1.

Concept Modellers: These are a new range of RP systems addressing the specific needs of
CAD offices. Although CAD systems have empowered designers with a number of tools to
minimize errors and maximize design quality offering facilities such as photorealistic
visualization, interactive product simulation, assembly analysis, the design remains intangible
until a physical model is built. Concept modelers fill this gap by offering relatively quick and
cost effective methods for building physical models at any design stage. The system is usually
small, inexpensive, quiet and requires very little or no training to operate. For these reasons, the
systems are targeted to reside in design office environments, where they can ideally be operated
much like a standard printer. The following RP systems are classified as Concept Modellers:

3D Systems ThermoJet Printer (Multi-Jet Modeller)

Sanders ModelMaker II (Inkjet Modelling Technology)
Z-Corporation Z402 (3D Printer)
Stratasys Genisys Xs printer
JP System 5
Object Quadra System

The main advantages of these concept modeling systems are:

1. Elimination of design delays: Designers do not have to wait for a model to be built
2. Freedom from design inhibition: At the moment if a designer needs a model, a request is
usually sent to a model maker for the part to be made using either traditional techniques or by
costly RP processes. With the new techniques available, a designer can produce a model without
anyone else seeing it at a relatively low cost. This will eventually enable more radical designs to
be produced and if they do not work, then the model can be discarded without justification.
3. Multiple design iterations: There is time and cost implications, even when using the
traditional RP techniques, therefore there is a limit to the number of design iterations that are
possible before the design has to be completed. If the designer can produce models as and when
required, then it is possible to go through many more design iterations, which will ultimately
lead to a greater quality of design.

2. JP System 5: The JP system 5 is patented by Schroff Development corporation. It is an

inexpensive RP system that requires only a personal computer and a cutting device. The system
produces prototypes using paper sheets and son the material cost is very low. Two version of the
system are available: the standard system, and the premier system. Standard system uses a
Roland cutter with 216*279mm adhesive paper and the Premier system employs a Graphtec
cutter with 432*559mm paper. The RP system is ideally suited for education but also can be used
in other applications.
The fabrication of models employing the JP system 5 includes the following steps:
1. A proprietary software package is used to slice the model into a series of cross sections.
2. The software then converts the slices to a HPGL plot file format which is sent to a plotter
3. The sheets are layered by aligning specially cut orientation holes.
4. The sheets are positioned on a registration board.
5. An adhesive is sprayed on first sheet
6. The support backing is removed exposing the adhesive layer. Each subsequent sheet adheres to
the exposed adhesive surfaces of the previous sheet.
7. Sections formed by the nesting operation are cut.
8. Final model is assembled.

3. Thermojet Printer: The Multi Jet Modelling (MJM) process was developed by 3d systems in
1995. This technology complemens 3D systemss established line of Stereolithography products.
Initally, the MJM machine was marketed as the Actua 2100 but since 1998 it has been known as
the Thermojet Printer. MJM parts are constructed from a thermoplastic material. The parts have a
layer thickness of 40m, an X-Y resolution of 85m and a droplet placemet accuracy of + or 100m. [3d Systems, 1996].

Technical Specifications of Thermojet printer [3D system 2000]

Object Quadra Systems: Quadra process is based on state of the art ink jet printing technology.
The printer uses 1536 nozzles which jets a proprietary photopolymer developed in house by the
object. Because it requires no postcure or post processing, Quadra touts the fastest start to finish
process of any (RP) machine currently on the market. Object will initially offer one grade of
material with properties similar to multipurpose resins currently offered with competitive RP
systems. Additional materials with varying properties are under developmen. Material is
delivered by a sealed cartridge that is easily installed and replaced. Jetting of different resinns,
once they become availaable, will not require costly investments in materials or hardware
upgrades. A new catridge is dropped into place without any complicated procedures or specially
trained staff. Quadra deposits a second material that is jetted to support models containging
complicated geometry such a overhangs and undercuts. The support material is easily removed
by hand after building the model. The support material sepatates easily from the model body
without leaving any contact points to the model. No special staff or training are required. Models
built on the system do not require sanding or smoothing where the supports are attached.

