Design and Implementation of an Intelligent Control System for 3D Printers Based on Unity3D

Abstract

With the rapid development of additive manufacturing technology, the demand for high-precision control and real-time monitoring of 3D printing systems has become increasingly urgent. To address issues such as step loss errors, insufficient real-time performance, and weak remote monitoring capabilities in traditional 3D printers, this paper proposes an intelligent 3D printing system that integrates digital twin technology with incremental PID closed-loop control. By constructing a virtual-physical synchronized digital twin model and combining it with Unity3D for high-precision virtual simulation, the system achieves real-time mapping of the motion trajectory and state parameters of the physical printer. A Raspberry Pi is employed as the core controller, integrating the MKS SERVO42C closed-loop driver board and an incremental PID algorithm to resolve step loss issues during high-speed operation of stepper motors, thereby improving printing accuracy. A network communication architecture based on the HTTP protocol is designed to enable real-time data interaction among the Raspberry Pi, the main control board, and the virtual twin. Additionally, a MySQL database is utilized for storing and analyzing printing process data. The system significantly optimizes printing efficiency and quality.