Thank You, Marshal! Very thoughtful of you.
At 01:59 PM 4/16/00 -0700, you wrote:
>Hi folks,
>
> I promised to share my thoughts on the RP&M show with Karl, Roger, Glenn
>and the other folks who could not make it.
>
> I think this was a very exciting show for several reasons:
>
> -- Objet was there with their new machine, a very slick looking baby
>that was shown making some pretty intricate geometries, including mechanisms
>with moving parts. It works by ink-jetting photopolymer, ironically a sort
>of cross between an SLA and a ThermoJet. The items were a little gummy
>straight out of the machine. Some people said they noticed an acrylate odor
>around the booth, but I didn't.
>
> -- Z was making color objects by putting different colors in their
>binder jets, a sort of obvious improvement, nicely implemented. In all the
>models they were showing off, each color was used individually, but they
>also showed me a sample of an early attempt to print a still-life painting
>using 4-color process mixing of colors. It was interesting how little
>interest the use of color seemed to attract from show-goers, but I predict
>this capability will grow on the market and a few years from now you will
>not be able to sell a monochrome fabber at all.
>
> -- Two companies were presenting Web-based RfQ (request for quote)
>systems for fabbing services, www.Bits2Parts.com and www.ProtoMarket.com.
>Bits2Parts is part of a suite of Web tools being developed under the
>PlanetCAD umbrella by Spatial Technologies, developers of the popular ACIS
>CAD kernel. ProtoMarket is from an entrepreneurial start-up. These Web-based
>fabbing portals are a very exciting development for the industry, beginning
>the creation of the important connection between fabbing and the Internet.
>
> -- POM was exhibiting objects made by the direct metal process
>developed by Jhodi Mazumder at the U of Michigan. Its an interesting process
>that seems to achieve high metallic density without generating high
>temperatures in the workpiece, a neat trick.
>
> There was other cool stuff too, but these were some of what I found the
>most exciting. The digital manufacturing revolution is heating up, even
>though most of the world still has no idea that we are here!
>
>Best regards,
>Marshall Burns
>President, Ennex Corporation
>
>Marshall@Ennex.com
>Los Angeles, USA, (310) 397-1314
>http://www.Ennex.com
>
>
>
>For more information about the rp-ml, see http://ltk.hut.fi/rp-ml/
>
>
For more information about the rp-ml, see http://ltk.hut.fi/rp-ml/
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