Looking for beta sites

From: Terry Wohlers (Wohlers Associates)
To: RP-ML
Date: Monday, December 18, 1995
Subject: Looking for beta sites
     CGI of Eden Prairie, Minnesota, has asked me to help them identify beta test sites for their new RE-1000 System.  The system was designed to speed the reverse engineering of parts with complex internal geometry.  The process is sort of like Cubital's Solider process in reverse.  You begin by encasing the part you want to reverse engineer in a very low viscosity liquid polymer.  This forms a solid block of plastic with your part inside.  Using a combination of milling and digital imaging, the system produces cross section data of the part, from top to bottom.  
     The system uses special software that determines the edges of the part and then converts these edges to x/y/z coordinate data.  CGI offers white and black encasement materials, so one or the other offers adequate contrast.  The system is capable of scanning parts up to 12 x 10 x 8 inches in size and is accurate to within a +/- 0.001 inch, according to CGI.  You can adjust the scanner to between 100 and 600 dots per inch (dpi) and can mill and scan layers as thin as 0.0005 inch.  In practice, most parts are scanned at 300 dpi and at layer increments of 0.003 inch.
     If you are interested in the beta program, please send a private e-mail to me at:  twohlers@cis.compuserve.com.  You are also welcome to call or send me a fax.  Thanks!
     Happy holidays!
Terry Wohlers
Wohlers Associates

From: marshall@maat.mct.anl.gov
Date: Wed, 3 Jan 96 12:29:05 CST
     In a message dated 12-18-95:  Terry Wohlers made a statement that CGI of  Eden Prairie, MN was looking for beta sites for their RE-1000 (reverse eng. system).  I am just writing for a little clarification of the system. This system which demo-ed at Autofact '95, basically consists of a  numerically controlled milling machine coupled with a flat bed scanner that compiles layer by layer scans, correct.  Also on a side note, isn't this company, CGI, owned/operated by the Crump family, who also have a vested interest in Stratasys. Thanks for the clarification.
Chris Marshall
Grad Student at Florida State Univ.

Date: 03 Jan 96 17:21:37 EST
     Chris - That's correct.  Something that I failed to mention in my earlier message is that you must sacrifice the part you want to scan.  After encasing the part in a block of plastic, the machine mills it layer by layer, until it's gone.  3D digitizing systems fall into one of two broad categories:  contact and non-contact systems.  This is very much a contact system. <grin> 
     Craig Crump is the founder and president of CGI and the inventor of the RE-1000 process.  Craig is Scott Crump's younger brother.  Scott is the founder and president of Stratasys and the inventor of the Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) process.  The Crump family has a lot of invention and entrepreneurship in their blood.  Scott and Craig's father, Ralph, has a number of patents which have led to many highly successful products, some in the medical field. 
Terry Wohlers
Wohlers Associates