Ed Grenda wrote
>
>Roland Digital has recently introduced a couple of interesting devices. (See
>for example, Computer Graphics World, Oct. '98, p.10) I'm surprised that no
>one has mentioned them on the list since they seem to go a long way towards
>the kind of "Personal Prototyping" revolution that has been a topic here so
>often.
>
>The combo is a probe-type digitizer and 3-axis miller. Looks to me like the
>miller is slow and the envelope is small, but the stated resolution (SW at
>least) is around 0.001", and you can cut a variety of materials. From the
>Roland web site, it looks like they might have done a good job on the SW
>interface, too. According to the CGW news release, the miller selling price
>is only US$995 and the scanner is US$1195.
>
Hi Ed,
On this message I have to react, especially on your being surprised that
no one ever mentioned these machines on the list.
We have been quite active in promoting our RP approach on this list,
offering our DeskProto STL software to drive a desktop CNC milling machine.
I am sure I have mentioned the Modela machine several times as the smallest,
simplest and cheapest RP device currently available. It is present on our
Web Site since more than a year now. The only thing is that our input on
the list has a certain commercial bias, so we are a bit careful not to
overdo it.
About the Modela machine you have too note that Roland is FAR too
optimistic in the materials they mention. In fact ONLY a very light
quality of Polyurethane foam (max ca 100 kg/m3) can be used, NONE
of the other materials mentioned (note that the spindel motor is 5 Watt only).
As actual accuracy you can expect ca 0.005 inches, which is OK for foam
models.
Main application areas of the machine will be concept modelling (quickly
generating a foam model of some complex detail of your freeform design
that is almost impossible to correctly evaluate on the screen) and education.
For the other materials we offer other cheap desktop machines.
On the Picza machine: again much functionality for a very low price.
Begin this week we just received a machine from Roland for evalution
purposes. We will sure inform the list about our experiences.
Best Regards,
Lex Lennings.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Delft Spline Systems, The Netherlands.
We offer DeskProto: affordable Rapid Prototyping using CNC milling
mailto:info@spline.nl
website:http://www.deskproto.com
For more information about the rp-ml, see http://ltk.hut.fi/rp-ml/
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