Achieving good dimensional accuracy for 3D printed objects with the Gas metal arc welding process (Wire-arc additive manufacturing) is difficult because of the non-stationarity of the welding process, which results in object wall waviness and differences between the desired and actual layer height of the welded material. This error is cumulative and rises in proportion to the number of welded layers. To improve the dimensional accuracy of Wire-arc additively manufactured objects, we design a system to record welding using a high speed camera, and design an algorithm for robust and fast melt pool detection from the images. We analyze the possibilities of using this data as a feedback loop for controlling the welding machine parameters in real time.
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