Stereolithography

2/24/98

David Lam

Bharath Vasudevan

Amy Ng

Background and History

• In 1986 The rapid prototyping industry was pioneered by a company named 3D Systems in Valencia, California. The founders of the company patented a process which they named Stereolithography. Since then, many industries have found a use for Stereolithography in designing their products. The big advantage of Stereolithography is that companies can bring several prototypes of their designs to prospective retailers or designers at trade shows. Stereolithography allows models of complex geometries to be made quickly. You can make a model of any shape with the resins that are avalable .

Laser Printer Analogy

• A laser printer bonds ink to the paper using heat, providing you with a finished paper.

• SLA involves heating a liquid polymer over a specific area which hardens it, providing you with a finished 3D object.

Steps leading up to the manufacturing process

• CAD design of object

• Save in .stl file format (Save As)

  • Represents closed surfaces that comprise an enclosed volume
  • Slices object into layers which can be interpreted by SLA machine

• Designer has complete control

  • All machine interpreted so making comparisons using different models quickly is possible