Type of Document	Master's Thesis
Author	Brockmeier, Oivind
Author's Email Address	oivindbrockmeier@hotmail.com
URN	etd-03242000-10440034
Title	Automated Loading and Unloading of the Stratasys FDM 1600 Rapid Prototyping System
Degree	Master of Science
Department	Mechanical Engineering
Advisory Committee	Advisor Name Title Bohn, Jan Helge Committee Chair Saunders, William R. Committee Member Sturges, Robert H. Committee Member
Keywords	Solid Freeform Fabrication Automation Layered Manufacturing Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) Continuous Layered Manufacturing (CLM)
Date of Defense	2000-03-22
Availability	unrestricted
Abstract Rapid prototyping systems have advanced significantly with respect to material capabilities, fabrication speed, and surface quality. However, build jobs are still manually activated one at a time. The result is non-productive machine time whenever an operator is not at hand to make a job changeover. A low-cost auxiliary system, named Continuous Layered Manufacturing (CLM), has been developed to automatically load and unload the FDM 1600 rapid prototyping system (Stratasys, Inc.). The modifications made to the FDM 1600 system are minimal. The door to the FDM 1600 build chamber is removed, and the .SML build files that are used to drive the FDM 1600 are modified at both ends to facilitate synchronized operation between the two systems. The CLM system is capable of running three consecutive build jobs without operator intervention. As long as an operator removes finished build jobs, and adds new build trays before at most every three build jobs, the FDM can operate near indefinitely. The impact of the CLM system on the productivity of the FDM 1600 rapid prototyping system is demonstrated by the expected reduction from the customary eight weeks down to a future three and one-half weeks required to complete the typical forty build jobs during a semester in the course ME 4644 Introduction to Rapid Prototyping at Virginia Tech.
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