CS 294-10: RAPID PROTOTYPING 
Lecture #1 -- Aug. 29, 2003.

What Is CS 294-10 All About ?

• CS 294-10 in the curriculum

A nice complement to CS284: "From virtuality to physicality"
• What you will learn

Rapid Model Making tecniques
-- primarily use of FDM and 3D printing through hands-on experience.
For context, we will also talk about:
Other Layered Manufacturing Techniques;
Rapid prototyping techniques using NC milling;
Making a pilot batch of parts by injection molding;
Languages to describe parts for submission for fabrication.
• Teaching style, grading policy

This is a seminar-style course: Class participation is important.
This is a hands-on course: Every student will design and build one or more parts.
• Course organization

Q&A -- pending issues ?

Characteristics of Rapid Prototyping

• Rapid turn-around time
• Little process planning
• Build one item at a time
• Additive methods versus subtractive methods
• Building versus machining
• "Amateur Fabrication"

REVIEW SUMMARIES:

Rapid Prototyping by Solid Free-form Fabrication

• Layered Object Manufacturing (LOM)

Layers of paper are glued on top of one another.
E.g., Helisys Corporation -- LOM-2030H
• Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM)

Hot plastic or wax is dispensed from a moving nozzle.
A second nozzle deposits supporting material of a somewhat different composition.
E.g., Stratasys -- Our own machine in Etcheverry.
E.g., 3DSystems -- ThermoJet Solid Object Printer.
• Thermoplastic ModelMaking

Hot plastic or wax is dispensed from a moving nozzle and planarized with a milling blade after every layer.
E.g., Sanders Prototype, Inc. (SPI).
• 3D Printing

Glue droplets are dispensed through an inkjet printer head into a thin layer of powder
E.g., ZCorporation.
• Selective Laser Sintering (SLS)

High-power laser fuses nylon or ceramic powder.
E.g., University of Texas at Austin.
• Stereolithography (SLA)

Laser cross-links molecules in organic liquid.
E.g., 3DSystems -- SLA series

Rapid Prototyping of Solid Three-Dimensional Parts" Technical Report by Sara McMains

Rapid Prototyping by Machining

• Turning

- - Piece turns on a lathe, cutting tool is stationary.
• Drilling

- - Piece is fixed, rotating tool drills cylindrical holes.
• Milling

- - Piece is fixed, rotating tool removes pockets of material.
• CyberCut

= 3-axis milling + Reference-Free Part Encapsulation (RFPE)
- - Piece is encapsulated in plastic, which gets replaced after all operations for one access direction have been done.

Producing a Pilot Series

• Casting

- - make a master (e.g., wood -- wax);
- - take a negative mold (e.g., sand -- plaster);
- - cast many copies (e.g., cast iron -- bronze);
• Injection Molding

- - directly machine the mold (e.g., aluminum);
- - form parts by injecting hot plastic (reuse mold).

First Homework Assignment:

To put the Layered Manufacturing Methods, which are the focus of this class, into proper perspective,
Use the Manufacturing Advisory Service
to find out what methods may exist to make some contiguous part of uniform material composition.

Pick 3 different parts that are contiguous solids of one and the same material
(e.g., plastic cup, steel spoon, bronze book end, church bell, car suspension spring, wooden salad bowl ... )
and using the "MAS", find out what options for manufacturing this web page recommends,
assuming that you want to make just a few prototypes.
-- Write / print out  a little summary of your findings for each of the three parts studied.
-- Note, whether and when any Layered Manufacturing Techniques are recommended.
-- Make suggestions, how this MAS could be made more useful or easier to use.