SME/RPA conference

From: Elaine Hunt (ehunt@ces.clemson.edu)
Date: Fri May 18 2001 - 16:43:53 EEST


First of all I want to thank Materialise for sponsoring the RPML
reception. Cindy Simon did a great job of making sure everything went
well. Thanks to the 50+ who attended and our door prize
contributors. Andrew Clayton of GT won Terry's grand prize of the 2001
RP&M report. Our other door prizes came from 3 Deminsional Engineering,
Met-L-Flo, Commonwealth, Somos, Laser Innovations, ToyBuilders, and Clemson.

Second if you missed bringing an insert to the show shame on you. Joe
Frantz did an outstanding job of providing an opportunity to showcase rapid
tooling at the show. DTM provided RapidSteel 2 inserts and Larry Winnim of
Tyco (formerly Raychem), Rob Connelly of Fineline, and Vesta Costa of Tyco
all brought personalized inserts. Joe had designed a 3D puzzle with RPML
name, the SME logo, and DTM added their to their insert. One was left
blank so you could provide your customized logo, name or other idea to
it. If you didn't participate I hope you stopped by and chatted with Joe
and crew as well as all the show participants. You did not miss this
opportunity completely as Joe tells me that he will do it again real soon.
Look for Tiger paws to be everywhere.

I had a great time on the show floor meeting a lot of you and hearing about
the exciting things you are doing (mostly lurking). The sessions I
attended provided me with lots of ideas and information(Speed Kills - In
about an hour). Thanks to all the SME people, the RPA board, and the
conference volunteers for doing another great job. If you missed the event
you missed some interesting developments.

No matter what you were looking for you could probably find it at this
show. I will highlight things that readily come to mind:
        1. First international flavor with EOS ( great metal parts and sand molds)
and Kira (absolutely marvelous parts of paper)
        2. New systems
                3D's new Viper and Stratasys' Titan
                Objet (they printed an insert in a few minutes, nice parts with LITTLE
POST PROCESSING)
                Solidica (direct Aluminum tooling real FAST)
        3. New materials
                DSM-SOMOS water clear and ceramic
        4. Laser machining used at Ethicon
                They do injection molding inserts from CAD to final parts in about 6-18
hours (NOT DAYS)
        5. The COMSUMER market has arrived
                inyourimage.com (personal keepsakes)
        6. Hot new 3d cameras that I can afford
        7. For all of us data keepers
                tractivity.com
        8. Great location for ribs, German food, and baseball (and Howling at the
moon?)

I could go on but make sure you see the next issue of the Rapid Prototyping
Report for more information. Geoff was busy taking pictures and getting all
the scoop. I will post the pictures as soon as I get them developed....

Guess the next time we'll all gather is in Paris for the European RP
conference in June. See all of you there.

Elaine

                

*******************************************************************
Opinions, suggestions, and other controversial matter VOID where prohibited.

"Imagination is more important than knowledge."
                                                                             
                              Albert Einstein
"Wonder, rather than doubt, is the root of knowledge."
                                                                             
                            Abraham Hesche
******************************************************************

Elaine T. Hunt, Director elaine.hunt@ces.clemson.edu
Laboratory to Advance Industrial Prototyping
Clemson University 206 Fluor Daniel Bldg.
Clemson, SC 29634-0925
864-656-0321 (voice) 864-656-4435 (fax)
http://www.vr.clemson.edu/credo/persall/persall.html
http://www.vr.clemson.edu/rp/
http://www.vr.clemson.edu/credo/rp.html

For more information about the rp-ml, see http://ltk.hut.fi/rp-ml/



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