The emergence of additive manufacturing (AM) technologies (also known as 3D printing) promotes the reduction of material consumption in terms of avoiding the repeated fabrication of dies as well as comparatively high material efficiency. However, despite widespread application and evident advantages over traditional manufacturing techniques, AM still suffers from redundant support material usage when printing parts with overhanging features. In this article, a support generation method through print path planning is proposed for the first time, with the aim of reducing support material consumption in AM of parts with flat features. Print path can significantly influence the support usage when considering the longest printable bridge length. Two parts are printed by our new method with much less support consumption than general line and grid support generation methods. The results show the effectiveness of this new support generation method in terms of both reducing the support consumption and finish surface deterioration, enabling AM to be a more environmental friendly and sustainable manufacturing technique.
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