Object quadra offers significant advantages over previous technologies in the field. The
material properties of item printed on Quadra are unmatched by machines in its class and price
category. Quadra prints in a resolution of 600dpi, with a layer thickness of 20 microns and builds
parts upto a maximum size of 11*12*8.
An user inteface aids users in setting up the build, scaling and positioning single and
multiple models. Maintenance costs for Quadra are expected to be low. The UV lamps are a
standard off the shelf item, priced below 75 dollars with a life of 1000hours.

Quadra System for the object

Part build by the Process.

4. Thermal Ink Jet Printer

The Ink Jet Printing technology is also sometimes called Ballistic Particle Manufacturing. Other
systems providers use considerably different techniques, but they all rely on squirting a build
material in a liquid or melted state which cools or otherwise hardens to form a solid on impact.
One example of the technology variations available in these so-called phase change inkjets is
provided by 3D Systems. This company produces an inkjet machine, called the ThermoJet
Modeler (formerly Actua), based on technology from Spectra, Inc. which utilizes several
hundred nozzles.
By contrast, the Solidscape machine uses a single jet each for build and support materials, and it
serves as an introduction here. Plastic object, wax and support materials, are held in a melted
liquid state at elevated temperature in reservoirs (A). The liquids are fed to individual jetting
heads (B) through thermally insulated tubing. The jetting heads squirt tiny droplets of the
materials as they are moved side by side in the required geometry to form the layer of the object.
The heads are controlled and only place droplets where they are required to. The materials
harden by rapidly dropping in temperature as they are deposited. After an entire layer of the
object is formed by jetting, a milling head (C) is passed over the layer to make it a uniform
thickness. Particles are vacuumed away as the milling head cuts and are captured in a filter (D).
The operation of the nozzles is checked after a layer has been fabricated by depositing a line of
each material on a narrow strip of paper and reading the result optically (E). If all is well, the

elevator table (F) is moved down a layer thickness and the next layer is begun. If a clog is
detected, a jetting head cleaning cycle is carried out. If the clog is cleared, the problem layers are
milled off and then repeated.
After the object is completed, the wax support material is either melted or dissolved away. The
Solidscape system is capable of producing fine finishes, but to do so results in slow operation.
Thus, there is a tradeoff between fabrication time and the amount of hand finishing required.

Sanders Model Maker: The Sander Model Maker product is produced and distributed by
Sanders Prototype, Inc. of Wilton, NH, USA. Smooth cosmetic surface quality can be achieved
by pre-tracing the perimeter of a layer prior to filling in the interior. The supporting wax material
is deposited at the same time as the thermoplastic. A schematic is shown below:

Both the thermoplastic material (Protobuild) and the wax support material (Protosupport) are
proprietary materials of Sanders.

5. STL (Stereo Lithography) is a file format native to the stereolithography CAD software
created by 3D Systems. STL has several after-the-fact backronyms such as "Standard Triangle
Language" and "Standard Tessellation Language". This file format is supported by many other
software packages; it is widely used for rapid prototyping, 3D printing and computer-aided
manufacturing. STL files describe only the surface geometry of a three-dimensional object
without any representation of color, texture or other common CAD model attributes. The STL
format specifies both ASCII and binary representations. Binary files are more common, since
they are more compact. An STL file describes a raw unstructured triangulated surface by
the unit normal and vertices (ordered by the right-hand rule) of the triangles using a threedimensional Cartesian coordinate system. STL coordinates must be positive numbers, there is no
scale information, and the units are arbitrary.
Most of additive manufacturing machines require an STL file. The file is a simple, neutral
format designed such that most any CAD system can easily translate its 3D date into the STL
format. STL files are a boundary representation of solid model, made up of triangular mesh, to
approximate the bounding surfaces of the part, and a surface normal, a vector indicating the
outward direction perpendicular to the triangles surface. Most CAD packages allow a user
inputted maximum allowable deviation between the original model surface and the face of the
triangle that represents the model surface. With a smaller deviation, model accuracy improves
but the file size increases due to smaller, more numerous triangles. As a general rule, the
maximum allowable deviation should be set to a level below the desired feature resolution.

