RP Resources

From: Yakov Horenstein (Schneider Prototyping GmbH)
To: RP-ML
Date: Wednesday, June 22, 1994
Subject: RP Resources
Ciao Everyone,
     I would like to welcome all the new people to the rp-ml mailing list. I imagine that most of you saw my 
announcement about the list  in various CAD & Engineering newsgroups, (here is your answer Andre) and 
hope that those of you who had difficulty connecting are now  straightened out. Andre has promised never to go on holiday again,  so there shouldn't be any more problems (:->)
     Several people contacted me or posted messages asking for information on various RP systems and the merits or demerits of each one.  This is material which should be readily available, and I strongly  agree that a FAQ should be organised. It might be a good idea if each  one of us took it upon himself to contribute something in his area  of expertise, based on a commonly agreed agenda. Until then I would like to circulate the following information for  those of us who need to find some basic resources on RP.
     In my view only, the best book on the subject is:
Automated Fabrication - Improving Productivity in Manufacturing
by Marshall Burns
Published by PTR Prentice Hall, New Jersey (1993)
ISBN 0-13-119462-3
     Burns covers everything, including future developments, and  includes a revelatory section on the economic and sociological  impact of automated fabrication. Exhaustive bibliography.
     The only other book I know of is:
Rapid Prototyping & Manufacturing
by Paul Jacobs etc.
Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME), Michigan (1992) 
Solid stuff for the more technically inclined.
     The Society of Manufacturing Engineers follows the subject  regularly through the Rapid Prototyping 
Association, which can  be contacted at +1 313 271 1500  or fax: +1 313 271 2861. Their journal 
*Manufacturing Engineering*  carries ongoing  reports on RP. There is also an online service at SME with a  data base of RP resources, and their library has lots of books,  reports and videos. They also hold an ongoing series of  one-day RP seminars. 
     For ongoing RP information check out the following periodicals:
     Rapid Prototyping Report, monthly
CAD/CAM Publishing, San Diego, Calif. 
Publish other useful material such as RP Directory.
     TechMonitoring/Rapid Prototyping, semiannual plus monthly
SRI International, Menlo Park, Calif. U.S.A
(contact Brock Hinzmann thru rp-ml)
     Computer Aided Engineering, monthly
Penton Publishing, Cleveland, Ohio U.S.A.
     Machine Design, monthly
Penton Publishing, Cleveland, Ohio U.S.A.
     Mechanical Engineering, monthly
American Society of Mechanical Engineers, New York, N.Y.
     There are a number of conference proceedings available, the main ones being:
     European Conference on Rapid Prototyping
University of Nottingham, Nottingham, England
     International Conference on Rapid Prototyping, Dayton
RP Development Lab. Univ. of Dayton, Dayton, Ohio U.S.A.
     Autofact Conference
SME, Dearborn, Michigan U.S.A.
     Solid Freeform Fabrication Symposium
Univ. of Texas at Austin
     I see that most of this information is U.S. based. If anyone knows of some other regular European or other resources, I'd be happy to  hear about them.
     Until the next time, arrivederci.
Yakov Horenstein