Utilization of Freeware and Low Cost Tools in a Rapid Prototyping and Reverse Engineering Course

摘要

In this Rapid Prototyping and Reverse Engineering course, the rapid enrollment growth makes teaching more challenging due to having two sections with a total enrollment of eighty three students. The enrollment has increased from a single section of twenty four students in 2014 to its present condition. Even though the Rapid Prototyping Laboratories are equipped with three FDM/FFF (UPrint SE, CubeX, CubeProDuo), two Powder-based (Prometal RXD and Projet 460plus), and one SLA (Projet 1200) printer, maintenance issues and time sharing of the equipment with other courses including the capstone projects reduce the availability of 3D printers. Therefore, multiple new machines including a Mendelmax and Prusa Mendel were built to utilize in the class. Since the SLA Viper machine was replaced with a Projet 1200, the old but comprehensive software tool of 3D Lightyear had to be replaced with new tools used for both processing of the STL files and printing. These new tools are easier to use but not as comprehensive as the old ones. Thus, a low-cost software such as Simplify3D was acquired and being prepared for teaching improved support generation through editing. On the other hand, the Reverse Engineering capabilities of the department include three scanners, a Konica/Minolta 910, a FARO Platinum arm, and a Creaform HandySCAN complemented with multiple perpetual Geomagic Studio licenses for data acquisition and handling. The department also have perpetual licenses for Mimics and 3-Matic, however it chose to replace the Magics software for STL file editing and manipulation with Meshlab and Meshmixer software which are freeware. This decision was made based on the outcome of a student project. In addition, the applications such as 123D Catch and Remake, both by AutoDESK are being employed for more 3D Scanning exposure. After the scan, students are able to send their still pictures taken by their smart phones to a cloud server for 3D image generation and then use Meshlab or Remake in handling the scan data by editing including removal of noise and undesired segments, patching of holes. Remake software can also prepare the scanned geometry for a set of commercial 3D printers available.