge the two sets of paths together.
Name Units Default Descripon
File name - - The locaon of the le to merge
55
Mul-Material Prinng Guide
Let's say that you want to print a multi-material object. The
simplest way to do this using Seraph software is to create two
separate XDFL files and merge them.
The first file would contain the geometry of all areas of the
print using material number one, and the second file would
contain geometry of the print using all areas of material num-
ber two. Of course, it is possible to extend this prototypical
case and use more than two STL files to accommodate two or
more materials in this fashion.
The process begins by selecting the first material's STL file
and placing it on the build surface using Seraph Studio. The
user should make note of the X, Y, and Z positions of the first
STL object and create an XDFL file.
Using this information, the user should then clear the build sur-
face on Seraph Studio and on to an empty virtual build sur-
face, import the second material STL object. Then, place the
second STL object in the appropriate position relative to the
first, using the "Edit" tab on the program to manually input the
correctly offset XYZ position. A second XDFL file should then
be created containing only the information regarding the path-
ing instructions for the second STL file. The user should now
have two XDFL files, each containing the respective paths for
their object and material.
With the to appropriately positioned XDFL files created, the user must now launch the "Manipulator" from
Lab Manager and select the "Merge" tool. This tool will merge the two separate XDFL files into a single
XDFL file containing all of the instructions for the printer to simultaneously print both materials. Unlike print-
ing these two XDFL files in succession, using the merge tool will sort their XDFL commands by layer, allow-
ing a successful print comprised of multiple materials per layer.
Please refer to the instructions in the section discussing the Manipulator Tool for more detailed information
on the Merge tool. Also note that for your print to be successful the z-heights of the two or more materials
should be the same or nearly the same to ensure that one syringe does not interfere with printed material of
another. See diagram below, which illustrates how a big z-height (path/layer height) difference is problem-
atic because the tool will crash. To avoid this problem, tell the Merge program a clearance heightand it
will lift the head by that amount between materials to avoid crashing. This will allow you to circumvent the
problem described below.
Material 1
Material 2
Z-Height 1 Z-Height 2
Tool head moon
Z-height dierence
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1) Install the tray by the sliding it underneath the Z table at 90° to its final position pulling it through the
rectangular hole, and turning it another 90° to its proper orientation, and resting it on the appropriate pegs. The
cord should exit the tray through the rectangular hole in the Z-table. (See cooling tray for reference.)
2) Connect to Accessory Tower. Grab the thermocouple by the yellow plastic connector and plug it into
the appropriate bay on the accessories tower, and connect the white power supply connector alongside it. Do
not connect or disconnect by pulling on the wires, as they are 120 V connections. (Never touch exposed wire
when the unit is plugged in!)
3) To use the heater, turn on the accessory tower power supply and then turn on the heating bay power supply.
4) Press setand use the arrow keys to set the desired temperature. Press setagain, to confirm selection.
5) The current temperature will appear on the display and rise to your selected temperature. The green
light on the controls indicates that the heater is active.
6) Begin Use. When the temperature reaches your desired temperature, proceed cautiously with your
experiments.
7). When done you may select a new lower desired temperature or shut off the device power. Be sure to
allow the tray to cool to room temperature before touching it to avoid burns! Ensure you have proper procedures
in place to prevent others from touching printer while any hazardous parts (e.g. heating, UV, or toxic chemicals)
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Recommended Materials: ABS/PLA lament
65
Plasc Prinng Guide
66
Plasc Prinng Guide
67
Plasc Prinng Guide
68
Plasc Prinng Guide
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Any commercial document or technical
information provided to you is confi-
dential and should not be shared or
used without the express written per-
mission of Seraph Robotics, Inc. All
orders subject to Seraph Robotics
Terms and Conditions which override
any standard conditions provided by
buyer at any time. Please ask for a
copy of our standard terms and condi-
tions, if not provided. Each purchased
unit entitles user to only one license to
software to be used as contemplated
by seller solely for the operation of
Scientistprinter purchased. Buyer is
solely and wholly responsible for the
safe operation of any equipment pur-
chased. No returns, refunds, exchang-
es. In an effort to provide the best
customer service, we offer paid tech
support based on availability. Buy is
responsible for all taxes and fees,
whether levied on buyer or seller.
Payment is typically due prior to ship-
ment of a unit by check or wire trans-
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