Rapid Prototyping Tutorial

This tutorial provides step-by-step instructions for using the rapid prototyping facilities at the Learning Factory. The intended audience is undergraduate engineering students who must construct such prototypes for a class assignment or student engineering organization project. By using this manual, the student will save time and avoid damage to valuable equipment. No prior RP experience is required, but the user should read the RP Primer to gain basic understanding of RP theory and practice.

In this manual, the entire prototyping process is divided into eight major steps:

  1. Engineering design
  2. Model design
  3. Choosing a RP technique
  4. Model refinement and CAD file creation
  5. Converting to .stl format
  6. Scheduling a build appointment
  7. Building
  8. Post-processing
Only the RP-related aspects of these steps are covered. For example, comprehensive instructions for using Pro/ENGINEER are not provided, but directions for exporting STL files from ProE are. In general, the steps should be followed in the sequence provided. Steps 1-6 will be done by the user alone, while 7-8 will be performed under the direction of the Learning Factory staff. The user should read steps 7-8 ahead of time to prepare for the build appointment.

Step 1

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Last updated 5/11/98--Bill Palm