|
|
Article: Beyond rapid prototyping: additive manufacturing; New materials and machines keep pushing what's been known as "rapid prototyping" into the realm of additive manufacturing, which is becoming more of an "essential" design and production technology.(FEATURE)
- Article from:
- Automotive Design & Production
- Article date:
- November 1, 2007
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2007 Gardner Publications, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
|
"All the additive fabrication technologies have limitations," admits Fred Fisher, product marketing manager for Stratasys Inc. (Eden Prairie, MN; www.stratasys.com). "We will never replace injection molding, for instance. But the faster we get our machines, the better their resolution, the better their accuracy, the closer the gap between additive fabrication technologies and other manufacturing processes. We're working on closing that gap." Here are examples of how two major rapid prototype (RP) and direct digital manufacturing (DDM) suppliers are closing that gap.
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
From Stratasys
ABSplus and ABS-M30 are two new ...