>Greg,
> I picked up on your question about RapidTool. We have done one core and
>cavity set. The results were UNDERWHELMING. These parts were probably too
>complex for the current capabilities of RapidTool, but typical of the kind
of parts we make. Inconsistent shrinkage in the X-Y dimensions and to a
>degree that made the parts unusable. Also, the features lacked the
>crispness of details that we seek even for prototypes. We will continue to
monitor the state of the "art" and perhaps try again in another year or so.
Dave,
Thanks for the reply. It was most interesting to hear your view about the
process. It helps give one a balanced perspective of the processes
capabilities.
I have seen some very good parts/tools made using the DTM RapidTool process
at the Technical University of Munich. DTM also have an impressive
collection of parts/tools (as one would expect) and EOS can produce
impressive parts/tools using their EOSINT M machines. As you point out, I
think there is still room for improvement in the capabilities of both
companies machines (all patent issues aside). How much can they be improved
?? ...... I guess only time will tell.
Greg.
-------------------------------------------------------------
Greg Redden - CSIRO Division _--_|\ gr@adl.dmt.csiro.au
of Manufacturing Technology / \ http://www.csiro.au/
PO Box 4, WOODVILLE 5011 \_.--*_/ tel +61 8 303 9152
SOUTH AUSTRALIA v fax +61 8 303 9222
-------------------------------------------------------------
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.2 : Tue Jun 05 2001 - 22:37:21 EEST