[Info-vax] Nice printers for OpenVMS?

[Johnny Billquist]

On 2012-08-07 22:56, Doug Phillips wrote:
> On Aug 6, 6:20 am, Johnny Billquist <b... at softjar.se> wrote:
>> On 2012-08-06 12:38, JohnF wrote:
>> [...]
>>
>>> But
>>>     http://www.makerbot.com/
>>> which actually builds these things right here in my hometown
>>> has some interesting, though less dramatic, stories.
>>
>>> And a little puzzle that's had me confused: you can't "print"
>>> any 3d object whatsoever because these printers work by deposition.
>>> So you're constrained to shapes that can be constructed by deposition.
>>> What are the rigorous geometrical/topological/whatever contraints
>>> imposed on the family of shapes that can be constructed by this process?
>>
>> You can't do something which is connected by material on the top side,
>> so to speak. It should be pretty obvious if you think about it.
>> Something hanging from above would have to be hanging in the void until
>> the printer have come up to the point where it connects. Objects are
>> built from the bottom up.
>>
>
> Which side is the *bottom* ?

Depends on your question. If we're talking about the object as such, 
then it depends on your point of view.
If we're talking about it, as printed in the printer, then it's the 
layer done first.

> For a shape where hangers can't be eliminated, a second type of easily
> dissolvable or meltable material is deposited to stabilize the hanger.

Interesting idea. Might be something for the future... But then again, 
you need this dissolvable material to bond with the non-dissolvable, and 
you need to get the non-existing parts of the non-dissolvable material 
out of the way before depositing the dissolvable materials, which then 
needs to only be deposited in the areas vacated by the non-existing 
non-dissolvable material (why do I get into such weird and complex 
wordings here...?)

	Johnny


	Johnny