I keep wishing that the debate about the utility of the stl format would go
beyond defending it(stl) for whatever reasons and result in an R/P machine
that could reproduce curved surfaces in full fidelity. Maybe no one here has
had a receiveng inspector reject an R/P part because the runout of a hole was
out of tolerance but I have. Discussing using R/P parts for tooling
applications is rediculous if the translation format can't deliver. I
understand the background and simplicty of the stl format. It was created when
a 12 mHz 286 with 32 Meg of RAM and a 30 Meg hard drive was a powerful
computer. That is no longer the case. I don't buy the argument that poor IGES
files, which need a lot of repair to use for CNC programming are a valid
reason not to use them. I have rejected many a bad STL file. Designers have to
learn how to make good files. I am eagerly awaiting the first R/P machine that
can use IGES data directly without the denegration of conversion to STL. My
understanding is that a LOM is capable of true cirular interpolation, but they
still use the STL format.
Andy Scott
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