Rapidwork98: A workbench for stl-based rapid prototypng systems

摘要

There are several types of rapid prototyping systems based on the applied solidification principles. They are run by an oerating software whcih reads STL files, calculates slice data, and sends the data to the hardeare. The system software bundled with rapid prototyping hardware provides only basic and limited facilities for handling STL files. However, besides the simple ooperations for STL files, there are many factors to be considered in order to make an efficient use of the process. We developed a rapid prototyping preprocessing software called"rapidWORKS98". The rapidWORKS98 is an integrated collection of software tools that works on STL files in the Internet environment. h provides STL editing an fixing tools, which are essential to all rapid prototyping processes. ALso, the facilities of rapidWORKS98 include determination of the bulid-up orientation, optimal faciltities of rapidWORKS98 include determination of the build-up orientation, optimal packing for multiple part building, generation of the support structure, etc. In addition, an Internet server/client of rapidWORKS98 provides the collaborative environment based on the modem or TCPM connection. The rapidWORKS98 exports the final STL parts in 2-dimansional or 3-dimensional data format, such as DXF, VRML, CLI, HP-GL, etc. The rapidWORKS98 runs on Microsoft windoes95/NT. with its easy"wizards feature" and ergonomic user interface, it forms a very convenient STL working environment for every Rapid Prototyping user.