Rapid Prototype Blog

Archive for July, 2010

Assume global catasthrophe reduces technology and we need to produce aircraft that are not as dependent on ultra-modern electronics. The A-1, A-4, and Phantom are not as dependent on Avionics as F-15s and F-16s, and F-22s.

A quick test print of the new 3D printer at work

If a flying saucer crashes on earth, do you think we will be able to reverse engineer it? Duplicate Alien’s Technology and make our own flying saucer. How would we do that?

Pretty much anything these days!

Here are some sample parts I have made using an FDM 3D modeler.

Hello,

Well, you’ve made it to Day 7 of our Rapid Prototyping Ecourse. The
last 6 days have been packed full of information on new innovative
technologies that are all apart of Rapid Prototyping.

We Learned about:
EBM – Electron Beam Melting
SLS – Selective Laser Sintering
LOM – Laminated Object Manufacturing
FDM – Fused Deposition Modeling
SLA – Stereolithography

Of course, you aren’t an expert – but think back to Day 1 of our
course and I hope you know more now than you did 6 days ago about
Rapid Prototyping Technologies.

A few times I sent you to our Community website on Prototyping
called Prototype Zone. I hope you enjoyed the free information
available to you there.

I’d love it if you’d join our community for free because its people
like you who make these communities work. Joining the Rapid
Prototyping Community is free!

Not only is joing our community free – but just for joining you get
2 free EBooks on Rapid Prototyping Basics – Volume 1 and Volume 2.
Both are over 70 pages of information on Rapid Prototyping.

Visit the website at: http://www.prototypezone.com/ to ready more
about this offer. If you want to sign up today visit:

http://www.prototypezone.com/index.php?option=com_comprofiler&task=registers.

Our Prototyping Community is just beginning and we are looking
forward to all of the information and experience and beginner
questions that each community member shares with others. Come on by
and check us out at www.prototypezone.com.

Thanks for taking the time to take my ecourse!

See you in the Prototyping Forums!

Ivan Irons

P.S.
There is more…If you sign up as a member of Prototype Zone, you
will get special access to 2 Free eBooks on the site. Both of the eBooks
are about Prototyping Basics.  Here is the best part, becoming a member is Free!
Wait…Both of the Prototyping Basics eBooks are free!

Sign Up Now to get all these Free Benefits!
http://www.prototypezone.com/index.php?option=com_comprofiler&task=registers

Hello,

Its Day 6 of our Prototype Zone Ecourse and I hope you are enjoying
learning about various Rapid Prototyping technologies – its neat
stuff isn’t it?

SLA or Stereolithography - don’t ask me how to pronounce it – but I
can tell you what it is.

Stereolithography or SLA is one of the most commonly used rapid
prototyping and rapid manufacturing technology for creating several
parts with excellent surface finish and high accuracy.
Stereolithography is a mechanism used to perform Stereolithography
Apparatus. SLA creates plastic parts or even objects a layer by
marking out a laser beam on the surface of the liquid photopolymer.
This category of substances initially developed for packaging and
printing industry, solidifies quickly wherever the laser beam hits.
As one layer is being entirely marked out it lowers a small
distance into the vat of the liquid photopolymer and a subsequent
layer is marked out exactly on the top of the first layer.

The self cementing property of this particular substance causes the
layers to merge with one another and finally form an absolute 3D
object after lots of similar objects are created. Some of these
objects have undercuts or overhangs that must be actually
maintained during the procedure of fabrication by maintaining the
structures. These structures are automatically or manually designed
and later fabricated along with the objects. When the fabrication
procedure is completed these objects are elevated from the vat of
the liquid photopolymer and then the supports are removed.

Stereolithography or SLA is being considered to provide one of the
best surface finishes and exact accuracy of any technology of rapid
prototyping. SLA is frequently regarded as the pioneer of the rapid
prototyping business with the initial profit-making system was
introduced in the year 1988.

There’s a great article within the prototype zone community that
talks about SLS vs SLA. I would check it out if I were you. You can
find it on the forum at:

http://www.prototypezone.com/prototype-forum/selective-laser-sinteri

ng/overview-ov-sls/view

Tomorrow is our final day of our prototyping ecourse. We will
review what we have learned and talk about some free bonus’s
available to you on Rapid Prototyping.

