Dear Bob,
I don't think there is any question about what you say. The RP/RT R and D is
where most of the research in rapid protoytping is done. Thats a sort of educated
guess, but I don't think its far off.
As a sculptor I will probably never make a steel mold in my life. I do have need
regularly for parts, one offs and duplicates up to 100. So I regularly make use
of soft tooling. Now an rp machine that could soft tool? hmmmm. Isn't there an UV
cureable silicone out there?
Finally, I think that there is probably room for all of this. High end RP/RT. Low
End concept modelers for the desktop. Kinko's modelers and 3D portraits, etc.,. I
still think the real problem is useable, hobby like cad. Fun and competent all at
once. Hardly any buttons.
best,
Fusioneng@aol.com wrote:
> I have read the many interesting responses on this thread. From my
> perspective I see the industry having to move in two different directions.
> One direction probably with thermojet type 3D printing which will get less
> and less expensive as time goes on. I can just imagine someone with a family
> business sitting in the mall on the weekends making 3D protraits and busts.
> It will still take an artists hands to finish the piece out and paint it to
> look like more than a blob of wax. Without the colors and hues anything looks
> pretty bland. That is something we all will be dealing with in a few years.
> All of our children will be sending us 3D family portraits. After a short
> time instead of relenquishing them to a photo album. Their will be a large
> closet packed full with 3D portraits and busts. I think the need for artistic
> people (of which I am not) will actually rise. The medium on which they work
> will be much more efficient, so in turn they will be able to work much
> faster. But a world without artisitic people would be very bland.
> The other fork in the road that RP must travel is in the skilled trades.
> Their is a huge shortage of skilled tool and mold makers in the world. The
> average age of a moldmaker in the USA is around 50. Currently there are
> almost no training programs to replace these people. What most people don't
> realize is without a manufacturing base this country is doomed. Mold and tool
> makers make all manufactung today possible. Most mold makers today make more
> than a dentist or a lawyer or even a judge. Just look in any phone book at
> the listings for Lawyers and Dentists. Then look for mold shops. Yet all the
> high school counselors and parents are sending their kids to college for
> these professions in increasing numbers. Many go to school for 6 or 8 years
> then can only find a job when their done at McDonalds. In my entire lifetime
> I have only met one black toolmaker, and one female moldmaker why is that. I
> feel there is something terribly wrong in our education system. The point is
> we need Rapid Tooling just to fill the ranks to meet the need for tools and
> molds. Currently we pay huge amounts of money for CNC and EDM equipment. A
> Makino CNC machine costs between $300 and $500 thousand dollars. A Charmilles
> EDM costs about a 1/4 million. You can't get by on just one or two of these
> type machines. We have nearly a hundred and we are pretty small. Without them
> we cannot do our business. Our moldmakers must work way too much overtime
> just to keep up with demand. And there are no more mold makers available. The
> shortage is nearly 50% What will we do when these guys retire. With RP/RT I
> can effectively sidestep nearly half the demand on those machines and
> eliminate nearly half of the labour time our precious mold-maker must spend
> on the jobs.This would effectivly double our output with the same workforce
> and equipment base. We have proven this beyond any reasonable doubt. What we
> need very badly is more machines like SLA which can get better detail and
> better accuracy. The cost really doesn't matter to us. I would spend a
> million dollars tomorrow if someone had such a machine (it doesn't exist
> yet). The 3D Keltool which we use is very good and does the job on may 25% of
> our work but I wish had more weapons in my arsenal. The commercial tool
> making market today is huge (hundreds of billions of dollars) and if the
> right equipment were available every mold shop in the country would have
> several machines quietly producing all the consumer items we all enjoy like
> keyboards, cell phones, mouses, coffeemakers, automobiles,toys, etc,etc,etc.
> The market for this is tens of thousands of machines not just 1 or 2 thouand
> like it is now. This I think is the holy grail for the RP/RT industry.
> Bob Morton
> Fusion Engineering
>
> For more information about the rp-ml, see http://ltk.hut.fi/rp-ml/
-- michael rees effective immediately suite Number 301 www.michaelrees.com 1015 Washington Ave 314 494 7393 St. Louis Mo 63101 msr@michaelrees.comFor more information about the rp-ml, see http://ltk.hut.fi/rp-ml/
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