[Interview] Jinchengzi Technology Qiu Yong: The counterattack of domestic 3D printing control system for more than ten years

 Computer control system, 3D design graphics, 3D Printing equipment, 3D Printing consumables, post-processing technology and other elements constitute a complete 3D printing industry map, in which the computer control system is like the core “brain” “It controls the smooth progress of the 3D printing process as precisely as possible. In recent years, domestic suppliers of 3D printing equipment and consumables have sprung up like bamboo shoots after a rain, but the core control software of 3D printing is often made up of pirated foreign software. Fortunately, Beijing Golden Orange Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Gold Orange Technology”) fills this gap on the map with its more than ten years of control software research and development strength and powerful Ezcad3 control system.

3+1 combination sweep laser marking control
In 2004, the control card and control software market, which is the core of the domestic laser marking system, just emerged. An interesting 3+1 combination decided to provoke the backbone of the domestic laser marking system control. Four men in science and engineering-three graduates from prestigious schools specializing in circuits Board control and a “half-way monk” self-taught software programming, jointly established today’s Beijing Golden Orange Technology Co., Ltd., which specializes in the development of laser marking control cards and control software. Qiu Yong, the protagonist of the cover character of “3D Printing World”, one of the founders, director and deputy general manager of Golden Orange Technology, is the soul of this combination, and has been leading the development of the company’s core software for many years. Less than two years after its establishment, Golden Orange Technology has won the domestic market with its core product series of marking control cards. After more than ten years of development, Jinchengzi Technology is now a household name in the laser marking industry, occupying a leading position in the global laser marking control system, and it was listed on the New Third Board last year. Qiu Yong proudly introduced, “There are tens of thousands of pirated software in the Chinese market every year, of which 70% to 80% are pirated from ours. Even the software interfaces of competitors are basically imitated from our software. Technology is the undisputed leader in this field.” At present, all systems and control software developed by Golden Orange Technology have completely independent intellectual property rights. Although 3D printing has only been around for four or five years, Golden Orange Technology has already learned about the demand for control software for 3D printing called rapid prototyping as early as ten years ago, and has cooperated with the earliest metal 3D printing manufacturers in China. An industrial 3D printing company in Beijing cooperated to do some research and development, completed the early knowledge accumulation, and laid the technical foundation. Qiu Yong said, “Ten years ago, Golden Orange Technology already knew what functions 3D printing needed. After 3D printing became popular, we developed control software for the functions required for 3D printing on the basis of previous research. .”

Is there a technological leap from laser marking control to metal 3D printing control? In Qiu Yong’s view, the difference between the two technologies is actually not that big. “Metal 3D printing is actually a metal marking. 3D marking uses a laser to melt or even vaporize on a two-dimensional plane to place objects on the object. A permanent pattern is left on the surface. Similarly, 3D printing also slices the shape of a three-dimensional design into a two-dimensional pattern. The laser melts or sinters the powder on a layer of metal powder according to a predetermined pattern, and marking is to cut the material 3D printing requires overlay molding. No matter which type, the core technology is to control the precise movement of the laser marking head or the print head through the computer software using the scanning galvanometer.” Ezcad3 solves 90 for 3D printing customers % Difficulties Although Qiu Yong has many years of experience in software control research and development, compared with 3D marking, 3D printing adds more details to the workflow, which brings difficulties to the operation. For example, how to calibrate to ensure the printing accuracy of each layer of metal powder? How to slice better? How to fill in to minimize the thermal effect of 3D printed parts? The amount of data in STL files is so large, how to optimize the software to ensure that these large files are saved and output smoothly… In order to solve these problems in the 3D printing process, Qiu Yong led the R&D department of Golden Orange Technology through more than three years Research and development, the 3D printing control system Ezcad3 launched today can provide customers with 90% of the functions required for 3D printing. “We provide a complete set of solutions, customers can selectively assemble these technical modules together, and simply develop and make the final interface by themselves, and then they can achieve the 3D printing functions they need.” Qiu Yong showed us The advantages of the 3D control system launched by Golden Orange Technology are as follows: 3D calibration: “Calibration is the most frequently requested requirement of our customers. For example, the customer needs to print a 100X100mm rectangle, and then print a 50X50mm rectangle after accurate printing. It may be inaccurate again, because every point in the entire area needs to be accurately calibrated in the entire area. It is difficult to achieve this without sufficient experience and strength. Golden Orange Technology has launched a solution for this. plan.”

Aiming at the problems of low accuracy and large errors in traditional manual correction of optical distortion, Ezcad3 adopts multi-point calculation for the whole process of camera positioning, which effectively improves the accuracy level, and the correction accuracy (100mm format) can reach ±10um. 64-bit kernel: “The 3D printing software is just a few Ts of data. It takes tens of minutes or hours to store the 3D graphics in the computer. We have done a lot of optimizations to generate the filling path during the processing. , So that the amount of data is particularly small, so that ordinary computers can be used for 3D processing.”

