Paul,
I haven't read the New York Times article yet, but it sounds like the
one I was involved with back in 1992-94 at Wright-Patterson AFB in
Dayton,Ohio. At that time we had recently installed a SLA-500 in the
Developmental Manufacturing Facility I was working in. A group at
WPAFB's Armstrong Laboratories was interested in the potential of SL to
be able to quickly generate a custom face mask for burn victims. They
would scan a face using a Cyberware non-contact laser and send me the
.stl files to build. Their interest was in seeing if the SLA model was
accurate enough to be used as a mold master and the possibilities of
using the model directly. There wish was to be able to keep a data base
of scanned images, ready to be built if necessary. Considering we were
using first and second generation acrylate resins, the results were
very promising.
I left WPAFB back in 1995 so I have lost touch with the project and the
people involved. I have the name of one person I worked with on the
project. If you wish to contact me directly at (513)733-1611 x236 I'll
be happy to supply you with the name and phone number of that person.
That project was one of the best uses of this technology I have ever
come across. I'm glad to hear it may still be alive and not a victim of
DOD cutbacks.
John Mullen
Paul Betts wrote:
>
> Dear List:
>
> In Tuesdays (8-4-98) science section of the New York Times (page F4) in a
> article by Jane Ellen Stevens, the rapid prototyping process is described
> in the manufacture of a new type of burn mask. Although the article
> doesn't not mention rp by name, it does describe the process making a mold
> of a patient's face from laser scan data.
>
> Does anyone from Bastech Inc. follow this list? Can you tell the list
> any more about this application?
>
> It is great to see this technology healing people!
>
> Paul Betts
> betts@nevis1.columbia.edu
>
> For more information about the rp-ml, see http://ltk.hut.fi/rp-ml/
-- John Mullen Morris Technologies, Inc. http://www.morristech.comFor more information about the rp-ml, see http://ltk.hut.fi/rp-ml/
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