INTEGRATED REVERSE ENGINEERING AND RAPID PROTOTYPING

Reverse engineering is a methodology for constructing CAD models of ph ysical parts by digitizing an existing part, creating a computer model and then using it to manufacture the component. When a digitized part is to be manufactured by means of rapid prototyping machines such as stereolithography apparatus (SLA) and selective laser sintering equipm ents (SLS), etc., it is not necessary to construct the CAD model of a digitized part. This will be described by the proposed novel method wh ich can construct STL file (the de facto file format for rapid prototy ping machines) directly from digitized part data. Further more, the ST L file can even be constructed in a way that significant data reductio n can be achieved at the users' discretion. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.