Hybrid scanner fabricator

Abstract

A system and method to fabricate three dimensional objects. A set of fabrication tools include at least a coarse deposition head and a fine additive head, a fine subtractive head or both employed concurrently within a single housing. A scanner may also be used within the housing to perform interleaved scanning of the partial fabrication during the fabrication. The process may be adjusted based on the scan results.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A hybrid system having both a three dimensional printer and a three dimensional scanner comprising:
 a structure defining a work area;   an interface to receive digital data defining a geometry for a three-dimensional object to be fabricated;   a nozzle coupled to the structure to deposit material to fabricate a three dimensional object within the work area;   a scan head coupled to the structure concurrently with the nozzle to capture three dimensional information about a target object within the work area, wherein the system creates a three dimensional digital model of the target object based on the three dimensional information captured by the scan head; and   a drive system sharing in common at least one axis of motion to cause movement between both the nozzle and the scan head, relative to the three dimensional object.   
     
     
         2 . The hybrid system of  claim 1  further comprising:
 a control subsystem that monitors scan head data and controls the nozzle to adjust the fabrication process to improve at least one of the speed or accuracy of the fabrication of the three dimensional object. 
 
     
     
         3 . The hybrid system of  claim 1  wherein the scanner periodically images the three dimensional object during fabrication further comprising:
 a monitoring module to adjust the scanning and printing activity to improve fabrication efficiency. 
 
     
     
         4 . The hybrid system of  claim 1  further comprising:
 a shape adjustment subsystem coupled to the nozzle to change at least one of the orientation or cross-sectional shape or size of the material deposited in the build zone.