RE: [rp-ml] Am I dreaming?

Andrea Reinhardt wrote:
> additive fabrication = (incl. rapid manufacturing, rapid prototyping
> a.s.o)
> additive fabrication > rapid prototyping
> or no precise definition at all?

You could check Chapter 1 of "Automated Fabrication," published in 1993, for
careful discussion of these terms. Since that book is not widely available,
you could look at the intro page on www.fabbers.com, where additive
fabrication is defined by: "Material is successively added into place to
build up the desired object. The methods used include selective curing,
selective sintering, and aimed deposition." This is in distinction from
subtractive and formative processes.

The term "rapid prototyping" is discussed in "The Freedom to Create"
(www.fabbers.com/publish/199407-MB-FreedomCreate.asp):

"Some proponents call this technology "rapid prototyping" because industrial
prototyping was the first major application of the new additive fabricators,
like the StereoLithography Apparatus (SLA) from 3D Systems. Hundreds of
millions of dollars in productivity gains have been realized by the few
hundred companies around the world who have been using these and similar
machines to make prototypes of new machine designs. But to call these
machines "prototypers" misses the whole point of what is happening here.
Calling an SLA a "prototyper" is like calling an automobile a "grocery cart"
because one of its first important uses was in rounding up supplies for the
family, or like calling a book a "scripture" because one of the most popular
books ever published has been the Holy Bible."

Note that numbers given there are from twelve years ago and are much larger
today.

Best regards,
Marshall Burns
www.fabbers.com
Received on Tue Jun 06 17:29:18 2006