As promised, here is a compilation of all the responses to my call for
the creation of a Stratasys "wish list."
From Atif Yardimci --
o road rendering in quickslice
o a diagnostic panel on the machine which shows current z-level
and x-y coordinates
o sml-editing capability in quickslice o automatic positioner for
nozzle
o lighter head with more nozzles and/or materials
o better (more?) environment temperature sensors
o more even air circulation in build envelope
o and more respect for WindowsNT boxes 8-) [two-way serial
communication programs to replace ssend command for on-the-fly
modifications and better soft diagnostics/control]
From Drew Brown --
How about:
- some alternative support structures to minimize support drawing
time.
- permanent platforms.
- larger spools of support material. - speed!
From Rick Lott --
(1) The ability to generate both direct and containment supports at
the same time, as decided by a predetermined ratio of area (X-Y) to
height (Z).
(2) Better lighting inside the cabinet.
to which NAGENDRA H. V adds --
(3) Supports which can be removed with much less effort (preferably,
supports which can be dissolved by a chemical agent), or to ask for
the moon in this particular case, supports which can be removed by
dipping in plain water
And from Rob Jamieson --
1. Better lighting in the cabinet (retrofit options for existing
machines would be nice )
2. Road sets that could be stored in a file. There is no easy way I
have found to go from the default values. It would be nice to be able
to recall complete sets that you know work for a given situation.
3. Better serial communications on NT. Ssend in a DOS window works
but should be improved on. For security reasons, we have had to
create a special account that can be left logged on for the duration
of the build. Inconvenient and not elegant.
4. Road width display or rendering in quickslice. The current center
line display leaves much to the imagination.
5. Capability to handle power failures. I have a UPS for my server
and work station that handle most power outage situations easily. The
controls on the 1650 could be supported off a small UPS with no
problem (not the heaters or motors), so having the machine go in to a
pause would be should be a simple problem to solve. The UPS signal
output is well defined. If the power is off for any length of time,
the machine would have to remain in pause until the temperature is
back up.
6. Variable slice thickness. I have built several models where a .015
or .020 slice would be acceptable for a large portion of the model,
but some features require a thinner slice thickness to get the detail.
7. SPEED
8. Different support materials that could possibly be dissolved with
chemicals.
9. Surface finish improvement and/or better ways of finishing a model.
10. An easy way to clean the cabinet. A lot of material gets swept
down the gaps on each side never to be seen again.
Closing with a comment from NAGENDRA H. V
The road rendering option was present in the in QuickSlice ver. 2.0c.
It was of immense help. But for some unknown reasons, this feature has
been removed in ver. 3.0b .
****
Many thanks to all the participants. I hope we can all meet at the
July users group meeting in Minnesota and find out what becomes of
these ideas!
Rick Lott
Hughes Space and Communications
Los Angeles
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.2 : Tue Jun 05 2001 - 22:39:20 EEST