SME Conf.

From: Paul Burr (tigerpb@ids.net)
Date: Mon Apr 26 1999 - 00:27:46 EEST


Not having attended the SME Conference, I wonder if any manufacuters of RP
equipment were considering making smaller platform size machines.
Everything I've read lately indicates that the RP industry is heading into
a "can you top this" platform size war. I suppose that if all RP gets used
for is large scale industrial work, then this is a good thing.
But, for those of us involved in jewelry and other similar sized parts,
this trend is giant step in the wrong direction. I can't help but wonder
that a large market must exist for fast, high defintion RP machine with a
work platform that builds nothing larger than @ 4" (100mm ) cube. And, as
long as I'm daydreaning, hows about a sub $20k price tag? Ok, when you stop
laughing at that proposal, please give it some serious thought.
It would be interesting to see what percentage of parts produced by RP
actually falls inside this dimensional parameter.
The decreased platform size can only aid in speeding up the cycle time of
each layer and the shorter travel distance can only help to increase
accuracy.
OK, group, am I onto something, or is the jewelry guy just holding out hope
for an insignificant number of RP users/buyers?

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