Subject:
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Re: making your own LEGO parts
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.general
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Date:
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Thu, 16 Dec 1999 16:06:39 GMT
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Viewed:
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475 times
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Michael Horvath wrote in message ...
> A while ago I was watching the Discovery channel and saw a program in which
> some scientists somewhere were building plastic models using a computer. From
> what I understood, there's a big vat of molten plastic which cools and hardens
> as it rises out of the heated tub. A laser then trims the cooling plastic to
> the desired shape and dimension. I was wondering if this process could be
> used to build your own LEGO parts? It would be like having a printer attached
> to your computer that builds objects instead of just displaying them.
> Mike
The process is called Stereo Lithography. At least one of the processes...
It is a laser-hardened low grade plastic that acts as a 3-D plotter for CAD
files. It is used for prototyping plastic parts.
Problem is cost of the equipment $175,000-and up (way up!). Also, the
tolerances of the prototyped part are typically less than desirable for
small Lego-type parts.
Hope this helps
Eric
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Message has 3 Replies: ![](/news/x.gif) | | Re: making your own LEGO parts
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| (...) I believe he process uses an ultraviolet laser that cures a liquid resin into a solid form. I know LEGO uses this to prototype parts - in last year's catalog the first images of Darth Vader's helmet you could see the horizontal lines from the (...) (25 years ago, 16-Dec-99, to lugnet.general)
| ![](/news/x.gif) | | Re: making your own LEGO parts
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| (...) I am at art school and we have just won a grant to purchase one of these units at around the $200,000 mark (Australian) Previously we had to send our files away for production at a cost of around $1000 (Aus) per item depending on size. The (...) (25 years ago, 17-Dec-99, to lugnet.general)
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Message is in Reply To:
![](/news/x.gif) | | making your own LEGO parts
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| A while ago I was watching the Discovery channel and saw a program in which some scientists somewhere were building plastic models using a computer. From what I understood, there's a big vat of molten plastic which cools and hardens as it rises out (...) (25 years ago, 16-Dec-99, to lugnet.general)
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12 Messages in This Thread: ![making your own LEGO parts -Michael Horvath (16-Dec-99 to lugnet.general)](/news/x.gif) ![](/news/246.gif) ![Re: making your own LEGO parts -Kevin Maynes (16-Dec-99 to lugnet.general)](/news/x.gif) ![](/news/246.gif) ![Re: making your own LEGO parts -Tony Jang (16-Dec-99 to lugnet.general)](/news/x.gif)
![](/news/x.gif) ![](/news/28.gif) ![](/news/x.gif) ![](/news/68.gif) ![Re: making your own LEGO parts -Selçuk Göre (16-Dec-99 to lugnet.general)](/news/x.gif) ![](/news/46.gif) ![Re: making your own LEGO parts -Frank Filz (16-Dec-99 to lugnet.general)](/news/x.gif) ![](/news/46.gif) ![Re: making your own LEGO parts -Scott Edward Sanburn (16-Dec-99 to lugnet.general)](/news/x.gif)
![](/news/x.gif) ![](/news/268.gif) ![You are here](/news/here.gif) ![](/news/246.gif) ![Re: making your own LEGO parts -Scott Edward Sanburn (16-Dec-99 to lugnet.general)](/news/x.gif)
![](/news/x.gif) ![](/news/28.gif) ![](/news/x.gif) ![](/news/268.gif) ![Re: making your own LEGO parts -John Gerlach (16-Dec-99 to lugnet.general)](/news/x.gif)
![](/news/x.gif) ![](/news/28.gif) ![](/news/x.gif) ![](/news/68.gif) ![Re: making your own LEGO parts -Rachel Kingston (17-Dec-99 to lugnet.general)](/news/x.gif)
![](/news/x.gif) ![](/news/68.gif) ![Re: making your own LEGO parts -Tom Boucher (19-Dec-99 to lugnet.general)](/news/x.gif) ![](/news/46.gif) ![Re: making your own LEGO parts -Roger Hamlett (19-Dec-99 to lugnet.general)](/news/x.gif)
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