See you Tomorrow,
Ivan Irons

P.S.
There is more…If you sign up as a member of Prototype Zone, you
will get special access to 2 Free eBooks on the site. Both of the eBooks
are about Prototyping Basics.  Here is the best part, becoming a member is Free!
Wait…Both of the Prototyping Basics eBooks are free!

Sign Up Now to get all these Free Benefits!
http://www.prototypezone.com/index.php?option=com_comprofiler&task=registers

Hello,

Welcome to Day 5 of our Prototype zone Ecourse. Throught this week
we are learning about some of the most popular types of Rapid
Prototyping. So far hopefully you have a basic understanding of
SLS, EBM, and LOM. So today we are going to move onto FDM or Fused
Deposition Modeling.

FDM or Fused Deposition Modeling is said to be one type of a
free-form fabrication technologies being developed Stratasys Inc.
As this technology utilizes high force ABC plastic it is one of the
most preferred technologies for prototyping plastic parts which
require force. The Fused Deposition Modeling is a method of layered
manufacturing which extrudes a very thin drop of plastic, just one
layer at a time. A string of plastic is supplied into an extrusion
cranium where this string is heated into a state of semi-liquid
form and then extruded via a very tiny passage onto the other layer
of the substance. Support substance is even being laid down in the
same method.

How it Works? FDM is also said to be a solid based rapid prototype
method which extrudes substances to build a model layer by layer.
FDM is also the second most extensively utilized technology of
rapid prototyping after SLA or Stereolithography. Actually, a
plastic string is being released from a coil and then provides
substances to an extrusion syringe. This syringe is then heated to
melt the stored plastic it also has a mechanism that allows the
flow of the melted plastic to turn on and off when required. This
syringe is later mounted to a mechanical phase that can be shifted
both in vertical and horizontal directions.

There’s a little bit more to learn about the final stage of the FDM
process – but I can’t get it all in this course so visit this area
on our site to get the rest of the information FDM at:
http://www.prototypezone.com/fused-deposition-modeling/.

Onto Day 6 tomorrow to learn about Stereolithography (SLA).

See you Tomorrow,
Ivan Irons

P.S.
There is more…If you sign up as a member of Prototype Zone, you
will get special access to 2 Free eBooks on the site. Both of the eBooks
are about Prototyping Basics.  Here is the best part, becoming a member is Free!
Wait…Both of the Prototyping Basics eBooks are free!

Sign Up Now to get all these Free Benefits!
http://www.prototypezone.com/index.php?option=com_comprofiler&task=registers

Hello,

Welcome to Day 4 of our Prototype Zone Ecourse on the various
Prototyping Technologies. So far we have covered Electron Beam
Melting and Selective Laser Sintering (SLS). I hope you are ready
for more because today we are going to discuss LOM or Laminated
Object Manufacturing.

Laminated Object Manufacturing or LMO is a system used for rapid
prototyping. It consists of adhesive – coated layers of plastic or
paper that are stuck together with the help of glue and then cut
into an appropriate shape with the help of a laser cutter or a
knife.

How does Laminated Object Manufacturing Work? The LMO is used to
manufacture 3 – D objects that are cut on the basis of the
geometrical data that is available with the system. The laser that
is used in the LMO is a carbon dioxide laser that is capable of
creating cross sections of 3 – D objects successively, from layers
of foil, usually paper. The back of the 3 – D object that is
created has a polyethylene coating on it.

The computer with the help of which the LMO runs, has the ability
to slice a solid 3 – D model into 2 – D cross sections that are
thin. Every cross section would have a thickness that is equivalent
to the thickness of each of the materials that is used for the
process of prototyping.

There’s much more on the LOM process in a post on our forum in the
LOM section. Check it out to find out the rest of the LOM process
at:

http://www.prototypezone.com/prototype-forum/laminated-object/showcat

Wow – tomorrow is already Day 5 of our course and we will discuss
FDM – Fused Deposition Modeling.

See you Tomorrow,
Ivan Irons

P.S.
There is more…If you sign up as a member of Prototype Zone, you
will get special access to 2 Free eBooks on the site. Both of the eBooks
are about Prototyping Basics.  Here is the best part, becoming a member is Free!
Wait…Both of the Prototyping Basics eBooks are free!