Each 3D form is made out of polygons. Each polygon with n sides can be represented using n-2
triangles.
6. a. what are the two formats in which STL files can be stored? Explain briefly.
The two formats of STL files are: ASCII and Binary Representation
1. An ASCII STL file begins with the line
Solid name
where name is an optional string (though if name is omitted there must still be a space after
solid). The file continues with any number of triangles, each represented as follows:
facet normal ni nj nk
outer loop
vertex v1x v1y v1z
vertex v2x v2y v2z
vertex v3x v3y v3z
endloop
endfacet
where each n or v is a floating-point number in sign-mantissa-"e"-sign-exponent format, e.g.,
"2.648000e-002" (noting that each v must be non-negative). The file concludes with

Endsolid name
The structure of the format suggests that other possibilities exist (e.g., facets with more than one
loop, or loops with more than three vertices). In practice, however, all facets are simple
triangles.
White space (spaces, tabs, newlines) may be used anywhere in the file except within numbers or
words. The spaces between facet and normal and between outer and loop are required.
2. Binary STL
Because ASCII STL files can become very large, a binary version of STL exists. A binary STL file has an 80character header (which is generally ignored, but should never begin with "solid" because that will lead most
software to assume that this is an ASCII STL file. Following the header is a 4-byte unsigned integer indicating
the number of triangular facets in the file. Following that is data describing each triangle in turn. The file
simply ends after the last triangle.
Each triangle is described by twelve 32-bit floating-point numbers: three for the normal and then three for the
X/Y/Z coordinate of each vertex just as with the ASCII version of STL. After these follows a 2-byte ("short")
unsigned integer that is the "attribute byte count" in the standard format, this should be zero because most
software does not understand anything else.[6]
Floating-point numbers are represented as IEEE floating-point numbers and are assumed to be little-endian,
although this is not stated in documentation.
UINT8[80] Header
UINT32 Number of triangles
foreach triangle
REAL32[3] Normal vector
REAL32[3] Vertex 1
REAL32[3] Vertex 2
REAL32[3] Vertex 3
UINT16 Attribute byte count
end

6. b. Overview of Solid View: Sold view software allows non-CAD user to easily view,
measure, translate and makeup CAD data, opening up communication to all who need to be
involved in the design process. Solid view is used across the world by those needing access to
CAD date but not trained in using CAD systems. Its low cost solution to access CAD data for

manufacturing engineers, scientists, structural engineers, technical illustrations, managers,

product managers and sales people.
Magics: Magics is prototyping software and is a key element of the Magics e-solution Suite
which incorporates software products that will streamline, automate and boost every step in
prototyping and manufacturing process.
Magics rapid prototyping software enables you to import a wide variety of CAD formats
and to export STL files ready for rapid prototyping, tooling and manufacturing. Its application
includes repairing and optimizing 3D models, analyze parts, making process related design
changes on the STL files, designing the fixtures, documenting the projects and production
planning.
7. Important software tools for RP [Internet Based Softwares]
1. 3D3 Solutions Make FlexScan3D low cost software that allow digitizing the objects
using your own digital SRL camera and TV projector.
2. 3D-SHAPE GmbH SLIM3D used to create a model from a set of different single 3D
views. The software can run automatically with registration, mesh reconstruction and
visualization of the processing steps.
3. Alias Wavefront Spider is a module for Studio Tool suite for editing, translating and
operating on point cloud data in a variety of formats.
4. Anatomics Pty Ltd BioBuild converts volumetric imaging data to rapid prototyping file
formats designed for medical bio modeling applications.
5. Geomagic Inc Geomagic enables the creation of STL files and 3D models from point
clouds of data from any source.
6. InnovMetric Software Inc (Poly works/Modeller 5.0) 3D modeling software for
milling, rapid prototyping, reverse engineering and finite element analysis applications.
7. Rapidform. Inc Produces RapidForm XO Verifier for comparing scan and CAD data,
and RapidFor XOR Redesign for generating parametric CAD models from scan point clouds.

