ghoti
Apprentice
Posts: 35
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Post by ghoti on Sept 4, 2004 23:01:38 GMT 1
Hi Guys, The process you are talking about is called "stereolithography". It is a very high tech way of producing prototypes of new products, etc. I guess that basically means 3D printing. It works by projecting a light beam, probably a lazer, on the surface of a liquid plastic in a vat. After the layer of plastic is exposed, it hardens and the vat is lowered about .005 inches. Another pass is made with the light beam, and the process is repeated as many times as necessary to produce the desired item. They can br very complex structures and can be hollow with very intricate details inside. They can be made from a veriety of materials, both opaque and water clear. It does require a 3D computer generated file to work. There are many companies that provide this service to others and they do both the computer work and produce the prototype. They can make as many of the copies as you want, but they are very fragile. They could be used, however, to make a mold so that more robust copies could be made from any material. One suce company is located in So. Orange COunty in So. California. Their web site address is spectrum3d.com . Their site gives a lot of info about how the process works and shows lots of items they have made. Sorry I got so longwinded. JIm
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Post by cfesmire on Sept 5, 2004 0:38:52 GMT 1
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ghoti
Apprentice
Posts: 35
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Post by ghoti on Sept 5, 2004 21:19:23 GMT 1
Thanks for the link. It sure explains the process far better than I did. It looks as though modern vehicles could be modeled easily since they are designed on computers and 3D files already exist. It probably would be difficult to get hold of them though. Sure would make for some very accurate models !! The body could include door panels, etc. And the chassis could easily include the dash, seats etc. with extreme detail. Fantastic machine ! Jim
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Post by cfesmire on Sept 6, 2004 4:17:00 GMT 1
Only limited by the amount of information entered. One really could make a magnificent model eh?
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