Sign Up Now to get all these Free Benefits!
http://www.prototypezone.com/index.php?option=com_comprofiler&task=registers

Hello,

Welcome to Day 3 of our Prototype Zone Ecourse on Prototyping
Technologies. Yesterday we talked about the basics of Electron Beam
Melting and I hope you had time to check out a few more articles on
EMB on the prototype zone website.

Today we are going to go through SLS or Selective Laser Sintering.

Selective Laser Sintering or SLS is said to be a free-form
manufacturing technology which is developed by 3D systems. SLS is a
method of layered manufacturing which creates a solid 3D object by
blending powdered substances along with carbon dioxide. In other
words SLS is one of the famous mechanisms of Rapid Prototyping in
which a laser beam carefully sinters or fuses the powdered
substances such as elastomer, nylon etc. A thin layer of that
powdered substances is being laid down and the laser sketches on
the layer sintering together the elements hit by the laser. SLS can
provide a persons manufacturing company with most important
perimeter by producing metal or rapid plastic prototyping which
narrowly matches their molded complements

One of the most important features of Selective Laser Sintering is
how functional and durable the substances are. These substances
normally include versions of new DuraForm glass-filled, which is a
nylon based substance that creates functional and highly durable
plastic prototypes. Some of the other substances available with SLS
include LaserForm, Flex Plastic for elastomeric and rubber like
parts that create metal prototypes.

There’s a category page on the Prototype Zone website with more
free information on SLS – which would be good to go look at tonight
to gain a bit more informatio on SLS. You can find this information
at: http://www.prototypezone.com/selective-laser-sintering/ on our
prototype zone community website.

Tomorrow we will learn about another Rapid Prototyping technology,
LOM or Laminated Object Manufacturing.

See you Tomorrow,
Ivan Irons

P.S.
There is more…If you sign up as a member of Prototype Zone, you
will get special access to 2 Free eBooks on the site. Both of the eBooks
are about Prototyping Basics.  Here is the best part, becoming a member is Free!
Wait…Both of the Prototyping Basics eBooks are free!

Sign Up Now to get all these Free Benefits!
http://www.prototypezone.com/index.php?option=com_comprofiler&task=registers

Hello,

Welcome to Day 2 of our Prototype Zone Ecourse on Prototpying
Technologies. I hope you had time last night to familarize yourself
with Prototyping and Rapid Prototyping definitions so we can get
right into our first Prototyping Technology, Electron Beam Melting.

If you didn’t have time last night – remember we have all of the
basics on Rapid Prototyping and Prototyping at
www.prototypezone.com.

EBM – Electron Mean Melting. What is it?

Electron Beam Melting or EBM is a great new alternative method,
that can be used instead of both rapid prototyping and
manufacturing of metal products. The method is especially useful to
the aerospace industry.

The technology is becoming very popular because it has the ability
to build dense parts that are similar to any wrought material.
Besides, the cost for manufacturing parts through this process is
substantially less as compared to the other additive fabrication or
metal based methods that are common employed. EBM has also opened
the doors to configurations for several new designs.

The technology is very useful as it can help produce parts using
titanium within hours as opposed to days. The technology also
creates low volume products, which are essential for the aerospace
industry. The time and the cost factors involved in creating
titanium products are major obstacles for the aerospace industry.
However, with the help of EBM, ready to install titanium parts can
be created in an efficient manner.

That in a nut shell is EMB – but there’s so much more to learn. Go
check out our EBM category on the prototype zone at:
http://www.prototypezone.com/electron-beam-melting/ to read some
more articles on EBM. There is also a prototype forum at:
http://www.prototypezone.com/prototype-forum where you can browse
for more informatiom on EBM.

Tomorrow we will start talking about SLS – or Selective Laser
Sintering.

See you Tomorrow,
Ivan Irons

P.S.
There is more…If you sign up as a member of Prototype Zone, you
will get special access to 2 Free eBooks on the site. Both of the eBooks
are about Prototyping Basics.  Here is the best part, becoming a member is Free!
Wait…Both of the Prototyping Basics eBooks are free!

Sign Up Now to get all these Free Benefits!
http://www.prototypezone.com/index.php?option=com_comprofiler&task=registers