8.
a. STL Repair
The STL editor in Magics allows you to correct problems, as well as create watertight data and
shortcuts to suit your AM workflow, all in a user-friendly interface. STL File repair includes
fixing of flipped triangles, bad edges, holes and other defects.
Proper file fixing skills and tools will eliminate errors in the build files and increase
machine throughput, save money and increase the quality of your parts. The STL file fixing &
repair
tools
are
designed
to
both
detect
and repair errors in triangulated meshes. The advanced features include functions
such as part editing, retriangulation, file reduction, boolean operations and mesh
refinement.
netfabb
Professional
is
a
professional
software
solution
that
provides advanced STL file repairing and fixing capabilities at an affordable price,
allowing multiple users to take advantage of a professional file fixing tool.
netfabb Basic is a free software that provides basic file repair capabilities at no charge.

b. STL manipulation: while all the CAD software allows the creation of STL files, not always
this process ends with a printable file. STL manipulation solution allows:
1. Fixing those models in order to produce water light models.
2. Performing several simple actions to change the model (cutting and labeling)
Magics RP is the most extensive solution available. Meshlab is satisfactory as a free tool,
although not very easy to use and lacking some functionality.

9. Part building errors:

During part building two types of errors are observed namely curing errors and control
errors. Curing errors are due to over or under curing with respect to curing line and control errors
are due to variation in layer thickness or scan position control.

Figure shows the effect of over curing on part geometry and accuracy, Adjustment of
chamber temperature and laser power is needed for proper curing and Calibration of the system
becomes mandatory to minimize control errors.
Shrinkage also caused dimensional inaccuracy and is taken care by choosing proper
scaling in X, Y and Z directions. Polymers are also designed to have almost negligible shrinkage
factors.
In Stereolithography and Selective laser sintering process, problem arises with downward
facing layers as these layers do not have a layer underneath and are slightly thicker, which
generate dimensional error. If proper care is not taken in setting temperatures, curling of the parts
can be visualized,
11. Orientation constraints of SL Process.
This is one of the crucial decisions taken before slicing the part and initiating the process of
deposition for a particular RP process. This decision is important because it has potential to
reduce part building time, amount of supports required, parts quality in terms of surface finish or
accuracy and cost as well. Selection of part deposition orientation is process specific where in
designer and RP machine operators should consider number of different process specific
constraints. This may be a beautiful and time consuming task as designer has to trade off among
various conflicting objectives or process outcomes. Better part surface can be obtained but it will
increase in building time.

12. Factors influencing accuracy

Accuracy of a model is influenced by the errors caused during tessellation and slicing at
data preparation stage. However the part deposition orientation also affects the accuracy of the
build rapid prototyping model.
a. Errors due to tessellation during tessellation the surfaces of the CAD models are
divided into small triangles. By reducing the size of the triangles, the deviation between
the actual surfaces and approximated triangles can be reduced. The resolution of the STL
file is controlled by a parameter namely chordal error or facet deviation as show in the
figure.

Its been suggested that for the curve with small radius (r) should be tessellated, if its
radius is below a threshold radius (r0) which can be considered as one tenth of the part
size to achieve maximum chordal error (r/r0).
b. Errors due to Slicing for example error due to replacement of a circular arc with
stair steps can be defined as radius of the arc minus length up to the corresponding corner
of the staircase i.e cusp height as show in the figure. Maximum error results along Z axis
and is equal to slice thickness. Reduction in slice thickness yields drastic improvement in
part building time therefore by using slices of variable thicknesses cups height can be
controlled below a certain value.

Along with this mismatching of height and missing features are two other
problems resulting from the slicing. Most of the RP system has the facility to slice with
uniform thickness which gives better accuracy and surface finish without losing
important features of the models.