Ezcad3 is developed for 64-bit Windows operating system, which greatly improves the memory access capacity, supports the import and processing of large data volumes of STL files, and solves 32-bit software cannot handle the problem of oversized files. The software supports multi-threaded work mode, makes full use of multi-core processors, and improves the calculation and rendering efficiency of the software. Dynamic slicing:

 Using Ezcad3 software, users can choose to use the slicing function to slice the model after importing the STL file. For slicing, you can choose to slice the entire model before processing, or you can choose to generate the current sliced ​​model data immediately during processing to reduce memory usage. The software also supports importing slice data generated by other software. Scanning path generation (filling): Qiu Yong introduced that the basic path generation methods include level, grid, round shape, bow shape, etc. Each manufacturer needs to conduct thermal effect testing on various filling components. Golden Orange Technology provides dynamic filling. And custom filling tools can effectively help customers solve these problems.

Scan path dynamic generation (dynamic filling): The slicing operation will generate a large amount of slice data, and the path generation for each layer of slice will generate a larger amount of data. In order to save the computer memory and reduce the hardware configuration requirements, the Ezcad3 development kit provides real-time path generation, that is, when processing the current slice, the path of the next slice is generated, and the path data of the previous slice is cleaned up. Small memory footprint.

Custom scan path generation (custom filling):The scanning path not only determines the machining accuracy, but also affects the residual stress after the workpiece is processed. The user can draw any scan path pattern through the software, and the software can apply the drawn scan path pattern to each slice by projecting the contour of the slice. This provides a basis for users to test and implement different scanning strategies.

Galvanometer:

 Ezcad3 supports multiple galvanometer protocols, XY2-100 (16-bit), XY2-100 enhanced (18-bit), newson (20-bit). The higher the precision, the finer the processing effect. Compared with the 16-bit galvanometer, the accuracy (100mm format) of the 18-bit galvanometer is increased from 1.53μm (100mm/216) to 0.38μm (100mm/218), and the accuracy is increased by 4 times. Multi-head: The software can support one computer to control multiple boards, lasers and vibrating lenses, and perform simultaneous processing to improve production efficiency. (Up to 8 can be controlled)

In addition, Qiu Yong added that although Ezcad3 has provided 90% of the functions required for 3D printing, it still lacks a function to add support. Golden Orange Technology will continue to research and develop in the future to provide customers with Complete 3D printing solution. Honesty is the foundation, to win the market. At present, most domestic 3D printing manufacturers use imported control cards in the control software. There is no complete solution for the functions required by the 3D process, and the Ezcad3 control system of Golden Orange Technology can provide more advanced solutions, with multiple functions such as correction, dynamic slicing, and filling. “Our goal is to replace these single-function control cards on the market,” said Qiu Yong. At present, the development of Jinchengzi Technology in the 3D printing market is in its infancy. There are only a dozen customers in contact with it. Qiu Yong is very confident about how to win the domestic market, relying on not only to provide customers with perfect The solution to the problem is the word “integrity” that has been proud of for many years. Qiu Yong believes that this is the biggest adherence to the company philosophy of Golden Orange Technology. “I think integrity is the first. Our company has never Distrust of others, this has formed a corporate culture of Golden Orange Technology.”

For customers, as a research and development company, Golden Orange Technology’s sales strategy for many years is based on pure technology. It convinces people with the technology developed by independent innovation and promises that customers will always do it, and never violate any contract. . As far as corporate employees are concerned, Golden Orange Technology has never owed compensation in terms of salary and benefits for more than ten years. Therefore, the loyalty of employees is very high. It will definitely be given, and if it is given, it will be given more.” Qiu Yong believes that it is almost beyond doubt that Golden Orange Technology has a high degree of integrity. As far as Qiu Yong is concerned, as the leader of the R&D department, he almost undertakes most of the company’s R&D work. From the old software Ezcad1 and Ezcad2 of Golden Orange Technology to the current Ezcad3, the R&D work is undertaken by Qiu Yong. Its R&D staff only need to do secondary R&D on the basis of his work. In addition, Qiu Yong is also responsible for the research and development of other customer projects.

Sometimes he lamented that his workload was really too great, “When I left another company that year, I needed five people to pick up my job. I may be working with ten people or dozens of people from another company. Work at work.” Qiu Yong, the soul of the software research and development technology of Golden Orange Technology, is a self-taught and talented programmer and a diligent company founder. Perhaps this has affected the corporate temperament of Golden Orange Technology to a certain extent. ——Reliable and full of vitality. In recent years, the country has continuously encouraged industrial transformation and upgrading, and has driven economic development with technological innovation. Since its inception, Golden Orange Technology has focused on the research and development of core patented technologies, down-to-earth, and looking up at the stars. Such a company that focuses on control software development is bound to be conducive to occupying a high ground in industrial competition and promoting the development of China’s 3D printing industry, because the integration of all 3D printing hardware and software is inseparable from a good “brain” precise scheduling.