Re: Holoform Hacking

From: Marshall Burns (Ennex  Corporation)
To: Gregory Pettengill (Cote Art & Engineering)
Cc: RP-ML
Date: Saturday, January 28, 1995
Subject: Re: Holoform Hacking
Dear Greg,
     Yes, yes, yes! "Hacking" is and will be an important part of how 
things get developed in this industry, just as it was for computers. In 
the 1970s, there were a number of clubs for computer hackers. One of 
these, the Homebrew Computer Club at Stanford University, is where Steve 
Jobs met Steve Wozniak. So this hackers' club was in a way the seed bed 
of personal computing.
     There are a lot of people doing holoform (or autofab or RP) hacking 
and, just as in the case of computers, it often centers around 
universities. Carl Deckard's first sintering machine at the University 
of Texas was a crude device that included a scrap motorcycle brake cable for 
an actuator. Students of Martin Koch and Unny Menon at CalPoly have built some 
interesting devices with tiny budgets, using hardware-store-bought glue 
guns as extruders, for example. Another interesting low budget project 
has been Joshua Rovick's extrusion of prostheses for amputees on a 
retrofitted CNC machine at Northwestern University Medical School. 
     It would be very interesting for other hackers who are on this list 
to report on their projects, and maybe talk about problems that others on 
the list could help them solve. Of course, one problem with this is the 
proprietary value of such ongoing work. When you discuss it here, that 
would constitute publication, so any filing for a U.S. patent would have 
to come within one year of that posting. Even worse, patent rights 
outside the U.S. are forfeited once you discuss your idea in public. So 
hacking discussions here will naturally be limited to projects done just 
for fun and enlightenment.
     How about you Greg? Your posting says you are hacking, but I don't 
remember reading about your project. Care to start off the discussion?