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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Fri, 17 Dec 1999 03:23:45 GMT
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Viewed:
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664 times
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In lugnet.general, Rose Regner writes:
>
> 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
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 plastic is a milky transparent
color,quite fragile. The horizontal lines are the consecutively laser-hardened
layers. These can be quite beautiful in themselves as they glow if lit from
behind. I will be using it next year to create my glass sculptural pieces. It
will be fantastic to see them come to life! The process will give me a
prototype to cast from, so previously if a piece was damaged in the casting
process, it was $1000 down the drain.
This is a brilliant process, only very recently used in the fine arts, I can't
wait till schools in next year!
I'm sure if we wait long enough, something will come along that we can use on
the desktop to realise your dream, But I think we have a good wait ahead of
us, yet!
I don't know how much it will cost us next year, as we are doing it ourselves,
it will be interesting to see how cheap the process is without the middleman!
Rachel
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Message is in Reply To:
 | | Re: making your own LEGO parts
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| Michael Horvath wrote in message ... (...) From (...) hardens (...) to (...) attached (...) 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 (...) (25 years ago, 16-Dec-99, to lugnet.general)
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